We take time to understand how OCD shows up for you — the patterns, triggers, and ways you’ve learned to cope, for better or worse. This usually begins with one or two sessions focused on exploring what your symptoms look like and how they interfere with your life. It’s also how we determine whether OCD is the right diagnosis, or whether something else may better explain what you’re experiencing.

I use a structured assessment tool to help us map your symptoms, including past experiences that may no longer feel relevant but still influence how OCD operates today. Seeing the full picture helps us get to the core of OCD — understanding its patterns so we can begin developing a more skillful way of responding to it.

Once we’re oriented to how OCD shows up for you, we begin looking more closely at how it works.

We spend time looking closely at how OCD operates — what’s happening in the brain and nervous system, the patterns and cycles that keep anxiety going, and the subtle ways OCD pulls you toward certain responses. We also explore why specific steps — like facing fears and refraining from compulsions — are necessary to interrupt the cycle.

OCD can feel confusing and overwhelming, but at its core it operates in a surprisingly simple, predictable way. With clarity, its patterns become easier to recognize in the moment. Confidence grows within you. This understanding doesn’t make the work effortless — but it does make it workable. It becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

With a clearer view of the pattern, we can begin identifying where change is possible.

Together, we identify the situations, thoughts, sensations, and uncertainties that trigger anxiety — ranging from subtly uncomfortable to deeply distressing. Rather than rushing into the hardest things first, we take time to map this terrain thoughtfully, noticing where avoidance and rituals tend to show up.

This map becomes our guide. It allows us to move with intention and care, ensuring the work is challenging enough to foster change while still feeling manageable and sustainable.

Rather than avoiding what feels difficult, we start practicing a different relationship to it.

At your pace, we intentionally and skillfully approach the thoughts, urges, and situations that trigger OCD — with guidance and support, and without engaging in compulsions or reassurance.

With repeated practice, your nervous system learns that fear and uncertainty can be present without requiring action or avoidance. Anxiety is allowed to rise and fall on its own, and the urgency to perform rituals gradually loosens. This is where the OCD cycle begins to unwind — and where you start responding with greater choice and freedom.

Over time, these moments of practice begin to shape how you move through daily life.

ERP is not about erasing fear — it’s about learning that OCD doesn’t have to run your life. You get to kick it out of the driver’s seat.

Through continued practice, reflection, and support, the skills you’ve been developing begin to take root. Over time, compulsions lose their urgency, anxiety becomes more workable, and you grow more confident in your ability to respond rather than react. The work becomes less about managing OCD and more about living your life with greater freedom and intention.