Loading…
Prepare for a visit to the trauma site, record predictions, and process the experience afterwards to update the trauma memory.
Site visits help update the trauma memory by providing new, present-day information about the location. Plan the visit carefully with your therapist, record your predictions, and afterwards note what was different from your expectations.
Use as part of the behavioural experiments component of CT-PTSD, when avoidance of the trauma site (or similar locations) is maintaining PTSD symptoms. Typically introduced in the middle-to-late phase of treatment after initial reliving work.
Frame the site visit as a planned experiment to update the trauma memory with new information — specifically, that the location is now safe and that 'then' is different from 'now.' Collaboratively plan every aspect of the visit, including timing, companions, and coping strategies.
If visiting the actual site is not feasible (e.g., it is geographically distant or no longer exists), use Google Street View or photographs as an intermediate step. For clients with multiple trauma sites, prioritise the one most central to current avoidance and re-experiencing.
Do not plan a site visit if there is any realistic ongoing danger at the location. Avoid if the client is engaging with the visit as a form of self-punishment rather than therapeutic processing. Ensure adequate reliving and cognitive work has been completed first.
The therapeutic power of the site visit lies in the contrast between the client's trauma-based predictions and their actual experience. Ensure they make specific predictions beforehand (e.g., 'I will feel as terrified as I did then') and process the discrepancy afterwards. A follow-up reflection strengthens the learning.
Suitable for clients working with ptsd, site visit, ct-ptsd, ehlers, clark, trauma, stimulus discrimination. This tool can be used as a standalone worksheet or as part of a structured homework plan.
Create a free account to access 10 worksheets per month.
Practise and record the use of grounding techniques when experiencing flashbacks, dissociation, or overwhelming emotions.
Explore how the traumatic event has affected your beliefs about yourself, others, and the world.
Write a structured impact statement exploring how the trauma has affected your beliefs about safety, trust, power, esteem, and intimacy.
Identify triggers that activate trauma memories and systematically compare the original trauma context with the present reality to reduce flashback intensity.