Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)  are evidenced based therapies for the treatment of trauma. These are structured, short-term models that begin with an assessment of a client’s lifetime traumatic experiences and psycho-education related to their specific type of trauma. Next, a number of sessions are spent exploring strengths and developing a variety of coping skills. Establishing a solid foundation of coping skills is key so that  the client is better prepared to cope with their traumatic symptoms. Once a strong base of coping skills has been developed, the final phase of the model involves a detailed narrative of the trauma. At the outset this sounds like the most difficult part of the process, but surprisingly, many clients find the trauma narrative very manageable due to the time spent strengthening their coping skills. Compared to trauma therapies such as EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), clients find TF-CBT and CPT to be gradual and much more subtle ways of resolving issues with traumatic experiences.