Common Challenges in the Delivery of PE

Who may attend:  Licensed mental health professionals or those working under a licensed mental health professional who have interest in and familiarity with prolonged exposure therapy.

Date: Thursday, September 11, 2025

Time: 9:00am — 12:00pm EST

Cost: $200.00 per person

Location:  Zoom webinar

Workshop Description: 

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) is the gold standard, evidenced based treatment for PTSD. Despite this, many therapists may not offer PE as a treatment option. Similarly, many patients with PTSD may opt for another type of trauma treatment and may receive therapy that does not help them reach symptom remission or improved quality of life. This workshop will provide an in-depth discussion of common clinical issues that can be barriers for efficacious and evidenced based delivery of PE in adults. Specifically, this workshop will address: common patient & therapist concerns in the delivery of PE, navigating avoidance, problem solving therapist response to trauma imaginals, trouble shooting challenging in vivo hierarchies, self care for therapists, and recognizing signs of burnout.

CE Learning Objectives

Following this presentation, participants will be able to:

· Recognize common difficulties in implementing PE

· Understand the role of therapist avoidance in delivering PE treatment

· Develop effective coping skills for handling fear or apprehension about delivering PE

· Use psychoeducation to help patients handle avoidance

· Identify several personal self-care options to cope while administering PE

· Differentiate between burnout and common responses to challenging cases

About the Presenters: 

Nora Brier, Psy.D. is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brier received her M.S. and Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2020 after completing her clinical internship at the VA in Hudson Valley, NY. Dr. Brier’s predoctoral clinical rotations included the PTSD/trauma and PTSD/DBT unit, as well as an outpatient anxiety rotation treating OCD, specific phobias, and social anxiety disorders. Clinically, Dr. Brier is certified in Prolonged Exposure (PE) for PTSD and Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention (EX/RP) for OCD and has extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and adults with OCD, PTSD, and comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders. Additionally, Dr. Brier has worked extensively with tic disorders, excoriation (skin picking), trichotillomania, and body dysmorphic disorders, and has extensive experience working with adolescents and adults with comorbid emotion regulation difficulties. Dr. Brier’s research interests include the intersection of PTSD and OCD in women, as well as the dissemination of evidence-based exposure therapy in the community. At the CTSA, Dr. Brier specializes in the treatment of PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, panic disorder, specific phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, excoriation disorder, and trichotillomania.  Dr. Brier has a deep interest in community-based dissemination of evidenced-based treatments for anxiety, specifically for diverse populations.

Erica Weitz, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Tufts University majoring in developmental psychology. Dr. Weitz received her PhD in clinical psychology from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  Upon returning to the US, Dr. Weitz completed clinical respecialization through the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology and completed an APA-certified clinical internship at Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Delaware. Dr. Weitz’s research has focused on improving treatment personalization by leveraging individual patient characteristics to increase efficacy of evidence-based treatments for mood and anxiety disorders as well as meta-analytic research examining overall quality and efficacy of treatments for depression and anxiety. Her clinical training has spanned settings and methodologies with a large focus on implementing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBTs) to treat mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders in outpatient mental health, community behavioral health, and hospital-based settings as a health psychologist on multi-disciplinary teams.  Dr. Weitz has developed specific expertise in treating issues related to women’s health and the perinatal period including, but not limited to, treating perinatal OCD, birth-related PTSD, and anxiety and mood disorders. At the CTSA, Dr. Weitz specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy with a focus in exposure-based methods for the treatment of OCD, PTSD, and anxiety-related disorders. 

Webinar workshop requirements:

• You must have utilities, internet service, phone service, and an appropriately private location at your home or office in order to ensure HIPAA compliance.
  • The private location should be free of noise and distractions. (If you are the parent of young children, appropriate child care arrangements must be in place.)
• You must agree to attend each hour of the video conference and agree to use video of yourself during the video conference in order to track attendance.
• You must agree not to copy or distribute workshop materials provided to you in the course of the workshop and not to audio or video-record the workshop in any form.

You will be asked to affirm the previous conditions and your agreement to them prior to the commencement of the workshop.

Continuing Education

Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Each program provides three (3) hours of CE credits for psychologists. 

PBTA is also an authorized provider for CE credits for Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Clinical Social Workers licensed in the state of Pennsylvania. Each program provides three (3) hours of CE credits.

In order to receive continuing education credits, participants must:

• attend each hour of the workshop (no late arrivals or early departures)
• complete a course evaluation

If both of these requirements are met, you will receive a continuing education certificate after the conclusion of the workshop.

Full attendance is required to obtain CE credits for this program. APA guidelines do not permit PBTA to issue partial CE credits. No refunds are provided for CE programs. No exceptions allowed.

Instructions for Registration

Registrations are due one week in advance and must be completed in full. 

To register, complete the online registration.

If you need to withdraw your application for any reason, please email Dr. Sandy Capaldi. Note that workshop fees are non-refundable after the application due date (one week before the start of the workshop).