PTSD & trauma treatment · Arlington, VA

Outpatient PTSD & trauma treatment in Arlington, Virginia

EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and prolonged exposure — delivered through PHP, IOP, and outpatient care for veterans, first responders, and adults in Arlington, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia.

Call (571) 586-2883 Find my level of care

Most insurance accepted
Day & evening IOP tracks
Telehealth for Virginia residents only

Medically reviewed by the VABH Medical Team

When treatment helps

Trauma symptoms we treat

Trauma doesn't have to be recent, catastrophic, or combat-related to qualify. What matters is whether it's still shaping how you sleep, work, and relate to people.

Intrusive memories & flashbacks

Images that arrive uninvited in the middle of a workday, or moments where part of you is back there entirely. Intrusion is the symptom people recognize as PTSD — it's rarely the one causing the most damage.

Hypervigilance you can't turn down

Scanning rooms, sitting with your back to the wall, startling at a door. The threat system is still running the protocol that once kept you alive, long after the danger ended.

Nightmares and broken sleep

Waking at 3 a.m. soaked through, dreading bed, running on four hours for years. Sleep is where untreated PTSD does much of its quiet damage — and it's one of the first things treatment reliably improves.

Avoidance and numbing

Steering around a street, a person, a conversation, a whole set of feelings. Life narrows one avoided thing at a time until the world is small enough to feel manageable.

Complex and childhood trauma

Not one event but years of them — abuse, neglect, an unsafe home. Complex PTSD shows up as shame, difficulty trusting, unstable relationships, and a nervous system that never learned what safe feels like.

Drinking or using to sleep or stay calm

Alcohol at night, cannabis to shut the mind off, pills for the edges. Substances flatten trauma symptoms briefly and worsen them over time. Roughly half the people we treat for PTSD are managing both.

How we treat PTSD

Stabilize first, then process — at a pace you set

PTSD is one of the most treatable conditions in behavioral health when the protocols are used properly and the nervous system has support underneath the work.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing — one of the most-studied trauma treatments available. It processes stuck memories so they lose their charge, without requiring you to narrate every detail out loud.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

A structured, evidence-based protocol that targets the beliefs trauma leaves behind — about blame, safety, trust, and control — and rebuilds them on accurate ground. Typically 12 sessions with clear, measurable progress.

Prolonged Exposure (PE)

Gradual, collaborative approach to the memories and situations avoidance has walled off. Paced with you, never sprung on you, and consistently one of the strongest outcomes in trauma treatment.

Psychiatric evaluation & medication management

Board-certified evaluation and, where indicated, our medical staff may prescribe sertraline, paroxetine, venlafaxine, or prazosin for trauma nightmares — with a deliberate approach to benzodiazepines, which tend to worsen PTSD long term.

DBT & nervous-system regulation

Grounding, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation skills built first, so there's a floor under you before trauma processing begins. Stabilization is not a delay in treatment — it's the part that makes treatment hold.

Dual-diagnosis trauma care

When PTSD and substance use travel together, treating either one alone usually fails. We treat both under one coordinated plan, with clinicians who understand how the two feed each other.

Levels of care

Trauma treatment programs, from PHP to aftercare

Most people aren't sure which level of care they need — that's what the assessment is for, and you can step up or down as things change.

015 days/week · ~6 hrs/day
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Our most structured outpatient trauma program. Daily group and individual therapy with psychiatric oversight while you sleep at home — the right level when symptoms are interrupting work, sleep, and daily functioning.
023–5 days/week · day or evening
Trauma-focused IOP
Several sessions a week of EMDR or CPT, skills groups, and psychiatric care, with morning and evening tracks so treatment fits around a job. The most common level of care for PTSD that weekly therapy hasn't shifted.
03Weekly · ongoing
Outpatient therapy & medication management
Weekly trauma therapy, ongoing medication management, and skills groups that consolidate gains after intensive programming ends.
04When safety comes first
Higher level of care (vetted partners)
When inpatient psychiatric care or medically supervised withdrawal management is the safer first step, we coordinate placement with trusted, vetted providers and take the guesswork out of the handoff — then resume your plan when you're ready for outpatient care.

Take the 2-minute care quiz See all mental health treatment

Across the river from Maryland

Convenient for Maryland commuters

Our Arlington center is a short drive from Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and the broader Maryland suburbs. Many clients choose in-person PHP and IOP here because the commute is manageable and the program fits around work. Telehealth is available for Virginia residents between in-person visits.

Common questions

PTSD treatment questions, answered

Do I have to talk about what happened?

Not in the way most people fear. EMDR requires very little verbal detail, and CPT focuses on present-day beliefs rather than a full retelling. You control the pace, and stabilization skills come before any processing work begins.

Do you treat veterans and first responders?

Yes. Arlington and the DC region are full of service members, veterans, federal employees, police, fire, and EMS. Our clinicians are familiar with operational trauma, security-clearance concerns, and the culture that makes asking for help feel like a liability.

Can I get treatment if my trauma wasn't 'bad enough'?

Yes. There's no severity threshold you have to clear. Car accidents, medical events, assault, childhood neglect, a difficult birth, sustained workplace abuse — if it's still driving your symptoms, it qualifies for treatment.

How long does PTSD treatment take?

Structured protocols like CPT run about 12 sessions and EMDR is often 8–15, though complex or repeated trauma usually takes longer. PHP typically runs 2–4 weeks and IOP 6–12 weeks, with weekly therapy continuing afterward.

What if I'm drinking or using to cope?

That's expected, not disqualifying. We treat PTSD and substance use together in one integrated plan. If you need medically supervised withdrawal management first, we coordinate that with a vetted partner and pick your care back up right after.

Does insurance cover PTSD treatment?

Most major commercial plans cover outpatient mental health treatment, including PHP and IOP. Our admissions team verifies your benefits and tells you the expected cost before you commit to anything. Self-pay options are available if you're uninsured.

Do you offer telehealth for trauma treatment?

Yes, for Virginia residents — our clinicians are licensed in Virginia, so telehealth sessions are available statewide, including virtual EMDR. In-person care at our Arlington center is open to Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC residents.

In-person trauma treatment at 5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA for VA, MD, and DC residents. Telehealth for Virginia residents only.

If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 911. Veterans can press 1 after dialing 988.

Get help today

Talk to someone who's done this before

Whether you're calling for yourself or for someone you love, the first conversation is free and completely confidential.

Admissions — 24/7(571) 586-2883
Location5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA

Insurance accepted

Insurance coverage for PTSD treatment

EMDR, CPT, and trauma-focused outpatient care are covered under the behavioral health benefits of most commercial plans — Anthem, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Sentara Health Plans, UMR, and Johns Hopkins Health Plans. We verify coverage before you commit to a schedule.