For 20 years, I’ve been teaching and researching men’s psychology: helping men spot the habits that trip them up and figure out how to change them.
Always on edge?
Constant sense of looming threat?
Complex trauma can affect sleep, emotions, relationships, and coping, sometimes showing up as nightmares, anger, substance use, or distance from people you care about.
Patients Come to Me When They
- Feel on edge
- Struggle to relax
- Can’t sleep
- Have strong emotions
- Relationship strains
- Use substances
- Are anxious or hypervigilant
- Feel stuck
This pattern is common among people who were required to be self-reliant for too long.
What Trauma Therapy With Me Is Like
With the right therapy, trauma symptoms can go away in 2-to-4 months.
Therapy with me is structured, collaborative, and focused on helping you feel more in control in weeks, not years.
I’m direct, practical, and guided by evidence-based trauma treatments that help symptoms shift. These therapies include the active ingredients found to create the most change in peoples’ lives. Many of my patients start noticing emotional relief within a few months.
Modalities I Use
Schema Therapy
Helps uncover old survival roles and beliefs and gives you new ways to respond instead of repeating the past.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Examines stuck thoughts about trauma and reduces guilt, shame, and self-blame.
Prolonged Exposure and Written Exposure Therapies
Helps process memories safely to decrease avoidance, fear, and hypervigilance.
Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR)
Builds skills to manage emotions and improve relationship communication, boundaries, and clarity.
Thrive in New Ways
With steady support, a series of small wins become big changes.
After Therapy With Me, Patients Report
- Emotional steadiness
- Better sleep
- Feeling safer
- Healthy relationships
- Confidence at work
- Enjoying hobbies and free time
- Ability to handle stress
- Freedom from old patterns
Let’s chat.

About William Elder, PhD
I specialize in trauma psychology and have worked in a range of settings, including as the director of a Veterans Administration hospital PTSD Clinic, and training of other psychologists in trauma-focused therapy. I understand why trauma symptoms develop and how to resolve them.
We’ll move at a pace that feels manageable, using evidence-based methods to help trauma symptoms ease and create healthier patterns.
Availability: I see patients online in Utah + Texas. Also PSYPACT authorized.
Education, Credentials, & Trainings
- PhD, Counseling Psychology, University of Utah
- BS, Psychology and Gender Studies, University of Utah
- Pre-Doctoral Internship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship at South Texas Veterans Health Care System
- Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
- Licensed Psychologist: Utah and Texas
- PSYPACT authorized provider
- Advanced training in trauma therapies, including CPT, PE, ACT, DBT skills, Unified Protocol, STAIR, CBCT
- APA Division 51 Practitioner of the Year
- APA Division 44 Distinguished Professional Contribution
3 Steps To Get Started
Contact Me
Send a message and share what brings you in.
Brief Consultation
We’ll talk about what brings you to therapy and I’ll outline what to expect.
Meet for a Session
We’ll create a treatment plan to achieve your goals.