OCD Treatment Support for Therapists & Mental Health Professionals
OCD-Informed Practice™ is designed to empower mental health professionals to support individuals with OCD effectively, without worsening symptoms. By equipping practitioners with screening tools and intervention strategies, OCD-IP bridges the gap in care and prepares clients for successful ERP treatment.
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OCD-Informed Practice™ at OCD North
As a specific method of interacting with individuals experiencing early or late onset OCD symptoms, OCD-IP is designed to help mental health professionals screen and intervene without making symptoms worse, and without needing to be an expert in ERP for OCD.
Why OCD-Informed Practice?
Advocacy and training campaigns for increased use of ERP continue to come up short in addressing the barriers to effective treatment. OCD-IP addresses the gap in research we see in practice.
- Therapist beliefs about exposure: knowledge, competency and expertise development is limited because therapists are not formally trained to help clients confront anxiety, they are trained to help clients cope with it. This creates bias and beliefs about ERP that are not true.
- System wide under utilization of ERP: knowledge, competency and expertise development is limited when therapists’ own anxiety and/or belief in exposure affects how and if they use it. These treatment inhibiting factors are not adequately addressed in ERP training campaigns, leading many well-meaning therapists to use contradictory interventions for OCD that exacerbate symptoms. 60% of adults and 70% of youth are never introduced to ERP (Farrell, Waters, et. al., 2023).
- Treatment withdrawal: ERP is the hardest thing our clients will ever experience. That’s why even with expert-level therapists, 25% of individuals withdraw from ERP (Farrell et al., 2023, Katzman et al., 2014, Ontario Health Quality, 2020, Sharma et al., 2019).
With OCD-IP, therapists are uniquely positioned to help their clients through careful screening and support designed to minimize symptom exacerbation due to contradictory interventions.
What is OCD-Informed Practice?
OCD-IP aims to increase access to care and reduce the length of time one suffers with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
As a staged model, OCD-IP is an intervention designed for mental health professionals across all healthcare domains to intervene using the skill set they have without undue harm to the client. Under this model, every client that presents with panic or anxiety is screened for OCD.
Benefits of OCD-Informed Practice:
Better than Talk Therapy: More effective than talk therapy, but not a replacement for ERP, OCD-Informed Counselling supports the therapist who supports individuals living with OCD, but do not wish to become an OCD expert
Tools and Strategies: Equips clients with readiness skills to engage in ERP, or at bare minimum, provides support without exacerbating OCD symptoms.
OCD-Informed Counselling
OCD-IP at OCD North is available through our Access Clinic and our fully registered social workers. The Access Clinic provides a safe place to share openly about OCD without judgment.
You can expect to receive OCD-informed emotional support, tools to help you overcome OCD, assistance navigating community referrals, and help to implement effective coping strategies for caregivers and supportive family members. Learn more about OCD-Informated Counselling here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Training is three hours in length and includes access to the presentation and workshop materials. The Manual is not included in the cost of the workshop.
We’re in the application process now. Check back for updates soon!
The cost is $200 per person, with a minimum of six participants. The OCD-IP Manual is not included in the training cost.
- Promote OCD awareness.
- Recognize OCD symptoms are diverse and affect everyone differently.
- View OCD as separate from oneself, encouraging freedom from OCD.
- Identify OCD recovery as the primary goal.
- Create a space for a shared understanding of OCD and its impacts on the individual.
- Promote hope and believe recovery from OCD is possible.
- Familiarize clients with Exposure and Response Prevention services.
- Provide strategies that will not exacerbate symptoms.
OCD-Informed therapy is right for you if you are living with OCD and finances have prevented you from accessing ERP therapy, or you want to learn how to best support a loved one struggling with OCD. To learn more about what ERP therapy is, click here.
Interested in OCD-Informed Practice™?
OCD-Informed Practice may be a good fit when you need support that understands OCD and how it can influence your thoughts, emotions, relationships, and everyday life, but your current goals do not require a structured course of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).
If cost is making it difficult to access OCD-specific care, our Client Care team can also help you explore OCD North’s lower-cost Access Clinic and other available care pathways. Access Clinic services are provided by supervised MSW interns and are offered when the service is clinically appropriate for your needs.
