For Professionals
Information for professionals and organisations supporting adults who may wish to explore The Echo Society’s counselling service or Healing Toolkit.
About The Echo Society
The Echo Society is a UK‑based not‑for‑profit organisation, founded in 2016 by and for individuals experiencing narcissistic abuse and coercive control.
Our work is shaped by lived experience, specialist clinical expertise, and a commitment to emotional safety, autonomy, compassion and trauma-informed practice.
Alongside our specialist counselling service, we offer broader trauma-informed online counselling for adults navigating a range of emotional and relational experiences. We also develop psychoeducational resources and contribute to wider awareness, professional learning, training, and community initiatives.
Echo is committed to inclusive, affirming, accessible and trauma-informed support for adults from diverse backgrounds, identities and lived experiences.
Who Echo Supports
Echo provides specialist counselling for adults experiencing narcissistic abuse, coercive control and relational trauma.
This may include experiences involving:
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Domestic abuse, including emotional, psychological, physical, sexual and economic abuse
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Adult children of narcissistic parents and difficult family or parent relationships
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Relationship difficulties, including confusing or controlling dynamics
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Partners, ex-partners, siblings and friendships
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Workplaces, organisations or institutions where harmful or controlling dynamics are present
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Post-separation abuse and ongoing control
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Trauma and its lasting effects, including PTSD and complex trauma
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Family Court proceedings and legal-related stress
Some people also seek support while navigating experiences such as parallel parenting, child contact difficulties, or legal-related harm.
Alongside this specialist pathway, our broader trauma-informed counselling supports adults experiencing a range of emotional and relational difficulties.
People do not need a diagnosis or a particular label to explore whether counselling may be appropriate.
What People Come Here Holding
People may come to Echo with experiences that are difficult to name or make sense of.
They may be experiencing:
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Gaslighting or confusion about their own perceptions
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Trauma bonding or care–harm dynamics
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Manipulation, blame‑shifting, reversal and other confusing or destabilising relationship patterns
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Push‑pull dynamics and control
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Smear campaigns or ongoing misrepresentation
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Workplace or organisational dynamics that feel harmful or controlling
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Self‑doubt or loss of confidence
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A sense of having lost touch with themselves
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Difficulty understanding familiar relationship patterns
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People‑pleasing or difficulty maintaining boundaries
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The emotional effects of prolonged relational stress or trauma
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A desire for clearer, safer boundaries
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Concerns about someone they care about who may be experiencing harm
People do not need to have everything neatly defined, have certainty, receive a diagnosis, or use a particular label before exploring whether support may be helpful.
Sharing Echo With Someone You Support
There is no requirement for a professional to make a formal referral to Echo.
Professionals and organisations can share information about Echo's counselling service or Healing Toolkit directly with someone they support.
The individual can decide whether, when and how they wish to make contact. They can take time to explore the information privately and decide what feels appropriate for them.
We aim to provide clear information and predictable processes so people can make informed choices about support.
We recognise that people affected by relational harm may need time, information and space before deciding what support they want.
The Echo Healing Toolkit
A gentle space to understand, reflect, and reconnect with yourself
The Echo Healing Toolkit is a free public collection of guides offering gentle understanding, emotional grounding and clear, compassionate language around harmful or controlling relationships and their wider emotional and relational impact.
The guides explore areas including narcissistic abuse and coercive control, gaslighting, care and harm dynamics, family and relationship experiences, workplace and organisational dynamics, boundaries, people-pleasing, identity and self-worth, trauma, safety and navigating contact after harm.
The Toolkit can be shared with someone who is looking for information or trying to make sense of their experiences, whether or not they are considering counselling.
There is no sign-up or pressure to work through the guides in any particular order. People can explore them at their own pace, pause when they need to, and return whenever they feel ready.
Explore the Echo Healing Toolkit →
Counselling Through Echo
Echo offers two counselling pathways:
Specialist Counselling
Support for adults experiencing narcissistic abuse, coercive control and relational trauma.
Explore Specialist Counselling →
Trauma-Informed Counselling
Broader support for adults experiencing a range of emotional and relational experiences, including anxiety, low mood, stress, grief, burnout, relationship difficulties, and periods of overwhelm or uncertainty.
Explore Trauma-Informed Counselling →
Both pathways are delivered online across the UK.
Where counselling is appropriate, Echo considers the individual's needs and preferences when identifying a suitable practitioner.
Professional Standards
Echo's counsellors and psychotherapists meet professional and safeguarding requirements appropriate to their work.
Our practitioners:
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Are registered members of relevant professional counselling and psychotherapy bodies, such as BACP, NCPS and UKCP
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Hold appropriate professional indemnity insurance
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Hold a current Enhanced DBS check for their work with adults
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Work in a trauma-informed, autonomy-supportive way, informed by relevant training, experience and professional development
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Maintain ongoing professional development and professional supervision
Meet Our Counsellors & Psychotherapists →
Important Information
Echo's counselling service is for adults aged 18 and over and is designed for ongoing therapeutic work rather than crisis or emergency support.
Echo does not provide:
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Crisis intervention
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Diagnostic assessment
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Legal advice
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Advocacy services
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Statutory safeguarding decisions
Where safeguarding or significant risk concerns arise, these are managed through Echo's safeguarding procedures and appropriate professional or statutory pathways where required.
Where someone needs a different or more intensive level of support, Echo will provide appropriate signposting where possible, including to NHS or crisis services where relevant.
Further Information
Professionals who would like to understand more about Echo can also explore:
These resources provide additional information about Echo's approach, professional foundations and wider work.
For further questions about counselling, accessibility, safety, confidentiality, the Healing Toolkit or other aspects of Echo's work, our FAQ contains answers to many common questions.
Contact Echo
If you have a general question about Echo or would like further information about our counselling service, you're welcome to contact us.