Evidence-Based Treatment for OCD, Anxiety & Related Disorders

Collaborative, Consent-Based Care for Neurodivergent Brains

Soap bubble representing the OCD bubble in Inference-Based CBT—illustrating how intrusive doubts can feel real even when not grounded in reality

Learn How to Stop Doubting Yourself—and Start Trusting What You Already Know To Be True

OCD and anxiety can hijack your attention, distort your sense of safety, and make you question your own thoughts, memories, or intentions.

Whether you’re navigating this yourself or supporting a child trapped in distressing mental loops, you deserve support that centers clarity, collaboration, and care. I offer highly individualized, evidence-informed therapy for OCD and anxiety—especially when these experiences are shaped by neurodivergence.

My approach is grounded in consent, curiosity, and nervous system safety—not rigid protocols or pressure to “tolerate” overwhelming anxiety. Whether it’s harm OCD, moral scrupulosity, or relationship fears, we’ll work together to rebuild self-trust and move toward what truly matters.

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Who I Work With

I provide therapy for children (ages 10+), teens, adults, and caregivers of all genders and neurotypes navigating OCD and anxiety-related challenges throughout Maryland. My practice centers people who’ve felt misunderstood, dismissed, or unseen in previous care—particularly those who are neurodivergent, chronically ill, or multiply marginalized.

I work with clients navigating a wide spectrum of anxiety and OCD-related concerns, including:

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) including harm OCD, moral scrupulosity, contamination fears, health anxiety, relationship and identity-based doubt, and existential themes

  • PANS/PANDAS-related OCD and anxiety involving sudden-onset or flare-driven symptoms, mood shifts, or behavioral changes linked to immune and inflammatory responses

  • Phobias and panic including both fear-based and sensory-based aversions

  • Generalized anxiety experienced as chronic “what if” thinking, difficulty relaxing, decision overwhelm, or planning loops—especially during times of transition or change

  • Neurodivergent anxiety and rumination including social replay, rejection sensitivity, demand avoidance, and distress around unpredictability or loss of structure

  • Perfectionism-driven anxiety often tied to over-responsibility, fear of making mistakes, and pressure to meet impossibly high internal standards

  • Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) particularly when shaped by shame, perfectionism, or medical and gender-based trauma

  • Co-occurring OCD and eating disorders where themes of control, disgust sensitivity, and disrupted interoception often intersect

Many of my clients identify as ADHD, autistic, PDA, twice-exceptional (2e), trans, nonbinary, or medically complex. Some have been in therapy before and felt pressured to fit a model that didn’t match their needs. Others are seeking care for the first time and want something thoughtful, collaborative, and affirming from the start.

Whether your anxiety feels loud or invisible—whether you’re looping through intrusive thoughts, stuck in shame, or unraveling after a sudden change—you deserve care that honors your full experience, not just your symptoms.

OCD and anxiety can disrupt your life, making you feel trapped in cycles of intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. Recovery isn't about eliminating these thoughts entirely but about changing your relationship with them.

My Approach

I take an idiographic, formulation-based approach. That means I work to understand your (or your child’s) nervous system, sensory profile, developmental history, medical conditions, cognitive patterns, and the environments you’ve had to adapt to. I don’t treat OCD or anxiety in isolation. I consider how distress functions in your system, how it’s been shaped by experience, and what it may be protecting you from. Many of my clients report that previous therapy felt rigid, invalidating, or overly focused on symptom compliance. This work is different: it’s grounded in clinical precision, flexibility, and deep respect for your lived experience.

For those whose experiences are shaped by autism, ADHD, PDA profiles, or medical complexity, I integrate targeted supports for emotion awareness, sensory regulation, interoceptive awareness, executive functioning, and environmental stability. I also attend to differential diagnoses and comorbidities that may influence your presentation, including trauma, ARFID, PANS/PANDAS, and functional neurological symptoms when appropriate. These factors aren’t secondary—they inform what therapy can ask of you and what sustainable progress looks like.

While many traditional models emphasize intolerance of uncertainty in OCD, I conceptualize it as being rooted in obsessional doubt—a breakdown in internal trust. Trust in your memory, your perception, your bodily cues, or your moral compass. Your brain flags a threat—an intrusive thought, a feared identity, a catastrophic “what if”—and even if part of you knows it may not be true, the urgency feels real. Whether you’re caught in mental loops, outward compulsions, or watching your child spiral into rituals that don’t make sense from the outside, the distress isn’t just uncomfortable—it feels necessary. And yet, no amount of checking, avoiding, or accommodating ever fully resolves that doubt. These patterns might reduce anxiety in the moment, but they tend to reinforce the cycle over time. Effective therapy isn’t just about facing fear—it’s about expanding cognitive and nervous system capacity, shifting how you relate to intrusive content, and gradually restoring a stronger sense of internal trust.

I’m trained in a wide range of evidence-based treatments for OCD and anxiety—and we’ll work together to choose approaches that align with your goals, values, and nervous system capacity. I don’t default to exposure therapy—but when it’s the right fit, we’ll move at a pace that’s intentional, consent-based, and grounded in your readiness and lived experience. Exposure isn’t about forcing yourself through fear. It’s about building trust in your ability to move toward what matters, when you feel ready. And if exposure doesn’t feel right for your nervous system, that’s okay. We have other evidence-based treatments to choose from—because there’s no single roadmap to healing.

My work is deeply respectful of your sensory needs, trauma history, and neurotype.  I don’t use interoceptive exposures—such as exercises that intentionally induce dizziness, nausea, or changes in heart rate—as part of my work. For many neurodivergent and medically complex clients, these methods can be misattuned, dysregulating, or even harmful. When interoceptive or sensory integration support is part of the picture, I may recommend working with an occupational therapist who can guide that aspect of care with the nuance, training, and attunement it deserves.

Everything we do together is rooted in transparency, trust, and collaboration. If something doesn’t feel supportive, we pivot. You won’t be asked to override your instincts or force yourself into a rigid model. Instead, we’ll co-create a process that honors your nervous system, your lived experience, and your capacity to heal—on your terms.

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What to Expect

Whether you’re exploring therapy for yourself or seeking support for your child or teen, you deserve care that’s attuned, collaborative, and adapted to your context. I work with people across the lifespan and I tailor the process to meet the unique needs of each individual and family that I work with.

Beginning with Curiosity

Our first step is to slow down and get curious—rather than rushing into treatment protocols, we’ll take time to understand what’s actually happening beneath the distress. Together, we’ll begin to untangle patterns and build a clearer picture of what you’re navigating. That might mean exploring whether your experiences are best understood as obsessive-compulsive patterns, generalized anxiety, a specific phobia, sensory-based distress, or something else entirely. We may look at how compulsive checking overlaps with executive functioning challenges, or how rumination might reflect hyperresponsibility, hyperempathy, or a nervous system shaped by chronic invalidation or overwhelm. For some, what looks like anxiety may actually stem from autistic traits, trauma responses, rejection sensitivity, or immune-mediated conditions like PANS, PANDAS, or autoimmune encephalitis. Many traits of neurodivergence—like sensory sensitivity, emotional intensity, a need for sameness, or a deep sense of justice—are often misread as pathology. What looks like “obsessional slowness” may be executive functioning overload, repetitive behaviors may be self-regulating stims, and intrusive thoughts may reflect hyper-responsibility, gender-related fears, or a nervous system shaped by trauma. Slowing down helps us see these patterns more clearly—and respond with the care and nuance they deserve.

Assessment with Purpose

To make sense of what’s going on, I use a range of assessment tools—not to assign labels, but to better understand the patterns beneath your distress. Many of the clients I work with have been misdiagnosed, misunderstood, or pushed through rigid treatment without anyone asking why the distress was there in the first place. My approach is different: we slow down, notice patterns, and build a more accurate, compassionate picture—together. Depending on your needs, I may use a combination of structured questionnaires and sensory mapping tools to better understand your experience. These may include the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) to assess OCD symptoms; the Inferential Confusion Questionnaire – Expanded Version (ICQ-EV) to explore patterns of obsessive doubt and a tendency to prioritize imagined threats over sensory evidence; the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) to examine your relationship with physical sensations of anxiety; and the Disgust Scale–Revised (DS-R) to assess disgust sensitivity. I also draw from the Dunn Sensory Processing Framework to understand how sensory input and environment affect your regulation. When working with children, teens, or families, I may use the Family Accommodation Scale–Anxiety (FASA) to assess how anxiety-related behaviors are reinforced or accommodated at home. These tools help us clarify what’s really going on and shape care that actually fits you.

When More Clarity Is Needed

Sometimes—especially when anxiety overlaps with sensory sensitivities, executive functioning challenges, or a strong need for predictability—I may suggest exploring whether neurodivergence or a neuroimmune condition could be part of the picture.

That might involve:

  • A full diagnostic evaluation for autism and/or ADHD
  • An informal, neurodivergent exploratory process to build insight and guide care
  • A referral for medical testing related to PANS, PANDAS, or autoimmune encephalitis

These explorations aren’t about labeling you—they’re about ensuring we don’t overlook something vital. In some cases, full healing may require medical care, like immunotherapy, antibiotics, or medication. Without that clarity, therapy can feel incomplete or unnecessarily difficult. You deserve care that fully reflects your experience.

Collaborative Treatment Planning

Once we’ve mapped out what’s going on, we’ll begin shaping a treatment plan together. This is not a one-size-fits-all model. We’ll identify strategies that fit your values, your goals, and your nervous system—approaches that feel possible, sustainable, and aligned with how you move through the world.

You won’t be pushed into exposures you didn’t consent to, expected to suppress your needs, or asked to endure distress for the sake of a protocol. Everything we do is tailored to your sensory profile, lived experience, and developmental context. If something doesn’t feel supportive, we’ll pivot—without shame, and without pressure.

How We Work

Together, we’ll choose from a range of evidence-based approaches that best support your needs and preferences:

I-CBT targets the reasoning process that leads to obsessional doubt in the first place. It helps you notice when your thinking shifts from grounded, reality-based understanding into imagined threat. Instead of debating whether a fear is “true,” we focus on how the fear formed—and how to gently step out of the loop by reconnecting with what you already know.

This approach is especially helpful for those who find themselves mentally checking, seeking reassurance, or getting stuck trying to prove or disprove a fear. It offers a structured yet compassionate way to disengage from the doubt without needing full certainty to move forward.

I-CBT is often a good fit for clients who want a more insight-oriented model, especially those who are analytical, imaginative, or burned out on “just sit with the fear” approaches. It helps you build confidence in your inner knowing—without getting stuck in the content of the obsession.

MCT focuses on how you relate to your thoughts—not what the thoughts are about. It helps you break out of patterns like worry, rumination, and mental checking by shifting the mental habits that keep those loops going.

Rather than analyzing each fear or scenario, MCT teaches you how to notice when your mind is spiraling and gently disengage from it. You don’t need to solve the thought—you just need to stop giving it so much airtime.

This model is especially helpful for clients who get stuck in “what ifs,” replays, or mental debates, and for those who feel like they’re constantly trying to think their way to safety or clarity.

ACT helps you make space for difficult thoughts and emotions—without letting them run the show. Rather than trying to eliminate anxiety, ACT supports you in noticing what’s showing up internally while choosing actions that align with your values.

This approach centers psychological flexibility—the ability to stay grounded in what matters, even when things feel hard. Through mindfulness, values clarification, and somatic awareness, ACT helps you build a different relationship with discomfort so it no longer blocks you from living fully.

It’s especially helpful for clients who feel stuck trying to “solve” their thoughts or who’ve been told to just “challenge the anxiety.” Instead of fighting with your inner world, we work on creating space within it.

ERP is a highly effective approach for working with OCD, anxiety, and phobias. Whether you’re navigating fears related to contamination, vomiting, choking, medical procedures, or something else, ERP helps interrupt the cycle of fear, avoidance, and compulsive coping strategies that limit your life.

Rather than trying to eliminate fear or prove that nothing bad will happen, ERP supports you in learning how to be with discomfort—without relying on rituals, avoidance, or safety behaviors to feel okay. This process emphasizes agency, flexibility, and trust in your capacity to cope. Over time, it can help you shift your relationship with distress and uncertainty so these experiences no longer dictate your choices or restrict your life.

For clients navigating disgust sensitivity, sensory trauma, or feeding-related distress, I draw from  the Mastery Approach to Disgust-Based OCD and Avoidance and Neutralization Treatment for Disgust in OCD (ANT-Disgust CBT). These models recognize that disgust isn’t simply a subtype of fear—it involves different neural circuits, with disgust more strongly linked to the anterior insula and fear to the amygdala. Because disgust is processed through a more body-centered, visceral system, it often requires a different therapeutic approach.Instead of relying on habituation, we focus on reducing compulsions, staying grounded in your body, and gradually building confidence and capacity—even when discomfort persists. To support this work, we’ll incorporate accommodations, nervous system regulation tools, and sensory-friendly practices to ensure the process is accessible, sustainable, and attuned to your unique needs.

CBT can be useful for addressing unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors that fuel perfectionism, chronic worry, or mood challenges. It’s especially helpful when your inner critic is loud, or when you feel stuck in all-or-nothing thinking or people-pleasing loops.

While traditional CBT isn’t effective for OCD—and can sometimes make it worse—I integrate CBT tools selectively when they’re a good fit for your goals and presentation. You won’t be forced to do worksheets or thought logs unless they actually help.

CBT can offer structure and support for folks who want to build awareness of patterns and develop practical strategies to interrupt them.

SPACE helps reduce child and teen anxiety by supporting the caregivers in their lives—not by putting the focus on changing the child. It offers a clear, relational framework for responding to distress with warmth, structure, and steady leadership.

Rather than relying on accommodations like constant reassurance, avoidance of triggers, or shifting routines to prevent upset, SPACE guides caregivers in gently stepping back from these patterns—while still staying deeply connected and emotionally available. This approach is especially helpful when anxiety shows up through rituals, avoidance, school refusal, bedtime struggles, or high levels of reassurance-seeking. It empowers caregivers to lead with calm confidence, even when emotions run high.

SPACE can be a meaningful fit for families who want a new way to support their child—one that strengthens connection, fosters resilience, and respects the nervous system needs of everyone involved.

Some clients benefit from insight-based or metacognitive work. Others find that values-oriented strategies, accommodations, or consent-based exposures are more helpful. Therapy here is flexible, trauma-informed, and grounded in the belief that sustainable change happens through trust—not force.

Integrated, Individualized Support

As we move through this work together, we’ll keep honoring the real-life factors that shape your distress and your resilience—because OCD and anxiety rarely exist in isolation. For many of my clients, especially those who are neurodivergent or navigating complex systems, therapy isn’t just about symptom reduction. It’s about building a life that actually works for your brain and body.

That’s why I take a systems-oriented, whole-person approach. We may explore emotional regulation, interoception, sensory processing, executive functioning, or the impact of chronic illness, gender-based stressors, and other medical conditions. We’ll also consider how sleep, routines, accommodations, family dynamics, and cultural context shape your daily life. When working with children or teens, we look at how external demands and family rhythms can shift to create more support. For those with PDA profiles, this often involves guiding caregivers in using low-demand, autonomy-supportive strategies like declarative language, co-regulation, and collaborative problem-solving.

The goal is always connection, trust, and autonomy—not compliance. Your needs aren’t barriers to treatment—they’re signals that help us understand what’s really happening. I work idiographically, which means we focus on what your experience is trying to communicate, not how neatly it fits into a diagnostic category. This is therapy grounded in precision, attunement, and collaboration—shaped by your reality, not someone else’s checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is a parent-based treatment designed for children and teens experiencing anxiety or OCD—especially when therapy feels too overwhelming or they’re not ready to participate directly. In SPACE, I work with you—the caregiver—to reduce accommodations and shift interaction patterns that help your child build confidence and resilience, even if they don’t attend sessions themselves. It’s a particularly good fit for parents who feel anxious about their child’s distress and find themselves accommodating to avoid meltdowns, panic, or conflict at home.

The research shows that SPACE can be just as effective as child-focused therapy in reducing anxiety symptoms. It’s a strong, evidence-based option for families looking for meaningful support that honors a child’s readiness and autonomy.

If you’re planning to submit for out-of-network (OON) insurance reimbursement, we may need to include your child in the first session to establish them as the identified patient. If that’s the case, we’ll plan a brief, low-pressure introduction together. We can also explore private-pay options that allow for more flexibility if needed.

All clients begin with weekly therapy sessions, with a minimum commitment of three months to support continuity, build trust, and create meaningful momentum. Weekly sessions are especially important when working through OCD, anxiety, and other related concerns. For adults, sessions are typically 55 minutes. For children and adolescents, sessions are usually 45 minutes to better match their attention span and energy—though younger clients are always welcome to opt into longer sessions if that feels most supportive.

Because I don’t contract with insurance panels, I’m able to offer true flexibility in how we structure your care. If you’re needing extra support—whether during a flare in symptoms or a particularly stressful life period—you’re welcome to schedule more than one session per week. I also offer 30-minute booster sessions for focused support; 50-minute caregiver consultations (with or without the child or teen present); family and couples sessions when relational dynamics are part of what brings you to therapy or when systemic support can enhance individual work; and in-person or real-world exposures when clinically appropriate. For clients seeking deeper work, I offer intensives lasting 70 to 90 minutes. These are billed by combining a 30-minute session with a 55-minute session and can be especially helpful for exposure work, navigating complex challenges, or regaining momentum when things feel stuck. Off-site sessions are arranged on a case-by-case basis and include a travel and time-based fee.

After the initial three-month commitment, some clients shift to a biweekly schedule based on their needs, goals, and nervous system capacity, while others continue weekly. I do not offer monthly check-ins, as therapy is most effective with consistent engagement. Together, we’ll co-create a therapy structure that’s responsive, sustainable, and shaped around your real life—not one dictated by insurance limitations.

 

It’s a completely valid question—and one that doesn’t have a single answer. Healing looks different for everyone. For some people, progress means fewer intrusive thoughts, less avoidance, or reduced panic. For others, it might look like greater emotional regulation, clearer boundaries, or the ability to show up for life with more confidence and less shame. Often, it’s not about eliminating distress entirely, but about expanding your capacity to navigate it with clarity, skill, and self-trust.

My goal is not to keep you in therapy forever. I want our work to be effective, empowering, and time-limited whenever possible. Because I’m trained in a wide range of evidence-based approaches—including I-CBT, MCT, ACT, ERP, CBT, and SPACE—we can tailor our work to meet your specific goals and adapt over time as your needs evolve.

Sometimes, progress is slower than expected because there’s something more complex happening beneath the surface—like neuroimmune issues (e.g., PANS or PANDAS), trauma that’s been missed or minimized, or undiagnosed neurodivergence. I also work with many clients navigating co-occurring OCD and eating disorders. In these cases, it’s important to understand how malnutrition can hijack the brain—increasing cognitive rigidity, heightening emotional dysregulation, and significantly intensifying OCD and anxiety symptoms. Part of our work may involve stabilizing the nervous system through adequate nourishment and building a more secure relationship with food and the body.

What makes therapy effective isn’t just applying the right techniques—it’s working with someone who can see the full picture and help connect the dots. I’m not here to manage surface-level symptoms; I’m here to help you understand what’s actually happening and what will truly support your healing. Many clients start to notice meaningful shifts within a few months of consistent weekly therapy. Others may need more time, especially when navigating complex histories or systemic stress. That’s not a setback—it’s a reflection of what your system has carried. We’ll define what “getting better” looks like for you, and move at a pace that feels grounded, sustainable, and aligned with your values.

 

Session Fees

I offer several session formats with a tiered pricing model designed to balance accessibility and sustainability. Each tier reflects the true value of this work and helps me maintain a low-volume, high-attunement practice. The more people who choose the Pay-It-Forward rate, the more Accessible Rate spots I can offer—no hoops, no paperwork, just care rooted in equity and mutual respect.

 All sessions are self-pay, and I provide superbills for those seeking out-of-network reimbursement.

Learn more about Fees & Insurance →

Initial Intake
(60-75 minutes)

  • Accessible: $275
  • Standard: $350
  • Pay-It-Forward: $425

Adult Psychotherapy
(55 minutes)

  • Accessible: $185
  • Standard: $255
  • Pay-It-Forward: $325

Child & Adolescent Therapy
(45 minutes)

  • Accessible: $175
  • Standard: $245
  • Pay-It-Forward: $315

Focused Session
(30 minutes)

  • Accessible: $135
  • Standard: $170
  • Pay-It-Forward: $205

Caregiver Support
(50 minutes)

  • Accessible: $185
  • Standard: $260
  • Pay-It-Forward: $325

Family/Couples Therapy
(50 minutes)

  • Accessible: $195
  • Standard: $275
  • Pay-It-Forward: $345

You deserve care that truly sees you—or your child—not just the symptoms. Whether you’re seeking support for yourself, your teen, or your child, you won’t be routed through an app or matched by an algorithm.

This is real therapy with a real human—not AI-generated advice or therapy delivered by clinicians juggling unrealistic caseloads under corporate demands. Just me: a licensed private practice therapist offering attuned, neurodivergent-affirming care grounded in consent, curiosity, and deep respect for your lived experience.

This is an intentional investment in care that is skilled, sustainable, and centered on your full humanity. You’re choosing privacy, agency, and a space where you—or your child—can be fully seen, supported, and understood.

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