Narrative Exposure Therapy for Trauma: Healing Through Your Life Story
What Is Narrative Exposure Therapy?
Narrative Exposure Therapy, or NET, is a short-term, evidence-based treatment for trauma that helps people make sense of their life stories. It is especially effective for individuals who have experienced multiple traumas over time, such as refugees, survivors of war or childhood abuse, or people living with chronic violence. In NET, clients work with a therapist to build a detailed chronological narrative of their life—integrating both traumatic and positive experiences.
Why Trauma Disrupts Life Narratives
Trauma can fragment memory and create a sense of confusion or disconnection from one’s own life story. People may remember certain moments vividly while others are blurry or missing. This fragmentation can contribute to symptoms of PTSD, such as flashbacks, avoidance, and hypervigilance. Narrative Exposure Therapy helps restore coherence to the life narrative, allowing the brain to process traumatic memories in the context of the full life experience.
How Narrative Exposure Therapy Works
NET involves constructing a timeline of significant life events, often using physical objects like stones, flowers, or string to represent traumas, joyful moments, and important milestones. The therapist helps the client tell their story in rich detail, focusing especially on the emotional and sensory aspects of traumatic events. Each event is revisited multiple times to allow for full emotional processing and memory integration.
What to Expect in NET Sessions
NET is typically delivered over 8 to 12 sessions and follows a consistent structure. After building a timeline, each session focuses on telling and refining the narrative of specific life events. The therapist listens attentively, asks clarifying questions, and provides emotional support. The narrative is typed up over the course of treatment, and the client receives a final written version of their life story at the end.
Who Can Benefit from Narrative Exposure Therapy
Narrative Exposure Therapy is especially useful for people with complex trauma, including refugees, survivors of childhood abuse, or those exposed to prolonged violence. It is also effective for individuals with PTSD who have experienced repeated trauma rather than a single event. NET can be delivered in individual or group settings and has been successfully adapted across cultures and languages.
How NET Supports Healing
By telling their story in full and in order, clients begin to reframe their experiences and reduce the emotional charge of traumatic memories. NET helps them reclaim agency, reconnect with a coherent sense of self, and reduce PTSD symptoms. It is not just about remembering—it is about transforming how those memories are held in the body and mind.
Finding a Therapist Trained in NET
Because narrative exposure therapy has a specific structure and intention, it’s important to work with a therapist trained in this model. A skilled NET therapist will guide the narrative process at a pace that supports safety, emotional tolerance, and meaning-making.
Telling the Whole Story
Narrative Exposure Therapy offers a path to healing by helping people tell the whole story of their lives—not just the painful parts, but the joyful, resilient, and meaningful ones too. By giving voice to what was once unspeakable, NET allows trauma survivors to feel seen, integrated, and free to move forward.
