We’re incredibly proud of the therapists in the NOCD network. Every one of them is trained in delivering evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and many have overcome OCD and other mental health issues themselves. We want you to get to know some of our clinicians who have dedicated their lives to helping people end the struggle.
I come from very humble beginnings. Both of my parents were factory workers. My mom had a third-grade education, and my father only got through sixth grade. It’s not because they weren’t smart—they were both very intelligent—it’s because they had to take care of their siblings and couldn’t continue school.
I came to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico when I was 16 and didn’t speak a word of English. Since I didn’t know the language, my high school forced me to repeat 11th grade. I wasn’t happy about that, but I persevered, and I graduated with honors.
My early challenges—immigrating as a teen, learning a new language, feeling left behind in school—often made me feel like an outsider. But in a way, they’ve done the exact opposite. Today, I recognize them as powerful sources of connection with many of my therapy members who have experienced similar obstacles growing up. Though it’s not essential to have things in common with your therapist, in my experience an innate understanding of what it feels like to be a non-native English speaker struggling to assimilate helps people relax and open up in therapy, because I intimately understand what they’re going through.
After college, my English kept getting better, but I still had a strong accent—so I stayed in the background at work and did anything I could not to reveal it. Coming from the culture I grew up in, as a woman, you’re supposed to be quiet and you’re definitely not supposed to stand out and do better than your peers. This thinking held me back initially, but now I know that my background—while it was difficult—is shared by so many others, and actually allows me to relate better to therapy members who face similar self-doubt.
From learning to teaching
When I made the choice to specialize in OCD, I thought I’d already done it all when it came to therapy. I’d worked with adults, with children, with babies, in the emergency room, in the psych ward. I’d done work with ADHD and medical interpreting in the hospital. I’d just never treated OCD.
The rigorous training involved in learning to treat OCD was new to me—it was a tough learning curve, and I loved every minute of it! I have immense energy for learning new tools, new ways to help people and see results, so I loved learning the structure that’s inherent in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the gold standard treatment for OCD. There is a step-by-step, science-backed process, and it’s empowering for my members. I see that they’re learning like I was—that they’re making progress, and are eager to get better. When they come back for their next session, they’re ready to go, and it’s amazing. I’m able to put everything into their treatment plan and personalize it to every member because every day I learn something new.
I feel lucky to have gone through graduate-level training and guidance from NOCD’s world-class team of thought leaders in OCD treatment. I now work exclusively with people struggling with OCD, and I’m truly able to provide “whole-person” treatment, because my training wasn’t limited to ERP. I also learned the nuances of OCD’s many subtypes, how to treat OCD in people of all ages, and evidence-based treatment for closely related conditions like anxiety and depression.
Even better, I never stop growing as a therapist. I can continue to receive guidance from the same experts who trained me, and I can learn collaboratively with hundreds of specialists in the NOCD Therapy network, each with their own expertise and experience. This is something that very, very few therapists have access to. Every time I meet with a new therapy member, I know I’m equipped with everything I need to help them change their life.
You do the work, you get the results
I have one member who deals with an OCD subtype I’d never treated before. His fear revolves around losing his memory, and if he can’t remember his train of thought, he’s compelled to write all of his thoughts down. He initially assumed we couldn’t come up with an ERP plan for him—that nothing would work for him. But leaning on my training, experience, and specialized knowledge of OCD, I did. And it’s working.
These are the moments that really excite me. I love seeing the results. And that’s the thing with ERP: you do the work, you get the results. With a highly personalized treatment plan and close, personal guidance from a specialist, you can achieve results you never imagined.
Those results are the things that motivate me every day when I meet people for therapy sessions. I love a good challenge, and that rubs off on therapy members, too—which is a good thing, because ERP is a challenging, rewarding form of treatment. I wake up eager to find out what’s new, and what interesting problem I’m going to encounter that I can help someone work through. To me, that’s a great day.