Webinar: Beyond Anxiety: Understanding and Treating OCD Through Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
About the Webinar:
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed anxiety-related disorders in clinical practice. Well-intentioned therapeutic interventions—like reassurance, safety behaviors, or excessive insight-building—can inadvertently reinforce symptoms. In this 60-minute session for the New Jersey Counseling Association, participants will gain a clear, evidence-based understanding of OCD and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). The training will highlight how to differentiate OCD from generalized anxiety, trauma responses, and other clinical presentations, and how to apply ERP principles in real-world outpatient and school settings.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the core diagnostic features and subtypes of OCD, including contamination, intrusive thoughts, and reassurance-seeking patterns.
- Differentiate OCD from other anxiety and trauma-related disorders to ensure accurate assessment and case conceptualization.
- Explain the rationale and structure of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and how it differs from traditional CBT approaches.
- Apply practical ERP interventions and scripting that counselors can begin integrating immediately in individual or group settings.
About the Speaker:
Ira Hays, LCSW, is the Director of Clinical Services at Innerspace Counseling in Old Bridge, NJ, where he leads specialized programming for OCD, school phobia, emetophobia and other anxiety disorders integrating ERP, DBT, and ACT. He has consulted widely with New Jersey school districts on the treatment of anxiety-based school avoidance and emetophobia as well as OCD. Ira is a nationally recognized speaker and educator whose trainings combine clinical precision with practical, real-world application. His teaching philosophy centers on one guiding idea: assessment drives intervention.
