Healing After Betrayal Support Group
Understanding Adult Relational Betrayal
Adult relational betrayal occurs when someone discovers that a trusted partner has engaged in sexual or emotional behaviors that violate the explicit or implicit agreements of their relationship. Whether this involves an affair, secret pornography use, online sexual activity, or patterns of compulsive sexual behavior, the discovery often leads to intense emotional and psychological distress.
This form of betrayal trauma ruptures the foundation of safety and attachment that intimate relationships depend on. The partner who once felt like a safe haven becomes a source of pain and confusion. Many betrayed individuals experience a painful internal conflict: they long for comfort and closeness yet fear further harm. This paradox—needing safety from the very person who caused injury—creates profound ambivalence and emotional turmoil.
Unlike other types of trauma, relational betrayal originates within a primary attachment relationship. The betrayal is not just a breach of trust; it is an attachment injury that disrupts a person’s core sense of stability, identity, and security. Survivors often question everything they believed to be true about their relationship and themselves:
“How did I not see this?”
“Can I ever trust again?”
“Was any of it real?”
These questions are normal attempts to make sense of a deep relational rupture.
The Body’s Response to Betrayal Trauma
When betrayal occurs, the body and nervous system register it as a threat. The shock of discovery can trigger symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, hypervigilance, difficulty sleeping, and emotional numbing. Many describe feeling on edge or disconnected, as if their bodies are frozen in survival mode.
Betrayal trauma activates both emotional and physiological alarm systems. The brain’s threat center becomes hyperactive, constantly scanning for danger, while reasoning and decision-making processes struggle to stay engaged. This dysregulation leads to cycles of panic, confusion, and exhaustion.
Because the person who caused harm is also the one the survivor is wired to turn toward for safety, the nervous system cannot easily resolve the contradiction. The body alternates between fight, flight, and freeze states, leading to emotional volatility or shutdown. Over time, this chronic activation may appear as anxiety, depression, distrust, or difficulties with intimacy. Survivors may feel detached from their own sensations, unsure of their perceptions, and unable to relax or experience pleasure.
Healing from betrayal trauma therefore requires addressing both emotional and physiological dimensions—retraining the body to experience safety again while rebuilding trust in one’s perceptions and relationships.
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Healing from Betrayal
Recovery from sexual or relational betrayal involves more than “moving on.” It requires understanding how trauma affects the body and mind, restoring self-trust, and rebuilding a felt sense of safety.
This betrayal trauma recovery group is designed for adults who identify as women or nonbinary and are navigating the emotional, relational, and physical effects of betrayal. The group provides a trauma-informed, attachment-based, and somatic approach to healing that integrates education, nervous-system regulation, and community support.
Participants learn how to:
Gain insight into the dynamics of betrayal trauma and relational healing
Develop strategies to regulate overwhelming emotions
Reconnect with self-trust, intuition, and boundaries
Build community with others who understand the experience of relational betrayal
Whether the betrayal was recent or occurred years ago, this group offers a compassionate, structured environment to begin reclaiming stability, clarity, and confidence.
What This Group Offers
1. Understanding the Dynamics of Betrayal Trauma
Many people minimize their symptoms after betrayal, assuming they should “get over it.” In reality, betrayal trauma is the body’s natural response to relational violation.
Group members will learn how betrayal affects the brain, attachment system, and body. Together we’ll examine common trauma responses—hypervigilance, emotional numbing, dissociation, or over-functioning—and how these patterns serve as protective adaptations.
Members will also explore the three stages of betrayal recovery:
Stabilization and Safety – grounding the body and emotions to establish stability.
Processing and Meaning-Making – working through grief, anger, and loss while rebuilding self-understanding.
Reconnection and Growth – re-establishing trust, intimacy, and self-agency.
Understanding these stages normalizes the recovery process and reduces shame, allowing participants to approach healing with greater compassion and perspective.
2. Developing Strategies to Regulate Overwhelming Emotions
Emotional regulation is central to recovery. When the nervous system remains in survival mode, even small triggers can feel overwhelming. Informed by somatic psychology and mindfulness practices, this group teaches tools to calm the body and restore balance.
Members learn grounding exercises, breathwork, and sensory-based techniques that support nervous-system regulation. These practices help reduce hyperarousal, manage intrusive thoughts, and increase the capacity for emotional resilience.
Cognitive and relational strategies—such as identifying triggers, reframing anxious thoughts, and cultivating self-compassion—complement this work. The goal is to help participants reclaim agency over their internal experience so that their partner’s past actions no longer dictate their peace.
The group experience itself fosters co-regulation: a process where the nervous system finds safety in the presence of attuned others. This relational support helps retrain the body to experience connection without fear.
3. Reconnecting with Self-Trust and Personal Boundaries
A hallmark of betrayal trauma is the erosion of self-trust. Survivors may doubt their intuition, memories, or ability to make sound decisions. They might replay past events, searching for clues or wondering how they missed warning signs.
This group helps participants rebuild confidence in their inner knowing through mindfulness and somatic awareness. By paying attention to subtle bodily cues—tightness, warmth, expansion, tension—participants learn to discern between trauma-driven fear and authentic intuition.
We also focus on boundary restoration, clarifying emotional, physical, and relational limits that support safety and self-respect. Boundaries are not punitive; they are protective structures that communicate one’s needs and values. Re-establishing them allows survivors to shift from hypervigilance to empowered choice, cultivating self-leadership and trust in their own judgment.
4. Building Community and Support
Healing from infidelity or sexual betrayal can feel isolating. Friends or family may not fully grasp the depth of pain or may unintentionally minimize it.
This group offers a community of validation and understanding. Within a safe, confidential, and supportive environment, participants connect with others who share similar experiences. Being witnessed and believed by peers provides a corrective emotional experience that fosters healing and resilience.
Relational healing happens in safe relationships. Experiencing empathy, non-judgment, and mutual support allows participants to begin trusting connection again—an essential step toward rebuilding intimacy and belonging.
Who This Group Is For
This group is open to adults (18+) who identify as women or nonbinary and live in Pennsylvania. It is intended for individuals healing from sexual betrayal, infidelity, or relational trauma in an intimate partnership. Participants may be at any stage of recovery—from early discovery to long-term integration.
You may benefit from this group if you:
Feel anxious, hypervigilant, or emotionally overwhelmed after betrayal
Struggle to trust yourself or others
Experience confusion, grief, or loss of identity related to betrayal
Want to understand your trauma responses and restore safety
Desire supportive connection with others who truly understand
Who This Group Is Not For
This group is not appropriate for individuals currently in an active abusive relationship, unsafe living situation, or acute crisis requiring a higher level of care. While the group provides psychoeducation and emotional support, it is not a substitute for individual therapy or crisis stabilization.
Our Therapeutic Approach
Our approach integrates:
Attachment-based therapy to address wounds of trust and safety
Somatic awareness to support nervous-system regulation
Mindfulness and self-compassion to cultivate balance and emotional grounding
Relational group support to foster co-regulation and belonging
Together, these modalities help participants engage with their experiences from a place of curiosity rather than fear, gradually restoring a sense of control and wholeness.
Why Healing in Community Matters
Betrayal trauma thrives in secrecy and shame, but healing grows through truth and connection. In this group, participants share at their own pace within a supportive and confidential space. Being seen, believed, and validated by others helps dissolve the isolation that betrayal often creates.
Through consistent connection, members rediscover their capacity for safety, resilience, and authentic relationship. Group healing reminds each participant that they are not alone and that trust—both in self and others—can be rebuilt.
Healing Is Possible
Recovery from betrayal trauma is nonlinear, but healing is absolutely possible. With education, emotional regulation, community support, and compassionate guidance, survivors can reclaim their sense of self, restore balance in the nervous system, and cultivate hope for the future.
Whether you are healing from infidelity, compulsive sexual behavior, or emotional betrayal, this group offers a space to be understood, supported, and empowered.
