The Protect+ Relationships Series

See the red flags. For your kids, and for you.

Four workbooks that grow with your child from age 4 to 17, and a two-volume guide for adults. Clear, honest lessons on spotting red flags early and knowing what safe, healthy love looks like.

Leading a school, church, or group? Bring Protect+ to your group.

Protect+ Relationships: Littles, ages 4 to 6 Protect+ Relationships: Kids, ages 7 to 9 Protect+ Relationships: Preteens, ages 10 to 12 Protect+ Relationships: Teens, ages 13 to 17 Protect+ Relationships for Adults, Volume 1 Protect+ Relationships for Adults, Volume 2

Why It Matters

It starts long before it looks like harm.

Many abusive situations seem harmless at first. They start with small red flags that are easy to miss or explain away. Love bombing, guilt, secrecy, and gaslighting are just a few.

Some unsafe people appear charming, caring, and deeply understanding. That is what makes these patterns so hard to see, and why learning about boundaries, empathy, honesty, and self-trust matters at any age. The sooner, the better.

  • Equipped, not afraid. The goal isn't to fear people. It's to recognize patterns and feel empowered to protect your voice and your choices.
The Root of Bigger Harm. A tree diagram: controlling relationship patterns can take root before the danger becomes clear. The roots are toxic behaviors: manipulation, secrecy, isolation, pressure, love bombing, boundary violations, guilt, emotional dependency, unhealthy attachment, emotional blackmail, and gaslighting. The trunk is toxic relationship patterns. The branches are serious harms: extremist groups, online dating scams, cults, online exploitation, narcissistic abuse, human trafficking, and domestic violence. Education about emotional safety, boundaries, empathy, honesty, and self-trust matters. These patterns can increase vulnerability, but they do not determine the future.

The Books

One series. Four ages. Lessons that grow up with them.

Each workbook covers the same core ideas at a level your child is ready for. Older books build on earlier lessons and add new red flags, boundaries, and skills.

Littles cover

Littles · Ages 4 to 6

Learning What Safe and Kind Love Looks Like

Simple stories and pictures help little ones tell real kindness from tricky kindness. Gentle lessons on feelings, honesty, saying "no," and who to tell when something feels wrong.

  • 17 lessons
  • Read together
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Kids cover

Kids · Ages 7 to 9

Building Respectful, Kind, and Safe Connections

Kids learn to notice bossy, jealous, and put-down patterns in friendships and families. They practice the respect, loyalty, and confidence that healthy connections are built on.

  • 23 lessons
  • Read together
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Preteens cover

Preteens · Ages 10 to 12

Recognizing Red Flags and Building Boundaries

As friendships get more complicated, preteens learn to name red flags like jealousy, being cut off, and having their name smeared. They learn to set boundaries that protect their self-worth.

  • 29 lessons
  • Guided
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Teens cover

Teens · Ages 13 to 17

Spotting Toxic Patterns and Staying True to Yourself

A self-guided workbook for friendships, relationships, and online life. Teens learn to read coercion, isolation, and image-over-reality, and the signals of a relationship worth keeping.

  • 36 lessons
  • Self-guided
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  1. For grown-ups first. Each book opens with parent pages on why these patterns are so hard to see.
  2. Red flags. Named, explained, and practiced with stories and activities.
  3. Staying safe. What to do, who to tell, and how to speak up.
  4. Strong inside and green flags. Confidence, self-trust, and what healthy love looks like.

For adults · In the works

Read their playbook before the game.

The Complete Guide to Narcissistic, Emotionally Abusive & Toxic Relationships is a two-volume guide for adults. It focuses on behaviors, not diagnoses. It names the tactics that keep people confused, hooked, and stuck, so you can see them clearly and they lose their power.

Protect+ Relationships for Adults, Volume 1

Volume 1

Understanding Manipulation, Control & Toxic Relationship Dynamics

Recognize the patterns. Learn how harmful people build attachment, protect a fragile image, twist reality, and take control. Then understand why it is so hard to see from the inside.

  • Red flags from love bombing and future faking to gaslighting, DARVO, and moving the goalposts
  • Why good moments don't erase harm: trauma bonds, intermittent reinforcement, and the cycle
  • Why red flags get missed, why people stay, and who gets targeted
  • Personality patterns, including the narcissistic mask, injury, and collapse
Protect+ Relationships for Adults, Volume 2

Volume 2

Understanding Escalation, Recovery & Healthy Relationships

Living, leaving, and healing. The red flags that escalate into isolation, fear, smear campaigns, and financial or spiritual control. Then the practical steps to protect yourself and get free.

  • Coercive control in dating, marriage, divorce, co-parenting, family, work, and church
  • Boundaries, grey rock, low contact, and no contact
  • Leaving safely, documenting evidence, and post-separation abuse
  • Grieving the fantasy, whether forgiveness is required, and moving forward

Every red flag is marked by how serious it is

  • Serious Warning. Deserves attention even on its own.
  • Pattern Warning. Concerning when it repeats or shows up with others.
  • Context Matters. Can be healthy or not. Look at the whole picture.
Get updates on the adult books

The Protect+ App · Coming soon

Learn the red flags a few minutes a day.

A private companion that helps you learn the patterns and make sense of the relationships in your own life.

  • Daily red flag lessons Short, game-style lessons and quick quizzes that make the red flags stick.
  • An AI guide when something feels off Talk it through with a guide grounded in the Protect+ books and the work of leading experts and researchers.
  • Private relationship profiles Build a profile for each relationship, log what happens, and see which red flags keep showing up.
Get launch updates

Coming first to iPhone, with Android to follow.

Red flag of the day

Gaslighting

You clearly remember them yelling at you last night. Today they say it never happened and you're "too sensitive." What's going on?

Maybe I remembered it wrong This could be gaslighting It's only a problem if it happens a lot Continue
Early design concept

Community · Coming soon

Community & Workshops

A private community for survivors of toxic relationships and narcissistic abuse. Join workshops on spotting red flags, hear exclusive podcast episodes, and connect with others in a members' forum. You don't have to figure this out alone.

Get launch updates
Diary of a Narcissist Addict: Surviving Toxic Relationships, Narcissism, and Cults. Podcast cover art.

For adults · Coming soon

Diary of a Narcissist Addict

Surviving Toxic Relationships, Narcissism & Cults

True stories of life with narcissists, from family and friendships to work, faith, and cults. A trauma bond can pull like an addiction. This show is about seeing it clearly and breaking free. From Protect+.

Get launch updates

Survivor Stories

Your story could help someone see sooner.

Read real stories from people who have lived through toxic relationships, narcissistic abuse, and cults. Every story is read personally and shared only with permission. You choose whether to stay anonymous.

Workshops & Speaking · Coming soon

Bring Protect+ to your group.

Protect+ works with groups and organizations to help adults and youth recognize harmful patterns, set healthy boundaries, and protect themselves in every kind of relationship: at home, at work, in faith communities, and online.

Workshops

Interactive sessions for organizations, businesses, support groups, churches, and schools. Adults and youth leave knowing how to spot red flags, respond to manipulation, and set boundaries that hold.

Presentations & Speaking

Talks for conferences, businesses, organizations, churches, support groups, schools, and community events. Topics include narcissistic abuse, coercive control, cults and high-control groups, and raising kids who know their worth.

How it will work

  1. Join the launch list with a few details about your group.
  2. When bookings open, we'll email you a link to schedule a call about your goals, audience, and timing.
  3. Together, we'll plan a talk or workshop that fits, in person or virtual.

Coaching · Coming soon

Support for you, one on one.

Private coaching for adults working through a toxic relationship or healing from narcissistic abuse, and for parents and caregivers helping a child through one. All sessions are on Zoom, so you can join from anywhere.

20 minutes · Free

Intro Call

Talk about what's going on and whether coaching is the right fit. No pressure and no commitment.

60 minutes

Single Session

Talk through one relationship or situation and sort out which red flags you're seeing. Parents can also use a session to help a child through a hurtful friendship or relationship.

4 sessions · 6 to 8 weeks

Session Package

Understand the patterns, learn to set boundaries, and plan your next steps safely, with support along the way.

Rates are shared on your free intro call.

How it will start

  1. Join the waitlist with a short, private note. You don't need to tell your whole story.
  2. When coaching opens, we'll email you a link to book your free 20-minute intro call.
  3. If it feels like a good fit, we'll plan your sessions together.

Coaching is not therapy or counseling. If you need a therapist or are in danger, we'll help point you to the right support.

Contact

Get in touch.

Questions about the books, the app, or bulk orders? Send us a note. To book a workshop or talk for a group, use the group request form. For one-on-one support, see Coaching.

Sarah M. Ricks

Author & Founder

Sarah M. Ricks

"My hope is that you will learn what I wish I had known before the damage was done. Not so you become afraid of people, but so you become equipped."

Sarah's work begins with her own story. Over the years she faced harmful people in nearly every part of life: a cult, marriage, dating, friendships, the workplace, family, and even next door. Getting out of one unhealthy relationship often left her more vulnerable to the next.

The hardest part was that the danger rarely looked dangerous. The people who hurt her most often seemed generous and caring at first. Her instincts tried to warn her, but she doubted them and blamed herself instead.

In 2017, learning how human trafficking works helped her make sense of her years in a cult. She began working against trafficking and online exploitation, and since 2019 has studied narcissism, emotional abuse, and high-control groups.

Everywhere she looked, she found the same playbook: in cults, trafficking, online exploitation, and domestic violence. She built Protect+ to share the lessons she needed years ago, so others can see the warning signs sooner.

Sarah is also a filmmaker and writer, with a B.F.A. in Film and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, and an M.A. in English and Creative Writing (Screenwriting) from Southern New Hampshire University.

Sarah Ricks

A Healthy Male Perspective & the Protect+ App

James Ricks

"For years I let my ex-spouse and my religion push me around, pretending everything was okay and holding on to their promises. They took what they wanted, one lie and broken promise at a time, until I was almost completely erased. Leaving both opened the way to a new freedom, and now I stand my ground with clear, firm boundaries."

James knows firsthand what it takes to walk away from a high-demand religion and rebuild a life on his own terms. He is still walking the long road of co-parenting after divorce, and he has a special heart for parents facing high-conflict co-parenting.

He and Sarah co-hosted a small church group for people healing from spiritual and emotional abuse. Together they discovered what it takes to create a truly safe space, and they designed and led a curriculum to help people recognize who is safe and learn to trust again.

Today, James works alongside Sarah on Protect+ workshops and speaking events. He designs, builds, and runs the Protect+ app, and he brings a healthy male perspective to the Protect+ podcast, community, and social media.

James Ricks

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