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Trauma - Treatment and Recovery

What to expect when receiving treatment for trauma at Ontario Shores

Experiencing negative thoughts after a frightening or traumatic event can deeply impact your life. You are not alone and it’s normal to experience these negative thoughts and behaviours. You may even feel like you will never get your normal life back.

It’s important to know through counselling and therapy you can get your life back and there will be support for you along the way.  

Ontario Shores has a team of professionals who will provide you with specialized treatment options focused on identifying how these experiences changed your thoughts and beliefs, how your thoughts influence your current feelings and addressing ways of thinking that might get in the way of your recovery from the trauma-related symptoms.

We will be there to support you and help you learn how to cope with the memories and address the problems the trauma has caused.

Program Overview

You will be connected to a clinician trained to assess and treat PTSD at the Traumatic Stress Clinic through Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), offered in a group or individual setting.

What to Expect

At your first appointment, you will meet your therapist and begin the pre-treatment assessment process. During this stage, you and your therapist will determine if trauma-focused therapy and CPT specifically are the right fit for you and ensure that you are wanting to engage in the treatment. The process takes approximately four to six sessions and consists of assessments, developing a relationship with your therapist and introduction to tools and information that will be used to guide the treatment.

The program is typically four to six months long, involving assessment before and after participation in CPT.  CPT consists of approximately 12 weekly individual or group therapy sessions offered both in-person or in virtual format.

During this time, you will be supported by trained mental health professionals who will support you in: 

  • Identifying and challenging unhelpful, negative thoughts through structured therapy sessions
  • Writing down/discussing traumatic events you have experienced 
  • Providing information on common reactions to trauma
  • Learning skills to manage your own thoughts and beliefs 
  • Completing out-of-session practice assignments applying what was discussed during therapy

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Program Outcomes

You will also learn ways to reduce the stress, guilt and feelings associated with the memories of the trauma and ultimately improve your day-to-day living. Should you and your clinician decide that you may benefit from other services, an individualized list of resources will be provided and reviewed with you prior to being discharged from the clinic.

The results of our program outcome studies consistently demonstrate that more than 80% of people who complete treatment in this clinic experience measurable improvements in their PTSD symptoms by the end of therapy and they continue to maintain these gains one month after therapy is over.  In other words, people get better and stay better when they continue to use the skills they were introduced to while in therapy.

Self Help

Self-Help Resources

While you wait for service please review these self-help resources

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