Cognitive Processing Therapy
CPT helps you change the beliefs that got stuck after what happened so your brain and body can finally stand down.
If you just want to move on... but instead, you're stuck replaying the past, questioning every decision, and blaming yourself; CPT might be a good fit for you.
When Therapy Has Felt Like It Wasn’t Going Anywhere
If you’ve tried therapy before and walked away feeling like nothing changed, you’re not alone. Many men come to me after spending months…or even years…talking about their experiences without seeing real progress. That’s because not all therapy is designed to treat trauma. Traditional talk therapy can be helpful for support and insight, but it doesn’t always provide the structured, evidence-based tools needed to actually reprocess trauma and break the cycle of guilt, avoidance, and overthinking. If therapy in the past felt like venting without direction or if you left every session feeling just as stuck, it’s not because you “did it wrong” or “can’t be helped”, you just might need an approach that’s built to actually work for trauma.
Some reasons why therapy might not have worked for you in the past:
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Talking about what happened can feel helpful at first. It can bring relief, validation, and insight. But insight alone does not resolve trauma. Trauma changes how the brain and body respond to reminders of the past, and that requires a structured approach to change those patterns.
Many forms of therapy focus on understanding emotions, improving communication, or processing life stress. Those can be valuable goals, but they are not the same as trauma treatment. Trauma work is more active. It targets avoidance, stuck beliefs, and the ways your nervous system still reacts as if the danger is happening now.
If past therapy felt supportive but did not lead to real change in your symptoms, it may not have been designed to treat trauma directly. That is not a reflection of your effort or your capacity to heal. It simply means you may need a treatment model that is built specifically for how trauma works.
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Therapy only works when you feel like the person across from you gets it. If you’ve ever sat in a session feeling like your therapist didn’t really understand your experience, avoided tough conversations, or just nodded along without giving clear guidance, you’re not alone.
Many men struggle with therapists who are either too passive or too focused on emotional deep dives without offering practical solutions. A strong therapist isn’t just there to listen; they should be able to challenge you, guide you, and actually help you make progress.
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Trauma therapy isn’t about showing up and just talking, it needs a plan. If your past therapy felt aimless, like you were having the same conversations over and over with no real change, it’s likely because there wasn’t a structured approach. Evidence-based trauma treatments like CPT, PE, and NET follow a clear roadmap designed to help you move forward. Therapy should have a defined purpose, measurable progress, and an end goal…because real healing isn’t about staying in therapy forever; it’s about learning the skills to handle life on your own terms.
What is CPT?
An evidence-based treatment designed to help people who feel stuck in the aftermath of trauma.
Instead of just talking about what happened, you learn to retrain your brain to process memories differently, so they stop controlling your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Who is CPT For?
People who are haunted by guilt, shame, or self-blame.
If you say things to yourself that make you feel like shit about what happened?
If you run scenarios in your head, trying to change the outcome?
If you have endless coulda, shoulda, wouldas or find yourself Monday morning quarterbacking your own experiences
CPT can help you break out of these cycles
What to Expect in CPT
CPT is a structured, time-limited treatment (typically 12 sessions). You’ll learn how to:
Identify and challenge distorted trauma-related thoughts.
Shift from blame and regret to a more balanced perspective.
Regain control over how your past affects your present.
Why CPT Works
Trauma warps your thinking. CPT gives you the tools to see things clearly again, so you stop being stuck in endless “what ifs” and start moving forward.
Not sure where to begin?
Let’s connect, and together we will determine your best next step.