How I Work
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
When an unwanted thought demands certainty, ERP helps you practice a different response to the doubt.
The Pattern
When Relief Keeps Asking for More
An intrusive thought can arrive without warning, and suddenly you are checking what it means about you. You might replay a conversation, search online, ask someone to reassure you, or avoid the situation altogether. The answer helps briefly. Then a new version of the doubt appears. In ERP, the focus is on that repeated sequence, not on proving that the thought is true or false.
Exposure and Response Prevention means approaching an uncertainty you have been avoiding while choosing not to perform the familiar ritual that follows. A ritual might be visible, like checking a lock, or entirely internal, like mentally reviewing your intentions. The aim is to make room for uncertainty without spending the day trying to settle it. Andrea is Certified in ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention).
A Collaborative Plan
Start with the Actual Moment
You and Andrea identify what sets off the alarm, what you do next, and what the short-lived relief costs you. She will ask which situations feel manageable and which feel out of reach right now. Together you choose practice that is relevant to your life, rather than jumping straight to the hardest fear. You will understand the purpose of an exercise before you try it.
A relationship fear may call for noticing the urge to compare feelings without seeking a verdict. A contamination concern may involve touching something ordinarily safe and delaying a washing ritual. For harm-related intrusions, the work is grounded in a careful assessment of the thought and the responses around it. ERP does not ask you to put yourself or anyone else in danger.
Between Sessions
Practice Where Life Happens
Telehealth lets you talk through practice in the setting where a compulsion often shows up. Between appointments, you may try a small, agreed-upon step and notice the urge to undo it afterward. Andrea will want to hear what actually happened, including when you did the ritual. That is information for revising the plan, not a test you can fail.
Progress is not measured by never having another intrusive thought. You can look instead at how much time you spend responding to one, where avoidance is still narrowing your day, and whether a practice needs to be made smaller or more specific. Sessions are available by secure video when you are physically located in Texas, Colorado, or Idaho at the time of care.
Care Options
Choose a Pace You Can Sustain
Individual Therapy is $225 for 50 minutes and can give you regular time to review practice, adjust exposures, and address what else is happening in your life. A 90-minute Extended Specialty Session is $395 when more time around a particular exercise is appropriate. ERP/OCD Intensives provide 180 minutes of concentrated therapeutic time for $1,500 when a longer format fits clinically.
Before any intensive, you meet for a required $100 consultation. The $100 is credited in full toward your first paid session or intensive. Andrea will discuss what the intensive would cover, what preparation is needed, and how you will use the work afterward. If a weekly rhythm makes more sense, you can talk about that instead of forcing a format that does not fit.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to describe every intrusive thought?
You can begin with the pattern around a thought. Andrea will ask what she needs to understand to plan care without making confession or reassurance the focus.
Can ERP happen over video?
Yes. Practice can be planned and reviewed through secure telehealth while you are located in Texas, Colorado, or Idaho.
Will I be pushed into the hardest exposure first?
No. You and Andrea build a plan together and choose steps that are clinically appropriate.
Keep Exploring
Related Paths
You can bring the thought and the ritual around it.
Start with a $100 consultation. The $100 is credited in full toward your first paid session or intensive.