Title : Leading with impact: Inclusive leadership strategies for organizational growth
Abstract:
High-achieving women often excel professionally, earning recognition for leadership, intelligence, and resilience. Yet many experience profound challenges when navigating relationships with narcissistic partners. The effects of narcissistic abuse are frequently subtle, cumulative, and psychologically disruptive, eroding self-confidence, autonomy, and emotional well-being. Despite their external success, these women may struggle with self-doubt, relational anxiety, and repeated relational patterns that compromise personal and professional growth. This session presents a trauma-informed framework designed to support high-achieving women in identifying, processing, and recovering from narcissistic relational abuse. Drawing upon over two decades of clinical experience, coaching expertise, and research-informed practice, Dr. Sage Breslin will guide participants through a four-pillar recovery model:
- Awareness – Recognizing covert and overt narcissistic behaviors and understanding their psychological impact.
- Deconstruction – Challenging internalized beliefs, cognitive distortions, and self-blame that perpetuate relational vulnerability.
- Reconstruction – Rebuilding self-efficacy, autonomy, and authentic leadership presence through practical boundary-setting and empowerment strategies.
- Integration – Applying recovery strategies in personal and professional contexts to sustain resilience, well-being, and long-term growth.
Through a combination of evidence-based research, interactive exercises, and real-world case studies, attendees will gain practical skills to immediately support themselves or their clients. Participants will learn to identify narcissistic relational patterns, implement trauma-informed interventions, foster authentic self-leadership, and promote emotional and relational resilience. The session will also explore measurable outcomes, including improved self-efficacy, boundary clarity, and relational stability, highlighting the transformative potential of structured recovery frameworks. The innovation of this session lies in its integration of psychological theory, trauma-informed clinical practice, and actionable coaching techniques. Attendees will leave not only with a deeper understanding of the dynamics of narcissistic abuse but also with concrete strategies to foster empowerment, autonomy, and sustainable personal and professional growth. This session is particularly relevant for social workers, clinicians, educators, coaches, and organizational leaders who support women navigating complex relational trauma, as well as for high-achieving women seeking evidence-informed pathways to recovery and self-leadership. By centering recovery within a strengths-based, trauma-informed lens, this session emphasizes not just surviving, but thriving. Participants will gain tools to reclaim their personal and professional power, rebuild confidence, and navigate relationships and leadership roles with clarity and resilience. This approach offers a replicable, practical framework that can be applied in therapeutic, educational, and organizational settings, ensuring that women emerge from narcissistic relational trauma not only healed but empowered to lead authentically from within.
