Maureen Graham

I’m Maureen, a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in helping people who feel stuck in cycles of anxiety and OCD, especially when they’ve already tried to think, reason, reassure, or talk their way out of what they’re experiencing.

My approach is compassionate, collaborative, and practical. I’m less interested in debating whether your thoughts are true or helping you feel certain, and more interested in helping you understand what happens when your mind gets hooked by an unwanted thought, feeling, memory, image, or sensation. Together, we’ll identify the things you do to make that discomfort go away, and work on building a different relationship with it.

If you have OCD, you may already know that it can attach itself to almost anything: your relationships, morality, faith, health, identity, past experiences, parenting, or even your own recovery. Sometimes the more you try to solve it, the more complicated it becomes. My goal is to help you recognize the cycle underneath the content so that you no longer have to solve every new question your mind produces.

I integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to help you build the ability to experience uncertainty and discomfort while moving toward the life and relationships that matter to you. If you’ve been in therapy before but still feel trapped in the same cycle, we can approach it differently.

My approach to therapy is active, collaborative, and rooted in curiosity rather than judgment. I want you to understand not only what you’re experiencing, but what keeps you stuck.

I primarily use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). Rather than spending our time trying to determine whether every thought or fear is true, rational, or something you should be concerned about, we’ll pay attention to what happens next. What does your mind urge you to do when anxiety, uncertainty, guilt, fear, or another uncomfortable experience shows up? Does that response help you move toward the life you want, or does it keep you caught in the same cycle?

For OCD and anxiety, this often means learning that uncomfortable thoughts and feelings are not problems that have to be solved before you can move forward. We’ll practice making room for uncertainty and discomfort, reducing the behaviors that keep the cycle going, and helping you reconnect with the things that matter to you.

I also believe you should understand the “why” behind the work we’re doing. Therapy with me includes education, practical skills, and plenty of opportunities to practice what we discuss—not just talk about it. My goal is for you to become increasingly confident in recognizing your own patterns and choosing how you want to respond to them.

• My goal is to cultivate a space where you can be curious about your values, beliefs, and emotions with respect and compassion. I strongly believe in the importance of self compassion as the foundation for mental wellness, and will work with you to develop care for self not only to alleviate immediate stressors, but to achieve long term outcome.