101: Thriving After Narcissistic Abuse: Catalina’s Survivor-to-Thriver Story

In this heartfelt episode of Revolutionise Your Love Life, Heather Garbutt is joined by Cătălina Popoveniuc, a Romanian psychotherapist with 23 years of experience supporting survivors and thrivers of narcissistic abuse. Catalina shares her own lived journey from surviving a narcissistic family system and multiple narcissistic relationships to reclaiming her voice and building a life that feels bright, free, and fully hers. Together, they talk candidly about the realities of gaslighting, cultural stigma, and the practical steps that help someone move from confusion and fear into safety, clarity, and self-trust, so thriving becomes possible.

Key takeaways

• Gaslighting is designed to fracture reality. Catalina shares how prolonged gaslighting can leave someone doubting their perception and sanity, even years later, and why naming it matters.

• Empathy without boundaries can be exploited. Both Heather and Catalina discuss how caring, empathic people are often targeted, and why early boundary-setting is not harsh, it is self-respect.

• Safety first, then strategy. Catalina emphasises planning: legal advice, therapeutic support, and a trusted network before leaving, especially when the risk of escalation is real.

• Post-separation abuse is a real risk. Leaving is not always the end of the manipulation, which is why specialised support and informed legal guidance are essential.

• Thriving means rebuilding identity. After abuse, many people do not know what they like, need, or want. Healing includes rediscovering preferences, strengths, work options, and a future that feels life-giving.

About Cătălina:
Cătălina Popoveniuc, a psychotherapist specialising in individual and group therapy, with a particular focus on supporting survivors of narcissistic abuse - both women and men.

With 23 years of experience working with people, she has developed a deeply human,
compassionate, and supportive approach, grounded in empathy and genuine respect for each person’s path.

For Cătălina, it’s essential that every client feels heard, seen, and understood.

About Your Host:
I married at 34 with great hope for a long, happy marriage and a family. Over time, though, the relationship unraveled into power struggles, criticism and emotional distance. My own childhood conditioning had left me disconnected from my feelings and needs and despite years of personal work, I couldn’t see a way forward. We separated in 2007.

I stayed on my own for several years, not wanting to repeat the pattern again. In 2016 my life transformed. Through discovering Katherine Woodward Thomas’s work, I called in my “One.” Although I was already a trained psychotherapist and deeply committed to self-development, this work created breakthroughs I hadn’t experienced before. To give my new relationship the strongest foundation possible, I trained as both a Conscious Uncoupling and Calling in “The One” coach. Through that process, I learned to honour myself more fully and to build love rooted in trust, presence and emotional truth.

As a psychotherapist of over 35 years, I was genuinely surprised to discover through this work, entirely new levels of insight, empowerment and relational skills, insights I now live and practice within my own relationship.
Whether you are recently separated, healing unresolved pain from the past, or longing to create a deeply nourishing relationship, I would be honoured to support you.

Together, we can help you reconnect with your authentic self and open the door to lasting, meaningful love.

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