A Personal Invitation from Dr. Kathleen Chard
Hi, I'm Kate Chard, and I need to be honest with you about something.
For the first 15 years of my career, I made people talk about their trauma. I'd make them cry. I'd make them tell it again. "Process your feelings," I'd say. Because that's what I was taught. That's what we all were taught.
But here's what I've learned after 30 years of doing this work: We blamed the client instead of blaming the therapy.
When patients struggled with exposure-based approaches, we didn't question the treatment. Instead, we created an entire language around "readiness" and "fragility." We decided our clients weren't ready—too complex, too dysregulated, too fragile to handle trauma work.
So we parked them in readiness groups and coping skills training. And now the research is clear: those approaches make patients worse. They're associated with the second-highest suicide rate in the VA system, while evidence-based treatment programs have the lowest rates.
I've run trauma clinics for 25 years. Not a single suicide. And that's not because I'm special—it's because evidence-based treatments work.
This is why CPT is different.
Your clients don't have to talk about what happened. They choose whether to use a written narrative or not. Instead of forcing them to relive the trauma, we work with what it means to them—the stuck points that keep them from recovering. We give them back their choice, their control, their voice.
And before you think, "But what about my complex clients?"—let me stop you there. CPT works across every trauma type we've tested, in 16 languages, across 45 countries. It works with veterans, civilians, sexual abuse survivors, people with substance use, personality disorders, suicidal ideation. The clients you think are "too fragile"? They're exactly who this is for.
Here's what I want to give you over these two days: The confidence I wish I'd had 30 years ago. The session-by-session roadmap that will let you walk back into your practice and actually help people heal—not just manage symptoms. The truth about what works, backed by solid research, not myths we've been carrying around for decades.
I'll show you videos. I'll answer your hardest questions. I'll address every barrier you're worried about—TBI, developmental delays, comorbidities, the clients you're convinced won't be able to do this work. We'll talk about how to make this fit in your real-world practice.
I'm not here to tell you CPT is the only answer. I'm trained in every evidence-based treatment for PTSD because I believe in finding the right fit for each person. But what I can tell you is this: CPT gives clients their power back. And after 25 years of watching people heal—people everyone else said weren't ready—I know it works.
So bring your skepticism. Bring your hard cases. Bring your questions.
When you leave, you'll have everything you need: the manual (free with registration), the worksheets, the scripts, the confidence. And most importantly, you'll be ready to look at that client who's been waiting—who's been told they're not ready—and say, "Let's do this. Let's help you get better."
Limited slots fill fast. I hope you'll join me.
—Kathleen Chard, PhD
Co-developer of CPT
Director, Trauma Recovery Center, Cincinnati VA Medical Center
P.S. — Your clients are ready. The question is: are we ready to stop underestimating them?
