SITT for Therapists

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What do you believe brings your clients in to see you?

Clients present for therapy with complaints of relational conflicts, depression, anxiety, addictions, poor self-esteem, or general discontent. At the root of those symptoms is an unresolved story. Most clients have never made the connection between their present life challenges and their past hurts. Clients present with signs and symptoms, but it’s the job of the therapist to read the signs, translate the symptoms, trace them back to their origin, and from there, chart a course for recovery. Far too often, therapy has focused on the symptoms without paying attention to what precipitated them. We must learn to address the problem at the root rather than the fruit. The problem is seldom the problem. Usually, the presenting “problem” is actually a symptom of the problem.

Trauma is the “gateway” to a variety of psychological, emotional, physiological, social, and relational dysfunctions. Trauma, in one form or another, is what brings our clients into therapy. Unresolved, it continues to disrupt their lives. When people grow up in unhealthy, dysfunctional, or even abusive environments, they are ill-prepared for healthy living and relationships. Childhood adaptive states later become adulthood maladaptive traits. These are the people that most frequently show up in a therapist’s office.

Unresolved trauma is like an iceberg. People can steer around what they see on the surface, avoiding it as best they can, but what is under the water still threatens the ship. They can deny its significance, but what is below the surface will still collide with their life, creating damage and destruction.

When we don’t understand why people are sick, we can’t effectively prescribe a course of treatment. Unresolved stories of past trauma are at the heart of most people’s dysfunctions and disorders. It is all about our stories and the trauma they contain. That recognition is the beginning point for effective and life-changing therapy.

Story-Informed Trauma Therapy (SITT) is a structured, directive, phase-oriented therapy that utilizes the client's chronological life story to inform, process, and resolve past childhood trauma and challenge the associated dysfunctional learning.

Carianna Pritchett
Giselle Saia
Lisa Head
Michele Louviere
Sherrie Hutson
Virginia Walls
THERAPIST Experiences 3

Why Story-Informed Trauma Therapy?

  • SITT provides a clear, predictable course of treatment for past childhood trauma, helping reduce client anxiety.
  • SITT systematically moves through a client’s story from conception to presentation for therapy.
  • The SITT roadmap lets both the client and therapist know where they are in the process, reducing confusion and frustration.
  • SITT creates context for helping clients better understand the influences that shaped their past reactions and present choices.
  • Clients can better see how earlier events informed later choices and behaviors, reducing guilt and shame as adults.
  • SITT approaches healing Story Forward rather than Symptom Backward, unlike client-led approaches.
  • SITT introduces common trauma issues rather than depending on client disclosure, which may not occur in the natural course of therapy.
  • SITT is directive and therapist-led which confronts a fundamental trauma and PTSD response: Avoidance.
  • SITT is flexible enough to address and honor current events as and when they occur.
  • SITT is resistant to client avoidance, distraction, and deflections.
  • SITT enables the client to see progress as their story is processed, their wounds healed, and their life becomes more satisfying.
  • SITT offers a recognizable closure to the therapeutic work.
  • SITT is research supported and highly effective in treating and resolving the impact of childhood trauma.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

- C.S. Lewis

Where to start?

Get a sense of
what SITT is about

Watch the Childhood Trauma Survivor Workshop. This 5-hour training for childhood trauma survivors will give you a sense of who SITT is designed to serve and where this model is coming from.

Start your journey
with the Fundamentals

The Fundamentals of Trauma-Informed Care will give you a solid understanding of what SITT is intended to address and why. This training is the prerequisite to further SITT training.

Register for the next
SITT Training

Register for the next SITT Core Training. This 6-day event is offered annually in a live, online format and periodically in person at different locations.

Questions Therapists Often Ask

Many therapeutic approaches are client led. This creates a fundamental problem when you understand that childhood trauma is at the root of our client’s struggles. One of the primary responses to trauma exposure is the fear and avoidance of associated experiences in the future. Avoidance is also the central organizing feature of PTSD. Our minds tend to psychologically recoil from thoughts about painful experiences much like our hands physically recoil when touching a hot stove. That means that the very thing we need to talk about is what we avoid. Traditional therapeutic approaches support this avoidance when they encourage the client to lead the process. When clients enter therapy, they are paying therapists to take them where they need to go, rather than what feels comfortable in the moment. This requires us to know what they need and to be able to lead them compassionately into the difficult and painful places of their story.

Are you not seeing them, or are you not “seeing” them? Clients don’t generally present for therapy with concerns over their unresolved past trauma. They present with unmanageable lives, depression, anxiety, relational conflicts, or troubling behaviors. Their lives have become unmanageable and unsatisfying. They usually feel desperate for change. Unhealthy and dysfunctional patterns continue to express themselves in their lives. Those patterns are most often the result of family dysfunctions, childhood mistreatment, abuse, or other trauma exposure.

Most clients have never made the connection between their present life challenges and their past hurts. Clients present with signs and symptoms. It is our job to read the signs, translate the symptoms, and chart a course for healing. We must learn to address the problem at the root rather than the fruit. We have too often followed the client’s appraisal of the problem rather than inviting them to consider the cause. This frequently leaves people recycling through therapy without lasting change. Far too often, therapy has focused on the symptoms without paying attention to what precipitated them. The problem is seldom the problem. Usually the problem is actually a symptom of the problem.

One of the goals of the basic six-day SITT training is to provide you with a roadmap that you can begin to use with clients immediately. Consultation and peer supervision will help you sharpen your skills in applying the principles of SITT, but you will be able to start working with clients through the SITT model with confidence at the conclusion of the first training.

Story-informed Trauma Therapy was studied by Tulane University and found to provide a significant measurable reduction in PTSD symptoms and improvement in clients’ reported quality of life. GAF scores improved from a mean of 58 pre-treatment score to a mean post-treatment score of 77 across the sample studied. The study concluded that, “the overwhelmingly positive results of this initial outcome study suggest that…the model can be found effective and used with a broader population in need of trauma recovery.”
The first and greatest benefit to your practice is the satisfaction of seeing your clients change and grow in significant and permanent ways. We do this work because we want to help people, we want to be change agents. While there is a need for crisis intervention and brief therapy approaches, bearing witness to the transformative change in the life of a client through the SITT model is incredibly rewarding. Seeing and appreciating the fruits of your labor is motivating. Practically, one of the primary concerns for many therapists is how to generate adequate referrals to fill their caseload, especially for those in private practice. SITT requires a long term therapeutic relationship. This means less client turnover and more therapist satisfaction. It takes time for clients to work through their story to create permanent change. The more satisfied your clients are with their progress, the more they refer their friends to you as well. Soon your primary referral source can become your own past and present clients.

Until your clients know, understand, and accept their stories, their unresolved story will continue to disrupt their lives. The symptoms that bring them into therapy may change, but the source of their struggles will persist. SITT addresses the origin of the disruptions, bringing healing, recovery, and permanent change. Most clients really do want to grow and experience healing. They want their relationships to be satisfying, they want to find contentment, they want to experience a sense of value, and they want to establish healthy lifestyles. What they need is a guide that understands the journey and can lead them there with compassion and competence.