Prolonged Exposure Therapy For PTSD

14-15 July, 2025

A Live, Interactive Webinar

Description:

This intensive 2-day module provides training in Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy, an evidence-based treatment for PTSD described in the manual, Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD – Therapist Guide, by Foa, et al., 2019. Participants are expected to be familiar with the evidence base supporting PE prior to attending the workshop. The workshop covers the theoretical support for PE and reviews the main clinical techniques used in the standard protocol. Step-by-step instructions for conducting PE therapy sessions, including in vivo and imaginal exposure, along with strategies for working with over- and under-engaged patients and other difficult cases, are shared. Videotaped examples of PE cases are used to demonstrate therapist skills. Participants will practice PE techniques in role-plays during the workshop, and they must attend both days. (Foa et. al, 2022; McClean & Foa, 2024; Peterson et.al, 2023)

Total CE Credits: 14

Total Contact Hours: 14

Learning Objectives:

Following the training, attendees will be able to:

1. Explain underlying theories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that have informed the development and use of Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy.

2. Formulate a rationale for PE that builds rapport, improves client motivation, and increases treatment adherence. 

3. Demonstrate an effective method of breathing that reduces client arousal and promotes distress tolerance. 

4. Design an individualized avoidance hierarchy designed to systematically confront core fears. 

5. Use in vivo exposure to block trauma related avoidance. 

6. Apply imaginal exposure exercises to reduce the intensity and frequency of PTSD symptoms. 

7. Choose homework assignments that deepen exposure-based learning and further treatment goals. 

8. Distinguish “hot spots” in the trauma memory in order to more efficiently reduce the intensity of associated symptoms. 

9. Analyze exposure exercises to facilitate new learning and modify client's unhelpful, trauma-based cognitions. 

10. Integrate new strategies to revise unhelpful cognitions that promote avoidance and maintain symptoms. 

11. Evaluate PE outcomes using standardized procedures and use assessment data to refine treatment planning. 

12. Modify exposure techniques in a theoretically consistent manner to improve accessibility and clinical outcomes for specific patients.

Target Audience: For behavioral health providers who treat military personnel, veterans, and their families.   

Instructional Content Level:   Intermediate

Agenda: 

Continuing Education:

Course Completion Requirements: Participants are required to attend the entire training. Partial credits cannot be issued. Attendance is taken through the use of electronic logs, and a post-training evaluation form must be completed in order to receive ACE social work CE credits. For other CE credits, completion of the evaluation is strongly encouraged, but if you do not wish to complete the evaluation, please contact the training event's POC after the training event.  

There is a 30-day time limit post-training to complete all CE requirements. CE Credit Certificates will be made available via CE21 within 30 days after all course requirements have been completed. 

American Psychological Association Sponsor Approval:

The Center for Deployment Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Center for Deployment Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

Association of Social Work Boards Approved Continuing Education Provider Approval:

The Center for Deployment Psychology, #1761, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program.  Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers.  State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit.  The Center for Deployment Psychology maintains responsibility for this course.  ACE provider approval period: May 19, 2022 – May 19, 2025.  Social workers completing this course receive 14 Live, Interactive Webinar continuing education credits.

New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology Provider Approval:

The Center for Deployment Psychology is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0178). 

New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work Provider Approval:

The Center for Deployment Psychology is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (#SW-0744).

Inquiries regarding CE credits may be directed via email to Will Tiwari at william.tiwari@usuhs.edu.

Participate:

Online Platform: Second Life 

Date: 14-15 July, 2025

Time: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm Eastern 

Registration Information:  https://deploymentpsych.org/training

Registration Deadline: Registration will close one week prior to the class start date.

Cancellations/Questions: Please contact william.tiwari.ctr@usuhs.edu if you have any questions or need to cancel your registration.

Registration Cost/Refunds: This training is free for those with a .mil email address and $45.00 for all others. Registration fees will be refunded to participants who send a written cancellation via email to William Tiwari at william.tiwari.ctr@usuhs.edu no less than 2 weeks before the training. No refunds will be made after the training.

Required Materials: PE Manual: Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD – Therapist Guide, by Foa et al., 2019 (2nd Ed). This can be purchased from either Oxford University Press directly or from many other booksellers.

Location Information: Online via Second Life  

Instructional Format: This live webinar is fully interactive. Attendees may ask and answer questions throughout the presentation and participate in instructor-led discussions.

System Requirements:   

Second Life:

• High-speed Internet connection, Cable or DSL

• Operating System: Windows 8, 10 or higher, Mac OS X 10.9 or higher

• Hardware: 2 Ghz processor or higher, 1GB RAM or higher

• Graphics Card: Windows - NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better OR ATI Radeon 9500 or better OR Intel 945 chipset, Mac - ATI Radeon 9200 and above OR NVIDIA GeForce 2, GeForce 4

Special Accommodations: If you require special accommodations due to a disability, please contact William Tiwari at william.tiwari.ctr@usuhs.edu 4 weeks prior to the training so that we may provide you with appropriate service.

Grievances: For any grievances or concerns with this training including those related to course content, non-receipt of certificate or other occurrences, participants may contact CDP’s Continuing Education Director, Ms. Amanda Milochik, via email at amanda.stanley-hulsey.ctr@usuhs.edu.   

Instructor Biographies: 

Kelly Chrestman, Ph.D., is a Senior Military Behavioral Health Psychologist at the Center for Deployment Psychology. She provides training, support and consultation in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and in the Assessment and Treatment of PTSD.

She works with the team at CDP to find new and better ways to link clinicians with both traditional and innovative resources that will help them implement EBPs more effectively. This includes leveraging computer technology and virtual assets to reach professionals that might otherwise have difficulty accessing high quality training and consultation.

Before coming to CDP, she trained at the National Center for PTSD in Boston, and at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Edna Foa. She is a Subject Matter Expert in Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD and has trained numerous students and mental health professionals across the world in techniques for treating PTSD and other anxiety disorders. She also spent several years working closely with Native American Tribes where she focused on adapting evidence -based practice to better meet the needs of Indigenous communities.

She is co-author of the Adolescent PE Manual, Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Adolescents with PTSD, and has written about community and professional responses to trauma, particularly domestic violence and sexual assault. She is also a co-developer of the Virtual PTSD Learning Center and Operation Avatar, a game-based educational experience about trauma and combat-related PTSD, both hosted in the Second Life Virtual World platform.

Paula Domenici, Ph.D., is a Director of Training & Education at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland. She manages and implements training programs to enhance mental health providers' knowledge of military culture and evidence-based psychological assessments and treatments.  She oversees Star Behavioral Health Providers (SBHP), a training and referral program that is expanding access to community-based mental health care for service members, veterans, and families. SBHP is building a national network of military-aware civilian providers who support the military community and can be located in an online therapist directory. Dr Domenici specializes in trauma and the treatment of PTSD using Prolonged Exposure Therapy and trains clinicians in these topics. When she joined CDP in 2006, her first position was at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland working in the outpatient clinic and inpatient casualty care unit. Earlier in her career, she was an APA Congressional Fellow in Washington, DC, as well as a Staff Psychologist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center in California. Dr. Domenici is licensed as a psychologist in Virginia and California.

**There is no commercial support or conflict of interest to report for these presenters.