OCD and Anxiety fight with the present moment by telling us there are threats in the past or the future. What if something bad has happened? What if something bad will happen? They tell us we need to do something now, in the present moment, to avoid or escape or prevent the threat. OCD and Anxiety say, “The thoughts you are having are not ok. The thing you said, or touched, or did, or might do, is not ok. You need to do something about it. You need to make it different. You need to fix it, clean it, check it, review it, plan for it, or avoid it altogether.”
Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment, without judging it. Without trying to make it different from what it is. This has the potential to give us more options in the ways we respond to OCD and Anxiety.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which involves facing feared situations and learning to tolerate discomfort, has long-been the gold-standard treatment for OCD. Although highly effective, many individuals with OCD and Anxiety find this “white-knuckling” approach too difficult while others may experience ERP “burn-out”. Recent advances in psychotherapy have brought a new lens to OCD treatment by asking both therapists and clients to consider more than just the old “trigger” and “response” routine. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) combines mindfulness and cognitive therapy approaches to help individuals notice and relate to OCD in new ways. Eliza Burroughs and Arsalan Ahmad have extensive experience providing individual and group CBT and Mindfulness-based interventions for OCD and Anxiety. They are excited to offer this new MBCT group at CBT Professionals and invite you to try a new way of working with OCD and Anxiety. Sessions typically have 6 to 9 participants, begin with a check-in, followed by experiential mindfulness exercises and discussion.
The Schedule
Groups offered on an ongoing basis. Dates below will reflect the next group offered with availability.
Dates
Please stay tuned for next group dates.
Time
Every Thursday from 1 pm – 3:30 pm for 8 weeks
Location
Virtual
Cost
$500 per person (plus HST)
To Register
Contact Eliza Burroughs at eburroughs@cbtprofessionals.ca
About Your Practitioners
Eliza Burroughs is a Registered Psychotherapist, living and working in Peterborough, ON. She obtained her master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Calgary in 2012 and has been registered with the College of Psychotherapists of Ontario since it’s inception in 2013. Eliza has worked in the area of mental health for over 20 years in both clinical and research roles at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Sunnybrook Hospital, and the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, as well as in private practice.
Her main areas of expertise are in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders (Compulsive Skin Picking, Compulsive Hair Pulling, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and Hoarding Disorder), having received her clinical training from international experts at the F.W. Thompson Anxiety Disorders Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Eliza also has extensive experience providing CBT for depression and anxiety disorders. In addition to providing psychotherapy, she has also provided numerous public presentations on the topics of Hoarding and Anxiety.
Arsalan Ahmad has been a mental health clinician for over 13 years. Most recently he has worked in a hospital psychiatry setting (Peterborough Regional), providing clinical supervision to Masters-level students, and psychotherapy for severe mental health issues including complex trauma, OCD, and bipolar disorder. Currently he runs a psychotherapy practice near Peterborough and online supporting clients with similar struggles. His main modalities of practice are mindfulness-based and person-centered therapies. Arsalan is also a modern dancer and aerial artist and is interested in somatic healing techniques. Arsalan has a Masters in Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto (2010) and is registered in good standing with the Ontario College of Psychotherapists.