Our civilian PTSD treatment program offers individual therapy for people who have experienced a traumatic event in adulthood and are struggling to cope with distressing posttraumatic stress reactions that have interfered with their daily functioning.

This treatment program is offered as part of a clinical research trial. The government has funded our Clinic with research grants to investigate treatments for PTSD. These research grants enable us to provide a free and specialist service.

To be eligible for this treatment program, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • The event you are seeking treatment for must have occurred in adulthood,

  • You need to have experienced PTSD for longer than one month after the traumatic event, and

  • You must be able to comprehend and speak English.

Unfortunately, because of the limitations of our research, we are unable to provide treatment for childhood trauma or trauma related to domestic violence. 

  • If you are seeking treatment for childhood trauma, please contact the Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. 

  • If you are seeking treatment for domestic violence, please contact the Domestic Violence Line on 1800 656 463.

Treatment will involve 11 weekly one-on-one sessions with an experienced Clinical Psychologist, each lasting approximately 90 minutes. We are providing assessments and therapy in our clinics at UNSW Randwick and at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research or via videoconferencing for people who cannot attend one of our clinics.

What is the treatment?

Many international studies have concluded that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is the best form of treatment for PTSD. After a traumatic event, many people have significant difficulties dealing with what happened, including intrusive and distressing memories and nightmares, combined with much anxiety. CBT deals with these problems by having people think directly about the traumatic event and to do this is in a way that helps reduce their distress. After a traumatic event, many people also change how they see themselves and the world. This is often accompanied by feeling “low” or “flat” and some people may report a loss of interest in things that usually brought them joy. To address these problems, CBT teaches people how to understand and change thinking patterns, face their fears, and re-engage with their life post-trauma.  

Many studies have shown this approach helps most people overcome their PTSD. However, we continue to try ways to make this treatment work even better. Our current treatment trial is examining how increasing positive mood as an addition to CBT can help people respond better to treatment. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated by chance to our gold standard CBT or CBT plus this additional component.  

  • You are welcome to contact our Clinic by phone or email. We will then walk you through an over-the-phone intake process to determine whether our treatment programs will be suitable for your needs. You will be asked some questions about your trauma exposure and how it is affecting you. This conversation should take approximately 30 minutes.

    If we think this program is right for you, we will proceed with a full assessment and then commence the program.

    You can find more information about our enrolment process and waitlist here.

  • If you need treatment but you are unsure whether this program will be appropriate for you, please feel free to contact us for further information or referral options.

More information about PTSD can be found here.

Note. This study is ethically approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (HC200094).