Services / Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Trauma can change the way you experience the world. You may avoid certain places, people, conversations, memories, or situations because they bring up fear, anxiety, guilt, anger, or painful reminders of what happened. Avoidance can provide relief in the moment—but over time, it can keep trauma at the center of your life.
In-person in Wyncote, PA · Telehealth statewide in PA & NJ
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) is an evidence-based treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) designed to help you safely confront what you’ve been avoiding, process traumatic experiences, and regain a sense of control over your life.
Your trauma happened to you.
It doesn’t have to keep controlling your life.
It doesn’t have to keep controlling your life.
What this looks like
Evidence-based
treatment for PTSD
Structured
and intentional
Certified clinicians
Akiva S. Harris · Dana Pierre Paul
What does Prolonged Exposure Therapy actually look like?
PE is structured and intentional. You won’t simply be asked to talk about your trauma without understanding why you’re doing it or where the work is leading.
Early sessions focus on understanding PTSD, learning how trauma and avoidance affect your life, and preparing you for the work ahead. Together with your therapist, you’ll identify safe situations, activities, places, or experiences you’ve begun avoiding because of the trauma and gradually begin re-engaging with them.
As treatment progresses, you’ll also revisit and talk through the traumatic experience in a safe, supportive therapeutic environment. This is called imaginal exposure. Your therapist will guide you through the process, help you monitor your distress, and give you space afterward to process the thoughts, emotions, and beliefs connected to what happened. Between sessions, you’ll complete intentional practice designed to reinforce the work you’re doing in therapy.
The goal isn’t to forget what happened.
It’s to change the power the memory has over you.
Over time, PE can help you learn that remembering your trauma is not the same as experiencing it again—and that the places, situations, emotions, and memories you’ve been avoiding don’t have to dictate how you live today.
You survived what happened.
Now you deserve the opportunity to live beyond it.
Now you deserve the opportunity to live beyond it.
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When everyone sees your strength, but no one sees your struggle.