Trauma Therapy

Our trauma work is built on the treatments with the strongest research support for post-traumatic stress. Prolonged Exposure (PE) helps you gradually approach the memories and situations you have been avoiding until they lose their grip. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) focuses on how the trauma changed what you believe about yourself, other people, and the world, and works through the beliefs that keep you stuck. Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a briefer option built around structured writing about the experience. Which one we recommend depends on your history, your symptoms, and how you prefer to work.

Whichever approach fits, treatment involves:

• A careful assessment of your history, symptoms, and goals
• Building the skills and structure to approach traumatic material safely
• In-session and between-session work on traumatic memories and the beliefs attached to them
• Systematic reduction of trauma-driven avoidance in daily life
• Support in reclaiming activities, relationships, and parts of yourself that trauma has narrowed

Trauma-Focused CBT and other evidence-based approaches may also be integrated depending on your presentation and goals.

Why it works

Trauma treatment works when it helps the brain and body process what they were not able to process at the time. Avoidance, while protective in the short term, keeps the traumatic material active. So do the conclusions trauma tends to leave behind: that it was your fault, that no one can be trusted, that you are never safe. Structured, well-paced treatment gives you the chance to face what happened and re-examine what it taught you, on your terms, so it stops running the present.

Trauma treatment at Commonhealth is offered by two clinicians, with care matched to your history, your goals, and the approach that fits best.

Dr. Lindsey Salerno is trained in Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and evidence-based trauma treatment. Her approach is structured, warm, and paced to the client, drawing from Inhibitory Learning Theory to guide the exposure work. She takes the responsibility of trauma treatment seriously, and works collaboratively with clients to build a treatment plan that reflects both the clinical evidence and what matters to the person in the room.

Dr. Alexandra Nicoletti is certified in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and trained in Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). Her training in VA, residential, and integrated medical settings centered on trauma and post-traumatic stress, including trauma that occurs alongside substance use. She offers affirming care for LGBTQIA+ clients, and works with clients to choose the treatment that fits how they want to approach what happened.