Exposure and Response Prevention in Downtown Los Angeles and Online

For those who are tired of battling themselves.

Photo of light against a wall with a illustrated photo.

ERP can help you take your life back, so fear stops running it.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and is also used for anxiety.

How OCD Works
A foundation of ERP is understanding that OCD runs on a loop. An unwanted thought, image, or urge sets off fear or distress (the obsession). To get relief, you do something (the compulsion): a ritual, checking, mental review, reassurance-seeking, or avoiding what triggers you. Relief happens, but it’s temporary, so that loop continues, day in and day out. Over time, the things you believed would protect you from the fear end up keeping it going.

How ERP Helps
We start by understanding your loop: the core fear underneath it and the ways your mind and body try to keep you safe. Then, we build a plan that moves in steps you agree to. Exposures mean gradually facing the thoughts, images, situations, or uncertainty that trigger your obsessions. Response prevention means choosing, with support, not to do the usual ritual, check, or avoidance. You help set the pace, and nothing is a surprise.

What Changes
With practice, you get better at sitting with discomfort and uncertainty, and you learn you can handle it without a ritual to make it go away. Your nervous system learns through experience that fear can rise and fall without you having to fix it.

I’m trained in ERP from the IOCDF Behavioral Therapy Training Institute (BTTI), and participate in ongoing consultation with IOCDF staff.

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ERP CAN BE HELPFUL FOR YOU IF YOU:

Feel stuck in perfectionism, such as rechecking, redoing, or never feeling like your effort is good enough.
Are tired of fearing you might be a bad person and needing to be certain that you’re not.
Notice OCD or anxiety spiking during life transitions, like a move, a new job, or a change in a relationship.
Find that fear of conflict or of hurting someone leads you to over-apologize, avoid, or seek constant reassurance.
Struggle with moral distress or scrupulosity, and want to live by your values without being ruled by doubt and guilt.

Frequently Asked Questions

They overlap, which is why OCD often goes unrecognized. Anxiety is general worry, often about real concerns. Overthinking is going over something again and again to solve or understand it. OCD is a specific loop of obsessions, compulsions, and temporary relief.
Early sessions focus on understanding your OCD and building a list of triggers and the level of distress they cause. Once we begin exposures, sessions usually include reviewing your practice, planning or doing an exposure together, and setting up practice for the week. Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly.
You’ll get warmth and support, but not reassurance that the thing you fear won’t happen. Reassurance relieves doubt for a moment, but it works like a compulsion and keeps the question coming back. If you ask, I’ll gently name it and we’ll practice something different. You won’t be shamed. It’s part of how OCD works.
No. We plan each step together, and you agree before we do it. We start with what feels manageable and build gradually. ERP is uncomfortable at times, but you’re in charge of the process, and nothing is a surprise.
Unwanted thoughts about harm, sex, religion, relationships, identity, or morality are some of the most common parts of OCD. They’re upsetting because they go against your values. Having a thought doesn’t mean you want it or will act on it. You won’t shock me, and you won’t be judged.
It varies with how severe your OCD is, how much you practice between sessions, and what you want from treatment. ERP is generally time-limited, and we check in on your goals regularly.
Yes. You don’t need experience or the right words. ERP is structured and skills-based, and we go step by step. If it isn’t the best fit right now, I’ll tell you.
ERP is how we work with OCD and anxiety directly. IFS is how I work with grief, trauma, identity, and the guilt and shame that come with them. Some clients use one, some use both, and we decide together.
Both. I offer ERP by secure video to adults in California, and in person at my office in the Arts District / Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles. Online, exposures can happen in your own home and daily life.