Guides
What Actually Happens in ERP Therapy?
ERP is a collaborative way to practice facing uncertainty without completing the ritual that usually follows. Here is what that can mean in a real session.
The Starting Point
First, Understand the Loop
ERP stands for Exposure and Response Prevention. An exposure means approaching a situation, thought, or feeling that sets off the OCD alarm. Response prevention means choosing not to do the compulsion that usually follows. Those terms can sound severe on paper. In practice, the starting point is a conversation about your actual day and what you do when doubt asks for another answer.
Andrea may ask what triggers the fear, whether you avoid anything, and how you try to get relief. She looks for visible rituals such as repeated checking and quieter ones such as mentally reviewing, comparing feelings, or asking someone to reassure you. Andrea looks at what happens after the thought arrives.
Planning Together
You Know Why a Step Is Chosen
You and Andrea discuss which situations feel possible to approach and which would be too much right now. She explains the purpose of a planned exposure before you try it. If a relationship doubt leads to repeated comparison, practice might involve noticing the urge to compare without seeking a final verdict. If the urge is to check a routine action repeatedly, the step might involve delaying that check.
An exposure should be relevant to your life and clinically appropriate. ERP does not ask you to put yourself or others in danger. Andrea is Certified in ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention), and she can adjust a plan if the chosen step is too large or misses the actual compulsion. Collaboration matters because a dramatic exercise that does not address the pattern is not useful care.
In Session
What the Practice Can Feel Like
You might describe an uncomfortable thought, enter a manageable situation, and notice the pull to seek certainty. Andrea helps you stay with the moment while choosing not to complete the familiar ritual. That can mean tolerating an unfinished feeling rather than waiting for absolute confidence. She checks what you notice and whether the practice still fits the agreed plan.
Sometimes a compulsion happens anyway. You can say so. It gives you and Andrea information about where the urge was strongest and how to adjust the next step. The work examines how your response to uncertainty changes the cycle, including when a compulsion happens during practice.
Outside the Appointment
Practice in Ordinary Settings
Between meetings, you may try an agreed step where the concern usually appears and bring back what happened. Telehealth can make this discussion concrete when you are in the same environment where avoidance or checking tends to occur. You do not need to attempt every feared situation at once. Andrea can help distinguish meaningful practice from trying to force a certain feeling by a certain date.
For 50 minutes of Individual Therapy, the fee is $225. A 90-minute Extended Specialty Session is $395, and an ERP/OCD Intensive offers 180 minutes for $1,500 when it is clinically suitable. Before any intensive, a required $100 consultation is credited in full toward your first paid session or intensive. Appointments are by secure video for clients physically located in Texas, Colorado, or Idaho at the time of the session.
An ERP plan also pays attention to what happens after practice. The urge to explain away the exercise, ask someone whether you did it correctly, or repeat it until it feels right can become another version of the same cycle. Andrea may ask about those responses when you review a step. This is why understanding the ritual matters as much as naming the fear that comes first.
A Next Step
When to Reach Out
If rituals or reassurance have begun organizing your day, a consultation can help you talk about the cycle. You can describe what happens after an intrusive thought without feeling obliged to list every thought. Andrea can discuss whether ERP or another approach belongs in your care.
Speak about the urge behind the ritual.
Start with a $100 consultation. The $100 is credited in full toward your first paid session or intensive.