ResIlience and Sexual health Empowerment (RISE)

  • Do you live in Ontario?
  • Are you a man who has sex with men?
  • Have you had anal sex without a condom in the past 3 months?
  • Do you experience symptoms related to PTSD or trauma?


If you answered YES to all of these questions, you may qualify for our study!

*not yet recruiting*

The HIV Prevention Lab is preparing to run a study on  cognitive processing therapy (CPT), a highly effective psychological treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with sexual risk reduction for gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men (GBQM) in order to also reduce sexually-transmitted blood-borne infections (STBBIs). Our study will provide data for a novel, innovative STBBI prevention intervention for GBQM with PTSD. This intervention, using CPT, builds upon empirically supported treatments for PTSD, including PTSD-related substance use, by adding risk reduction counselling to reduce STI/HIV sexual risk behaviour. The results of the trial will be used toward a future randomized control trial study testing the intervention.

Under the supervision of Drs. Trevor Hart, Nake Fuks, Candice Monson, and Allison Kirschbaum, our clinical psychology graduate students will conduct assessments and provide therapy for the study participants.

Participants eligible for this study will receive:

  • 4 assessments
  • 14 psychotherapy sessions
  • Incentives to participate

Dr. Hart is the Principal Investigator on this study. This study is supported by an Strategic SRC Initiative Grant from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Sex and Health Priority Announcement Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06463431

This study is currently under review by the Toronto Metropolitan University Research Ethics Board (2024-251)

We are currently recruiting student therapists and independent assessors for this study! If you are a clinical psychology graduate student in Ontario and are interested in clinical training, please contact hivprevmanager@torontomu.ca for more information.