Written Exposure Therapy (WET)

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Treating PTSD Symptoms through Writing

Written Exposure Therapy (WET) is a brief, 5-session treatment for PTSD in adults and adolescents ages 13 or older who have experienced a Criterion A traumatic event. WET helps people find new ways to think about a traumatic experience and what it means to them.

During each session, patients write narratives about their traumas in response to specific writing instructions. Writing about the event helps patients learn to experience a trauma memory with less emotional distress, tolerating negative feelings as they remember the event. Writing the narratives also helps patients become more comfortable with physical responses, like a rapid heartbeat or sweating.

After the writing portion of each session, patients talk with their providers about how the writing sessions can help them develop new ways of thinking about the event and how they interpret its meaning.

Writing about what they were thinking and feeling during the event, and then talking about the writing session with a clinical mental health provider, can help patients find relief from PTSD symptoms.

Training Requirements

WET Learning Collaboratives train teams from community based mental health agencies. Our model relies on clinicians training together with an administrative leader from their agency to ensure successful implementation and sustainability.

WET Learning Collaboratives include four (4) virtual training days, as well as a 2-hour assessment webinar and three 1-hour skills labs, with weekly clinical consultation calls between training dates.

Clinicians will:

  • Read the Written Exposure Therapy (WET) manual, which will be provided for you.
  • Attend all virtual training days.
  • Participate in weekly, 60-minute group consultation calls. Submit clinical data and audio recordings of certain sessions.
  • Provide a full course of WET to at least two clients by the end of the learning collaborative.

Senior Leaders will:

  • Attend sections of the virtual training days.
  • Participate in monthly group consultation calls.
  • Support their clinicians as they implement WET.

Team Member Requirements

Clinicians should:

  • Be a licensed clinical mental health provider in North Carolina. This includes clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, psychological associates, psychologists, child psychiatrists, nurse specialists or practitioners.
    • Note: Provisionally licensed applicants are welcome to apply.
  • Provide psychotherapy to at least 5 individuals aged 13 or older per week.
  • Preference will be given to clinicians who serve the NC Medicaid population or who have the ability to offer services free of charge.

Senior Leaders should have:

  • Administrative responsibilities within their organization and/or within the local mental health community;
  • Authority to make decisions within the agency (e.g., updating policies or procedures, budgeting for supplies, setting clinician caseload size); and
  • Ability to support the implementation of WET within their organization and/or across the community.

Who Should Apply?

Applicants are encouraged to apply as part of a team, which can bolster clinical implementation and model sustainability efforts both during and after the training period. WET Learning Collaboratives are designed to train agency teams, with 1 or more clinicians and an agency administrator that we call a Senior Leader. When reviewing applications, preference will be given to committed teams with a highly supportive Senior Leader; however, individual practitioners are also welcome to apply.

Is WET Right for Your Agency?

WET is a good fit for agencies with leadership and staff who strive to be trauma-informed in the services provided and are committed to evidence-based and evidence-informed treatment. The agency should have a referral base with a large number of clients or caregivers 13 and older with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

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