Guiding Women to Reclaim Their Power and Truth – Exclusive Interview With Dana Medvedev
- Brainz Magazine
- May 20
- 5 min read
Dana Medvedev is an Intimacy and Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coach, and a survivor who turned her own trauma into transformation. She is the creator of REVIVE, a powerful program guiding women through the deep work of healing after narcissistic abuse, emotionally, psychologically, and somatically. Known for her sharp intuition, raw honesty, and deeply empathetic presence, she holds space without sugarcoating. Her no-nonsense style cuts through victimhood and confusion to help women reclaim their bodies, boundaries, and brilliance. Her mission is personal: to help others do what she did, break the cycle, rebuild from the inside out, and come home to themselves.
Dana Medvedev, Narcissistic Abuse and Intimacy Coach
Introduce yourself! Tell us about your life so we can get to know you better.
Hi, I’m Dana Medvedev, Intimacy and Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coach, trauma survivor, and creator of REVIVE, a transformational program for women healing after emotional abuse.
I was born in Romania and now live in Amsterdam, where I work with women across Europe who are ready to break free from toxic relational patterns, reconnect with their bodies, and rebuild emotional and sexual self-trust.
This work didn’t start as a career choice. It started as survival. Coming from a narcissistic family system, I normalized emotional neglect, gaslighting, and self-abandonment. That led me into a long-term relationship with a narcissist. It didn’t explode overnight, it eroded me over time. When I finally reached the point of no return, I made a decision: I would never abandon myself again.
What followed was not a trend-driven healing journey. It was a full inner reconstruction, years of psychoanalysis, embodiment practices, trauma education, nervous system regulation, shadow work, and rebuilding my identity from the ground up.
But the truth is, my passion for the human psyche started much earlier. At 12, I was reading Dostoevsky. At 15, Freud’s theories on sexuality. I’ve always been obsessed with what drives people, how trauma shapes us, and what it takes to break free. That obsession became a path. Today, I combine deep intuitive work with trauma-informed coaching and over 900 hours of personal psychoanalysis.
Outside of work, I love lifting weights, reading psychoanalytic texts, walking through Amsterdam, and journaling with palo santo burning beside me. My cat, Musette, is my co-regulator and part-time co-therapist.
I speak directly, hold space deeply, and challenge the idea that healing has to be soft or spiritualized. For me, real transformation starts where performance ends.
Authenticity doesn’t earn applause. It earns freedom. And I’ll take freedom, every time.
What inspired you to start your journey as a multidimensional guide?
Surviving narcissistic abuse, and choosing to no longer betray myself to be loved.
I didn’t end up in that kind of relationship by accident. I was raised in a narcissistic family dynamic where love was conditional and manipulation was normal. So when I found myself in a long-term relationship with a narcissist, it felt familiar. Until the cost became too high.
That relationship didn’t destroy me instantly. It wore me down subtly: gaslighting, guilt-tripping, emotional erasure. But underneath that was something deeper, my own loyalty to pain, my need to be chosen, my fear of taking up space.
The moment I chose to leave was the moment I chose to live differently.
From there, I didn’t “heal” to fix myself. I did the work to remember myself: psychoanalysis, somatic practices, trauma training, deep self-inquiry. Not for a title, for truth.
Over time, I saw that my story wasn’t unique, but my ability to name it, hold it, and guide others through it was. My clients weren’t just looking for insight. They needed someone who understood the psychological blueprint of narcissistic trauma and could guide them from confusion back into clarity, embodiment, and self-trust.
That’s what I do. And that’s why I do it.
How would you describe the core purpose of your offerings?
The core purpose of my work is to support women in recovering from narcissistic abuse, a form of psychological violence that distorts identity, erodes trust, and trains you to doubt your reality.
This isn't just about helping someone "move on" from a toxic ex. It's about rebuilding a woman's relationship with herself from the inside out, her body, her nervous system, her voice, her emotional world, and her capacity to connect without self-abandoning.
My REVIVE program is specifically designed for this depth of work. It integrates trauma-informed coaching, psychoanalytic insight, nervous system work, intuitive practice, and emotional integration.
The goal? Not just functionality, but freedom.
What transformation do your clients often experience through your work?
The shift is never just external. It’s internal. Deep. Cellular.
Most of the women who find me are high-functioning but emotionally shut down. They over-give, over-adapt, and live in a chronic state of second-guessing. They often don’t even recognize how far they’ve strayed from their own needs, truth, or body.
Through our work, that changes:
They stop gaslighting themselves.
They begin setting boundaries without guilt.
They reconnect to their body, desire, and intuition.
They shift from confusion and collapse into clarity and grounded self-worth.
What they often say is, "I feel like I’m finally home in myself." And that’s exactly what this work is about.
What message would you share with someone feeling disconnected from themselves?
Disconnection is not failure. It’s a survival strategy.
When you grow up in environments that punish honesty, punish need, or punish sensitivity, you learn to disconnect in order to stay safe. But what kept you safe then may be costing you your life now.
If you feel disconnected, it doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means a part of you had to go offline in order to cope.
The good news? You can come back.
Not by pushing or performing, but by slowly choosing truth, safety, and self-relationship over and over again.
You don’t need to become someone else. You need to come home to the person you were before the world told you who to be.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
Leaving a narcissistic relationship and realizing I had spent years shaping myself around someone else's dysfunction was the most pivotal moment of my life. It forced me to confront not just that relationship, but my own conditioning.
I didn’t just walk away from a person. I walked away from a pattern, from an identity built on performance, silence, and over-adaptation.
That decision started a new chapter. One that was no longer about being chosen, but about choosing myself.
And that shift? It changed everything.
What daily practice helps you stay grounded in your own spiritual path?
Presence. Embodiment. Self-inquiry.
Every morning, I light palo santo or sage and sit with myself. No performance, no filters. I ask: What’s here? What needs to be seen? What’s true today?
Movement keeps me grounded, whether walking, strength training, or simply breathing into my body. Writing is essential, too. I journal not to document my day, but to track my alignment.
This is how I stay close to myself, not through perfection, but through relationship.
My path is not about escaping the human experience. It’s about being fully in it, awake, honest, and embodied.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
Building a coaching practice that helps women recover from narcissistic abuse, not just emotionally, but at an identity level, is the most meaningful thing I’ve done.
Watching women go from collapse and confusion to clarity, boundaries, and full-body self-trust is powerful. It’s not just healing, it’s pattern-breaking. Lineage-shifting.
Creating REVIVE has allowed me to bring structure to that transformation, while still honouring each woman’s unique story and process.
But beyond programs and frameworks, what I’m most proud of is this: women from all over Europe, especially Romania, find me and say, "I didn’t know this kind of work existed. But now that I do, I can’t go back."
That, to me, is impact. And it’s just the beginning.
