OCD Therapist in
Burlington,
Ontario
Our registered OCD therapists in Burlington, Ontario offer in-person sessions at our Harvester Rd clinic and secure online therapy across the province — using CBT, ERP, DBT, and integrative approaches for OCD, intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and anxiety. Same-day availability, no waitlist, free 15-minute discovery call.
Our OCD therapists in Burlington
In-person at 3425 Harvester Rd · online across Ontario
2 practitioners
Alisa sees clients in-person at our Burlington clinic and online across Ontario, and works with OCD and intrusive thoughts using a trauma-informed CBT and DBT framework. She is particularly well-suited to clients whose OCD is intertwined with perfectionism, shame, identity, or complex trauma — presentations where the obsessional content often reflects deeper fears about the self rather than the surface content of the intrusions. Her integrative approach creates safety to explore OCD’s relational and developmental roots alongside evidence-based ERP principles.
Olga is a Gestalt-trained Registered Psychotherapist with 7+ years of clinical experience working in-person in Oakville and online across Burlington and Halton Region. Her approach to OCD attends to the relational and somatic dimensions of obsessional experience — the shame that surrounds intrusive thoughts, the exhaustion of the compulsive cycle, and the way OCD hijacks self-identity. She works with OCD alongside anxiety, trauma, depression, and shame, bringing a body-aware and relationally grounded perspective to what is often a highly cognitively focused condition.
More OCD therapists — online across Ontario
All online · serving Burlington & province-wide
4 practitioners
Justine is a Registered Social Worker (M.S.W., R.S.W.) offering OCD therapy online to Burlington-area clients and across Ontario. Her integrative approach draws on CBT, DBT, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction — tools that are well-supported for OCD and related presentations including intrusive thoughts, compulsive checking, and scrupulosity. She also works with OCD in children and youth, and is experienced in supporting families navigating a child or teen’s OCD alongside their own stress and confusion about the condition.
Donna is a Social Worker and Psychotherapist with 18+ years of clinical experience offering OCD therapy online to Burlington residents and across Ontario. Her trauma-informed CBT and DBT framework is well-suited to OCD that is complicated by co-occurring anxiety, depression, trauma history, or addiction — presentations that require a therapist with breadth and clinical experience rather than a narrow protocol focus. She works with adults navigating OCD as part of a wider and more complex clinical picture.
Oksana is a Registered Psychotherapist (MACP) offering therapy online to Burlington clients and across Ontario. She works with intrusive thoughts, obsessional anxiety, and perfectionism through a developmental and relational lens — exploring how OCD-like patterns of rumination, self-doubt, and control often emerge from early relational experience. Her approach suits clients whose intrusive thoughts are driven by identity fears, self-worth concerns, and the need to feel certain in an uncertain world. Sessions in English, Ukrainian, and Russian.
Gina is a Registered Psychotherapist (MA, RP) offering online therapy to Burlington-area clients and across Ontario. She works with anxiety, rumination, and worrying using CBT, ACT, DBT, and mindfulness-based methods. ACT is particularly well-suited to OCD-adjacent presentations — where clients struggle to accept the presence of distressing thoughts without engaging in compulsive attempts to neutralise or control them. Gina’s approach helps clients build a different relationship with their intrusive thoughts. Sessions in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
Our Burlington practitioners also see clients at Anytime Anywhere Therapy, a few steps away.
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. OCD — Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder — is a clinical condition characterised by recurring intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours or mental acts (compulsions) performed to reduce the distress those thoughts cause. It affects around 2% of the population, is frequently misunderstood, and is highly treatable with the right therapeutic approach.
The gold-standard treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a structured form of CBT that involves gradually confronting feared thoughts or situations without engaging in the compulsive response. Our therapists integrate ERP principles within broader CBT, DBT, and ACT frameworks, and also bring relational and trauma-informed lenses to OCD that is entangled with shame, perfectionism, or complex trauma. Not all OCD is the same, and not all clients respond identically to purely protocol-based ERP — good clinical judgement about how to balance structure and relational depth is what distinguishes effective OCD therapy.
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
OCD responds most reliably to therapists trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a form of CBT that is distinct from general talk therapy and requires specific training and a willingness to work gradually with feared triggers. When selecting an OCD therapist in Burlington, ask directly whether they have experience with ERP and whether they have worked with your specific OCD subtype — contamination OCD, harm OCD, Pure-O, scrupulosity, relationship OCD, and other presentations each have their own texture and require different therapeutic emphasis.
The therapeutic relationship matters in OCD treatment perhaps even more than in general therapy — because ERP requires that clients tolerate significant distress during treatment, and they will only do so if they fundamentally trust their therapist. The free 15-minute discovery call we offer with every practitioner is the right place to assess this fit before committing.
All practitioners in our group hold current CRPO or OCSWSSW registration, are trained in evidence-based CBT and DBT frameworks relevant to OCD, and bring broader clinical depth to presentations where OCD is complicated by trauma, perfectionism, or shame. Fees start at $140, sliding scale is available, and most extended health plans cover registered psychotherapy.
OCD therapy approaches compared
Different approaches to OCD therapy suit different presentations and levels of complexity. This table helps you understand the key differences before your free discovery call.
| Approach | CBT/ERP | DBT | ACT | Integrative | Gestalt/Relational |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core mechanism | Exposure — habituate to fear without compulsing | Distress tolerance & emotion regulation | Acceptance — defuse from intrusive thoughts | Combines above to fit the individual | Relational safety, shame reduction, body awareness |
| Best for | Classic OCD — contamination, checking, harm OCD | OCD with emotional dysregulation | Pure-O, intrusive thoughts, rumination | Complex OCD with trauma or shame | OCD entangled with identity, shame, or trauma |
| Structure | Highly structured, exposure hierarchy | Structured, skill-based | Structured but flexible | Adapted to client | Exploratory, relational |
| Evidence base | Very strong — first-line OCD treatment | Strong for emotion regulation | Strong — growing for OCD | Varies by combination | Growing — strong for relational outcomes |
| Homework | Yes — exposure practices essential | Yes — skills worksheets | Often | Depends on therapist | Rarely |
| Session length | 50 min | 50–60 min | 50 min | 50 min | 50 min |
OCD therapy across Halton Region and Ontario
All our practitioners offer online OCD therapy province-wide. In-person sessions are available in Burlington and nearby Oakville.
Common questions
What is OCD and how is it different from anxiety?
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) is a distinct clinical condition characterised by recurring intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours or mental acts (compulsions) performed to reduce the distress caused by those thoughts. While OCD involves significant anxiety, it is distinguished by the obsession-compulsion cycle — the anxiety relief provided by compulsions is temporary and actually reinforces the OCD over time. General anxiety therapy is helpful but not sufficient for OCD; effective OCD treatment requires specific training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which teaches clients to tolerate intrusive thoughts without compulsing. All practitioners in our Burlington group are trained in CBT and ERP-adjacent frameworks.
What is ERP and is it the best treatment for OCD?
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard, first-line treatment for OCD. It works by gradually exposing clients to feared thoughts or situations (exposure) while resisting the urge to perform the compulsive response (response prevention). Over time, the brain learns that the feared outcome does not occur and that the anxiety is tolerable without compulsing — breaking the OCD cycle. ERP has the strongest evidence base of any OCD treatment. Medication (typically SSRIs) is sometimes used alongside ERP for moderate to severe OCD. Our Burlington therapists integrate ERP principles within CBT, ACT, and DBT frameworks.
How much does OCD therapy cost in Burlington?
OCD therapy sessions in Burlington at GestaltReview range from $140 to $190 per 50-minute session, depending on the practitioner. 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) and Registered Social Workers (OCSWSSW). Confirm your coverage and annual limit with your insurer before your first appointment.
Can OCD be treated online?
Yes — OCD therapy, including ERP, is well-supported in the online format. Research comparing in-person and online delivery of CBT/ERP for OCD consistently shows comparable outcomes. The core mechanisms of ERP — exposure exercises, response prevention, and the processing of obsessional anxiety — translate effectively to video sessions. All our practitioners use PHIPA-compliant, encrypted video platforms. Online OCD therapy also expands access, allowing Burlington-area clients to work with any practitioner in our group rather than only those offering in-person sessions locally.
What are the subtypes of OCD and does the therapist need to specialise?
OCD presents in many subtypes — contamination OCD, harm OCD, Pure-O (primarily obsessional, with few visible compulsions), scrupulosity, relationship OCD (ROCD), health anxiety OCD, and others. The core treatment principles (ERP, ACT, CBT) apply across subtypes, but the way ERP is implemented differs significantly. A good OCD therapist understands the specific texture of different subtypes, knows how to construct appropriate exposure hierarchies for each, and can work with the shame that often surrounds OCD content — particularly harm OCD and scrupulosity, where clients are often afraid to disclose the content of their intrusive thoughts.
How long does OCD therapy take in Burlington?
OCD therapy varies significantly in length depending on the severity of the OCD and the complexity of the presentation. For mild to moderate OCD treated with structured ERP, meaningful improvement is often seen within 12 to 20 sessions. For severe OCD, or OCD complicated by trauma, shame, perfectionism, or co-occurring conditions, longer-term work of 6 months to a year or more is common. Unlike general anxiety therapy, OCD treatment often involves a period of working up an exposure hierarchy before the most challenging exposures are addressed. Your therapist will discuss a realistic timeline during your early sessions.
Understanding OCD — editorial resources
GestaltReview’s editorial content explores the relational, somatic, and self-concept dimensions of OCD from the perspective of Gestalt-trained practitioners. Whether you are trying to understand why ERP can feel counterintuitive to begin with, how shame sustains the OCD cycle, or what it means when intrusive thoughts feel meaningful despite knowing they are not — the articles below offer substantive grounding.
Many clients find that arriving at an OCD therapy session with some understanding of the OCD cycle — and why their instinct to suppress or neutralise thoughts makes the problem worse — accelerates their engagement with ERP and reduces the shame around the condition.