OCD Therapy with ERP
In San Marino, minutes from Pasadena
Evidence-based treatment for OCD with a licensed therapist trained in Exposure and Response Prevention. In-person in San Marino, minutes from Pasadena, and online throughout California.
When OCD Takes Over
OCD can feel relentless.
Intrusive thoughts, images, sensations, or doubts can create fear, disgust, guilt, or a desperate need for certainty. Compulsions may provide temporary relief, but over time they can consume more of your attention, your time, and your life.
You may find yourself checking, researching, reviewing conversations, avoiding certain situations, seeking reassurance, confessing, or repeating things until they feel “right.”
Even when you know logically that the fear may not make sense, it can still feel impossible to let go.
The good news is that OCD is treatable.
Therapy can help you change your relationship with intrusive thoughts, reduce the power of compulsions, and begin reclaiming the parts of your life that OCD has made smaller.
How OCD Therapy Can Help
Therapy for OCD is not about proving that your fears are impossible or helping you feel completely certain.
Instead, treatment focuses on changing how you respond to uncertainty, intrusive thoughts, uncomfortable feelings, and the compulsions that keep the cycle going.
The foundation of my work with OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), but I also utilize Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
In our work together, we will identify the situations, thoughts, sensations, and uncertainties OCD has taught you to fear. Then, at a manageable pace, we will practice approaching those experiences while reducing the rituals, avoidance, and reassurance-seeking that keep OCD alive.
Treatment may include:
Learning new ways to respond to intrusive thoughts
Gradually facing feared situations while reducing rituals and compulsions through ERP
Building greater tolerance for uncertainty, discomfort, and doubt
Reducing reassurance-seeking, checking, avoidance, and mental rituals
Using ACT strategies to help you keep moving toward the things that matter, even when OCD is present
Helping family members reduce accommodation and respond more effectively to OCD
Practicing exposures outside the therapy office when real-world situations are an important part of treatment
Good exposure work should be collaborative, purposeful, and challenging enough to create change without becoming a test of how much distress you can tolerate.
My Approach
In my work with OCD, I primarily draw from ERP, ACT, and CBT.
I have completed specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention through the Cognitive Behavior Institute, and I continue to develop my OCD work through consultation and ongoing education.
ERP is the foundation of how I treat OCD because it is one of the most strongly supported treatments available. At the same time, I believe effective therapy should remain flexible, compassionate, and responsive to the person in front of me.
That means we decide together where to begin, how quickly to move, and what level of support will help you make meaningful changes.
Sometimes treatment means doing a structured exposure exercise.
Sometimes it means practicing not answering an obsessive question.
Sometimes it means allowing uncertainty to remain unresolved while continuing with your day.
And sometimes the most useful exposure is not something we can recreate inside an office. When appropriate, and logistically possible, we may work in the surrounding community or use situations from your actual life so treatment addresses the places OCD is really getting in your way.
OCD does not always show up by itself. I also work with clients whose OCD overlaps with ADHD, autism, or other neurodivergent traits. When helpful, I collaborate with psychologists, psychiatrists, and other providers so treatment reflects the whole clinical picture rather than treating OCD in isolation.
But however we work together, the goal is not to eliminate every intrusive thought.
The goal is to help those thoughts have far less control over what you do with your life.
Have Questions About OCD or ERP?
I’ve put together a detailed OCD FAQ covering intrusive thoughts, mental compulsions, ERP, reassurance, medication, childhood OCD, neurodiversity, and parent support.
Getting Started
I work with adults, teens, and selected younger clients with OCD. For children and adolescents, treatment may include direct ERP, parent involvement, or a combination of both.
I also use SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), a parent-based approach developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center. I completed training in SPACE with Dr. Lebowitz and use the model to help parents respond supportively to anxiety while gradually reducing accommodations that may unintentionally keep OCD going.
Learn more about OCD therapy for children, teens, and parents.
You do not need to be certain that what you are experiencing is OCD before reaching out. Some clients already have a diagnosis. Others simply know they are spending too much time checking, researching, reviewing, avoiding, seeking reassurance, confessing, mentally analyzing, or trying to achieve certainty that never quite lasts.
I begin with a free 20-minute phone consultation so we can briefly discuss what has been happening, what you are looking for from therapy, and whether OCD-focused treatment seems like a good fit.
If we decide to work together, the first few sessions usually focus on understanding how OCD operates in your particular case, identifying the compulsions and avoidance patterns keeping it going, and developing a treatment plan.
From there, we begin actively working on changing those patterns.
Session Frequency and Fees
My fee is $250 for a 50-minute psychotherapy session.
ERP is sometimes provided in longer appointments, including 90-minute sessions. In my practice, I often prefer two 50-minute sessions per week, particularly during active OCD treatment.
Meeting twice weekly can help maintain momentum, allow us to work actively on exposures, and still give you time to practice between appointments.
That does not mean everyone needs twice-weekly therapy.
For some clients, one 50-minute session per week is appropriate. Longer sessions may also make sense when we are doing an extended exposure or working outside the office.
We can decide together what frequency and format make the most sense based on the severity of the OCD, your treatment goals, and what is practical for you.
When treatment involves off-site work, additional travel fees may apply depending on the time and distance involved. Any additional costs would be discussed with you in advance.
I am a private-pay, out-of-network therapist and can provide superbills when appropriate.
OCD Therapy in San Marino and Real-World Settings
My office is located in San Marino, California, near the South Pasadena border and convenient to Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley.
I also provide online OCD therapy throughout California.
When clinically useful and logistically possible, ERP may extend beyond the office into real-world settings, including the home or other environments where OCD is getting in the way. Additional travel fees may apply for off-site sessions and would always be discussed in advance.
