Chris Trondsen, LMFT, a clinician with OCD, and his mom, Liz, are excited to remind you about our August virtual, free Family and Loved Ones OCD Support Group. 

The support group is held every second Saturday of the month. Our next group is Saturday, August 8th, from 11am to 1pm PT.  Please read the information for the August 8th Family & Loved Ones’ OCD Support Group:

For the month of August, we are excited to offer a special presentation with a panel of OCD experts. For the first part, Nathan Peterson, LCSW, who runs a successful practice in Texas, has over 26 million views on his OCD educational YouTube channel, and recently wrote a book, “Your OCD Will Hate This Book” will be doing a presentation for family members, loved ones, spouses, and siblings of someone with OCD titled, “The Do’s and Don’ts of OCD support”. This presentation will suggest evidence-based interventions that someone loving a person with OCD can do to support their loved one as they navigate their treatment journey. These do’s will provide the type of support that will make it more likely that your loved one gets the most out of treatment and helps restore balance in your family. The don’ts will be a list of things that often feel useful but actually can interfere with the work your loved one is doing in therapy.

After that, there has been a request to discuss common co-occurring disorders that many of your loved ones experience in addition to OCD that often makes treatment challenging. We’re splitting up these co-occurring disorders into two presentations; August 8th will be Part One.

 Michelle Massi, LMFT, who owns her own practice in Los Angeles, California, is a (Behavior Therapy Training Institute) BTTI faculty member, and runs the largest consulting and community group for OCD therapists.  She will discuss the intersection of OCD and depression. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM) states that about 65% of people with OCD will also have a depressive disorder. Co-occurring depression is one of the most common disorders that people with OCD experience.

Doctor Rebecca Sachs is a sought-after speaker on topics related to the treatment of OCD and autism. She has been a featured presenter at the IOCDF conference, a guest on the IOCDF livestreams, and is on the faculty of the IOCDF’s BTTI. She will discuss the intersection of OCD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There is a high rate of co-occurrence of OCD and autism, which requires the treatment to be modified. Due to the traits of autism and the symptoms of OCD having similarities, it is important that your loved one works with a provider with expertise in both.

 Finally, Dr. Christina Dichiara who, during her training, was mentored by Dr. Edna Foa, who established exposure and response therapy (ERP) as the gold standard evidenced based treatment for OCD, is an expert on OCD and PTSD.  With nearly two decades of experience, she will talk about how posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and trauma impact the treatment of OCD. 

Each individual will give a presentation where they will discuss the co-occurring disorder and how it differs from OCD, how having both can make OCD more challenging to treat, and how OCD treatment is modified to address these co-occurring disorders. This presentation will provide greater insight if your loved one has a diagnosis of one of these co-occurring disorders. If they don’t, you may see that your loved one is actually also experiencing the co-occurring disorder but has never been diagnosed.

The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with all four presenters. The presenters will address questions family members of loved ones have about OCD or these related disorders. You can ask questions about the specific topics brought up in group, or general questions about your family’s experience with OCD. This group is perfect for family members, loved ones, spouses, siblings, or anybody supporting somebody with OCD to learn how to best support them, as well as getting information on common co-occurring disorders that may be relevant to your situation. 

Scroll below to get information on our presenters.

Nathan Peterson, LCSW, started working with OCD and anxiety-related disorders in 2013. He has worked in outpatient mental health clinics, non-profit agencies, inpatient clinics/hospitals, schools, institutes and in private practice. 

He has completed the TLC Foundation training for hair pulling and skin picking. Additionally, he attended and completed the official Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) for adults and pediatric patients. In his solo practice, he focuses solely on OCD and anxiety-related disorders.

Nathan uses exposure and response prevention when working with OCD/Anxiety, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for generalized anxiety disorder, CBIT for tics and Tourette’s. 

Website: http://www.OCDandAnxietyCounseling.com

To view Nathan’s videos on OCD, visit OCD and Anxiety YouTube channel

Michelle Massi, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the founder of Anxiety Therapy LA, specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, and panic attacks. She has over 20 years of experience treating these conditions. 
 
Michelle previously worked at the UCLA OCD Adult Intensive Treatment Program as the Associate Clinical Director and at the UCLA Childhood OCD, Anxiety & Tic Disorders Program.  She is now a faculty member of the IOCDF’s BTTI and has presented at the IOCDF Conference many times. In addition, she also offers training and consultation to clinicians, clergy members and family members.

Dr. Rebecca Sachs, the founder of CBT Spectrum, has expertise in treating individuals with Autism, Anxiety, and OCD and related disorders.

Using Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Dr. Sachs employs research-supported techniques to help a patient develop an action plan.

Dr. Sachs treats patients of all ages, however she has a unique ability to connect with teenagers and young adults.

Board Certified in CBT, Dr. Sachs is often sought out to treat extreme symptoms and complicated cases, and she tailors her approach to each patient’s circumstances.

Dr. Christina DiChiara is the Director of Education and a staff psychologist at the Center for Anxiety & Behavior Therapy (CABT), with almost two decades of focused experience treating trauma, OCD, and anxiety.
 
Before joining CABT, she trained and served as a staff psychologist at UPenn’s Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. She has almost a decade of experience working in VA healthcare, predominately as a psychologist on the PTSD Clinical Team at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, where she served as the Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Coordinator, and Telemental Health Co-Coordinator.
 
She is certified in Exposure and Response Prevention, a certified Prolonged Exposure therapist and supervisor, and a certified Cognitive Processing Therapy provider, with a clinical style that’s all action, collaboration, and heart.