A specialty of Elena Corral Therapy
Making sense of what happened.
Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT): a structured, evidence-based path through trauma for children, teens, and the caregivers walking beside them.
What this is
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, usually shortened to TF-CBT and sometimes written TFCBT, is a structured, evidence-based approach for children and teens after something frightening or overwhelming has happened. It was built specifically for young people and for the adults who care for them, and it has been studied for decades.
Where some therapies stay open-ended, TF-CBT has a shape. There are components we move through together, in an order that builds: steadiness first, understanding next, and only then the work of turning toward what happened. Nobody is asked to talk about the hardest thing before they have somewhere solid to stand.
Caregivers are part of the model, not an afterthought. Much of what helps a child recover happens between sessions: at bedtime, in the car, after a hard day at school. TF-CBT gives the adults in a child's life a way to be useful in those moments instead of helpless in them.
I am trained in TF-CBT, and I integrate it with my IFS and attachment-based work rather than running it as a rigid protocol. The structure is there, and so is room for the child in front of me: their relationships, their protective parts, and what their nervous system can hold on a given day.
What the work looks like
A quiet, honest shape to the hour.
We build skills for the feelings first
Before we go anywhere near the memory, we work on what comes up: naming feelings, calming a body that has learned to stay on alert, and finding what actually helps this particular child settle.
We make sense of it, gradually
First, what trauma does to a body and a mind: nightmares, jumpiness, anger out of nowhere, a stomach that hurts every school morning. Then, piece by piece and at a pace the child sets, we put words to the experience so it becomes a memory that can be held rather than a live wire.
We bring caregivers in, so support continues at home
Parents and caregivers learn the same language and the same skills, so the work does not stop when the session ends. There is usually room for the caregiver's own reactions too, because watching your child go through something hard leaves a mark of its own.
Who this is for
TF-CBT fits children and teens who have been through a frightening, dangerous, or overwhelming experience, whether a single event or something that went on for a long time, and who are still carrying it in their sleep, their moods, their bodies, or their behavior. It also fits the caregivers who want to help and are not sure how. Families who want a clear structure and a sense of direction often find TFCBT a comfortable place to start.
Questions
A few things people ask.
Also explore