OCD therapist in
Burlington,
Ontario
Our registered OCD therapists in Burlington, Ontario provide Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) and CBT for OCD in-person at our Harvester Rd clinic and online across Ontario — evidence-based care for contamination OCD, harm OCD, pure-O, intrusive thoughts, checking, and other obsessive-compulsive subtypes. Same-day availability, no waitlist, free 15-minute discovery call.
Our OCD therapists in Burlington
Alisa offers CBT-based OCD treatment in Burlington in-person and online across Ontario, including exposure work for clients with intrusive thoughts, checking, contamination fears, and reassurance-seeking patterns. She integrates ERP principles with a trauma-informed and relational stance — particularly helpful for clients whose OCD overlaps with perfectionism, anxiety, or early relational wounds. Her warm, paced approach helps make graded exposure feel manageable rather than overwhelming.
Olga is a Gestalt-trained Registered Psychotherapist with 7+ years of experience offering OCD therapy in-person in Oakville and online across Burlington and Halton Region. She works with CBT for OCD and ERP-informed exposure, integrated with relational and somatic awareness — well-suited to clients whose obsessions and compulsions are entangled with shame, perfectionism, or early relational patterns that pure protocol-based OCD treatment can miss.
More OCD therapists — online across Ontario
Donna is a Social Worker and Psychotherapist with 18+ years of clinical experience offering CBT and ERP-informed OCD treatment online to Burlington residents and across Ontario. Her OCD work sits within a trauma-informed, person-centred framework — particularly suited to adults whose OCD coexists with trauma history, depression, or addiction recovery, where standard ERP protocols benefit from a slower, more relational pacing.
Justine is a Registered Social Worker (M.S.W., R.S.W.) offering CBT for OCD online to Burlington-area clients and across Ontario, with exposure-based work for intrusive thoughts, contamination fears, and compulsive checking. She integrates CBT, DBT skills, and attachment-based approaches — bringing particular depth with children, youth, and culturally diverse clients whose OCD presentations may have been missed or misframed in earlier settings.
Oksana is a Registered Psychotherapist (MACP) offering CBT-informed OCD support online to Burlington clients and across Ontario. She works particularly well with pure-O presentations, intrusive thoughts, and OCD entangled with self-criticism, scrupulosity, or relationship OCD — drawing on developmental and attachment-based perspectives to explore the schemas that keep obsessive doubt and reassurance-seeking in place.
Gina is a Registered Psychotherapist (MA, RP) offering CBT and ACT-informed OCD support online to Burlington clients and across Ontario. Her holistic framework combines CBT for OCD with ACT-style acceptance of intrusive thoughts and mindfulness skills — particularly helpful for clients whose OCD shows up as chronic worry, mental compulsions, or perfectionistic doubt. Sessions in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Our Burlington OCD practitioners also see clients at Anytime Anywhere Therapy, a few steps away.
Visit clinic website →OCD therapy in Burlington, Ontario
Registered OCD therapists in Burlington, Ontario are available at GestaltReview for in-person sessions at our Harvester Rd clinic and online across the province. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is treated most effectively with Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) — widely recognised as the gold-standard psychotherapy for OCD — typically delivered within a broader CBT for OCD framework.
OCD is characterised by intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges (obsessions) and the mental or behavioural rituals used to neutralise the distress they cause (compulsions). Common subtypes include contamination OCD, checking OCD, harm OCD, relationship OCD, scrupulosity, and pure-O (where compulsions are largely mental). ERP works by gradually exposing clients to feared situations or thoughts while preventing the compulsive response — allowing the nervous system to learn that the obsession does not need to be acted on.
In-person OCD therapy in Burlington is available at 3425 Harvester Rd, Unit 213. Online OCD therapy is available province-wide. Sessions start at $140, are HST exempt, and all practitioners hold current registration with CRPO or OCSWSSW.
How to choose an OCD therapist in Burlington
The most important factor in choosing an OCD therapist is whether they have explicit training and experience in Exposure & Response Prevention. General CBT is not the same as ERP — and clients with OCD often improve more slowly, or not at all, when treated with traditional talk therapy that inadvertently provides reassurance and reinforces compulsions. Ask any prospective OCD therapist directly about their ERP experience.
Beyond ERP, the second factor is fit with the OCD subtype you are working with. Contamination OCD, harm OCD, pure-O, and scrupulosity often look very different in session and benefit from a therapist who has worked with that specific presentation. If your OCD coexists with trauma, depression, or attachment difficulty, a therapist who can hold ERP within a broader integrative or trauma-informed frame will usually be a better fit than a strict protocol-only clinician.
All practitioners in our Burlington practice work integratively. The free 15-minute discovery call is the best place to ask about their OCD experience, the subtypes they have treated, and whether their approach feels like a fit for the kind of obsessions and compulsions you are dealing with.
ERP compared to other approaches for OCD
Understanding how ERP differs from other modalities helps you find the right OCD treatment for your subtype and goals.
| Feature | ERP | CBT for OCD | ACT | Mindfulness | Psychodynamic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Exposure + ritual prevention | Beliefs about obsessions | Acceptance of intrusive thoughts | Awareness of mental events | Unconscious meaning of symptoms |
| Best for OCD subtype | Contamination, checking, harm OCD | Pure-O, scrupulosity, doubt | Pure-O, mental compulsions | Adjunct to ERP, all subtypes | Long-standing, complex OCD |
| Structure | Highly structured, hierarchy-based | Structured, protocol-informed | Structured but flexible | Practice-based, open | Exploratory, open-ended |
| Between-session work | Yes — essential (exposure homework) | Yes — thought records, experiments | Often | Daily practice | Rarely |
| Evidence base for OCD | Very strong — gold standard | Strong, often combined with ERP | Growing — promising for pure-O | Adjunctive evidence | Limited specific to OCD |
| Typical length | 12–20 sessions | 12–20 sessions | 12–20 sessions | Ongoing | Longer-term |
OCD therapy across Halton Region and Ontario
All our practitioners offer online OCD therapy province-wide. In-person OCD therapy is available in Burlington and nearby Oakville.
Common questions
What is OCD therapy and how does it work?
OCD therapy is a specialised form of psychotherapy designed to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder — intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and the mental or behavioural rituals used to neutralise them (compulsions). Effective OCD therapy typically combines Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) with CBT for OCD, helping clients gradually face feared thoughts and situations while resisting the compulsive response. Our Burlington OCD therapists are registered with CRPO or OCSWSSW and trained in these evidence-based methods.
What is ERP and why is it the gold standard for OCD?
Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) is a behavioural therapy in which clients are gradually and deliberately exposed to feared situations, thoughts, or sensations while preventing the compulsive ritual that would normally reduce the distress. Over time, the nervous system learns that the obsession does not need to be acted on, and the urgency of the compulsion fades. ERP has the strongest evidence base of any psychotherapy for OCD and is recommended as a first-line treatment by international guidelines.
How much does OCD therapy cost in Burlington?
OCD therapy sessions in Burlington at GestaltReview range from $140 to $190 per 50-minute session. Sliding scale pricing is available if cost is a barrier — mention this during your free discovery call. Psychotherapy is exempt from HST in Ontario. Most extended health benefit plans cover registered psychotherapy provided by Registered Psychotherapists (CRPO) or Registered Social Workers (OCSWSSW).
Is online OCD therapy effective?
Yes — online ERP and CBT for OCD have been extensively researched and consistently show outcomes comparable to in-person delivery for most OCD subtypes. The core mechanisms of exposure work translate well to video format, and many clients find it easier to conduct exposures in their own environment where the triggers actually live. All our practitioners use PHIPA-compliant, encrypted video platforms.
How long does OCD treatment take?
A standard course of ERP for OCD typically runs 12 to 20 weekly sessions, with meaningful symptom reduction often visible by sessions 8 to 12. For OCD that coexists with trauma, depression, or attachment difficulty — or for complex pure-O and scrupulosity presentations — longer-term work over 6 months to a year is more common. Your therapist will set clear goals, use validated measures (such as the Y-BOCS), and review progress regularly.
What if I have pure-O or harm OCD?
Pure-O (where compulsions are primarily mental — silent rituals, reassurance-seeking, mental review) and harm OCD (intrusive thoughts about harming oneself or others, usually causing intense distress because they are deeply at odds with the person's values) are well-treated with ERP adapted for mental rituals, alongside ACT-style work on accepting intrusive thoughts as thoughts rather than threats. These subtypes are often missed or misdiagnosed elsewhere — our therapists are familiar with how they present and how they respond to treatment.
OCD treatment and Gestalt — complementary perspectives from GestaltReview
GestaltReview's editorial content comes primarily from a Gestalt and relational tradition, which offers a different but complementary lens to ERP and CBT for OCD. Where ERP attends to behaviour change and CBT to the content of obsessive beliefs, Gestalt attends to the quality of contact — with oneself, with intrusive material, and with the present moment.
Many of our Burlington OCD therapists are trained in multiple modalities precisely because OCD entangled with shame, trauma, or attachment patterns often benefits from a broader relational frame around the core ERP work. The articles below provide grounding in the relational and body-aware dimensions of change that OCD clients often find deepens and sustains their progress.