A Fire is Coming

by Emma Stevens

When Emma Stevens learned her new next-door neighbor was a psychologist, she innocently asked about how to find a therapist for her own issues. Dr. Carol Brenner decided to accept her as a patient. Against a backdrop of the Laguna Beach Fire, the insidious drama unfolds as Emma finds herself enmeshed in an unhealthy dependency on her therapist, who not only fostered this dependence but also used it to dominate and control her. How could this happen? Emma explores how having been relinquished at birth, put up for adoption, and raised by parents who did not treat her well, may have created the fertile ground for an experienced predator-super-therapist to exploit and indoctrinate her. A Fire is Coming is a page-turning psychological nightmare, as Emma tries to escape the predators and narcissists in her life – who have their own egoic plan. Not only does Emma escape, she takes a hard look back at how and why it happened. Emma’s unflinching narrative serves as a cautionary tale to anyone who might find themselves a potential victim of an exploitative therapist or vindication for anyone who has had an adverse experience with an unethical professional. After escaping such a bewildering experience, Emma dives into the field of psychology, learning about adverse personalities and the power of a cultic relationship. Emma may have started her journey as a passive victim, but as she begins to integrate her experience, she becomes a brave witness and advocate for others who may find themselves on a similar path. * * * This book could have been titled When Courage Speaks. When courage speaks, the world as we know it shifts because we see things differently. We get empowered, smarter, more grounded in truth. Emma Stevens shows us what it means to be a brave human, a bold writer, and a human being who not only faced fire, but walked through it so she could help others by sharing her truths. * * * Emma Stevens’ book is an honest and revealing account of the cult phenomenon that is not isolated to what social media portrays them to be. This memoir exemplifies how cult-like thinking and behavior can occur on the interpersonal level. Anyone interested in learning more about how coercive control can occur in everyday life would benefit from reading Emma’s harrowing experience. * * * Emma Stevens’ brave and compelling new memoir shows how a therapist can use grooming, gas lighting, and the abuse of power in the therapeutic relationship to take over a client who’s in a vulnerable, transitional point in their lives. Her traumatic story serves as a warning to recognize when a healer is lighting a fire of abuse and control. —Janet Nordine, MS, LMFT, RPT-S

Hardcover

Published January 25, 2023

Reviews

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know it’s a good book when you have to set it down and have a good cry. You know it’s an exceptional book when you want to reread it as soon as you’re done reading it the first time.

Thank you Emma for bringing your tragedy to light and sharing with us how you survived. ❤️

[Margaret P Arvidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible story and very well written. It's a brave story of healing despite the odds and I hope we see more brave truth tellers to help protect us all from narcissistic, predatory therapists like the one who took advantage of Emma.

[Jupiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lori Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reader can feel the fire of longing Emma has for something lost. The yearning for the loss of her original mother ("my birth mother had me, but I never had her") was compounded by the utter unattachability of her second mother ("she handled me as if I was a newly purchased expensive piece of art"). Whereas an adept adoptive mother can help heal a primal wound -- as we see in A Fire Is Coming, a narcissistic one only exacerbates it.

And what is the result? An incredibly vulnerable person, who looks to anyone for connection. Predators are astute at assessing prey, and too many of them found Emma. Specifically Dr Carol Brenner, who, like a mother, was supposed to be more of a healer than a hurter.

Emma takes us through the harrowing journey of losing and reclaiming her power through sheer determination. It's a story of self-discovery and self-rescue I will not forget. When she writes herself, Emma Stevens rights herself.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for purposes of an honest review.

Lori Holden, author of The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole and co-author of Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies

[Mary Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m blown away by Emma Steven’s courage in writing and publishing her new memoir, "A Fire Is Coming," a very personal, deeply moving story. She walks readers through the experience of reaching out for healing through therapy, only to be manipulated by the therapist who was supposed to help her. It’s a cautionary tale for all adoptees who are beginning to search for answers to their own psychology. Emma has done a masterful job of digging through her own memory bank to detail how an adoptee’s vulnerability and the need for nurturing can be exploited by an unscrupulous person. This woman put Emma through the wringer. "A Fire Is Coming" is an absolute must read for all adult adoptees! Emma’s struggle is not an isolated one. Kudos to Emma for bringing this very dark time in her life to light in order to help other adoptees. Five stars out of five!!! -- Mary Payne, author of "Lyncoya: Andrew Jackson's Adopted Indian Son"

[Cindy McQuay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who has a therapist or is looking for one NEEDS to read this!