Hi, I’m Jessica, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with a particular interest in working with individuals experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), intrusive thoughts, and anxiety.
At Natural Choice Medical Clinic in Guelph, I work with clients ages 10 and up who may be struggling with OCD, generalized anxiety, panic, social anxiety, health anxiety, or related concerns. I also support clients experiencing depression and low mood, particularly when these concerns occur alongside anxiety or OCD.
I know that reaching out for therapy can feel vulnerable, especially when you have been dealing with thoughts, fears, or behaviours that are difficult to explain to others. My goal is to offer a space where you can speak openly about what you are experiencing without feeling judged or defined by it.
My approach is warm, collaborative and gentle, while also being direct and willing to challenge you when doing so can help you move toward the changes that matter to you. I believe therapy works best when we approach it as a team: bringing together my clinical knowledge with your understanding of yourself, your experiences, your values and your goals.
OCD is often misunderstood OCD can look very different from one person to another.
It may involve intrusive thoughts, images, urges or doubts that feel unwanted and distressing. In response, you might find yourself checking, seeking reassurance, avoiding certain situations, repeating actions, mentally reviewing events, or trying to determine with certainty whether a fear is true. Some compulsions are visible to others. Others happen almost entirely in your mind.
What can make OCD particularly difficult is that it often latches onto the things that matter deeply to us. An intrusive thought can feel significant precisely because of what we value, and OCD can lead us to question what that thought means about our character, our relationships, our safety or who we are as a person.
I want clients struggling with OCD to know that experiencing an intrusive thought does not define your identity, character or values. OCD is something you experience; it is not who you are.
You also don’t need to wait until you have the “right” words to talk about what is happening. Therapy can be a place to begin making sense of these experiences together.
How I work with OCD
My approach to OCD treatment is individualized and collaborative. One of the evidence-based approaches I draw from is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a form of cognitive behavioural therapy commonly used in the treatment of OCD. ERP involves gradually learning to approach feared thoughts, situations or uncertainty while reducing the compulsive responses that OCD has taught you to rely on for temporary relief.
This work is collaborative and paced thoughtfully rather than being about forcing you into situations before you are ready. Therapy for OCD is not always easy. Change can involve learning to tolerate uncertainty and doing things differently even when OCD is asking you to seek reassurance, avoid, check or perform a compulsion.
At the same time, I don’t see therapy as something I do to you. We work together to understand how OCD operates in your life, identify what keeps the cycle going, and develop a treatment plan connected to what matters to you.
If you are willing to engage in the process and practise what you are learning both inside and outside the therapy room, meaningful change is possible.
Anxiety can take many forms
Anxiety isn’t always obvious from the outside.
You might find yourself worrying about everyday situations, anticipating what could go wrong, replaying conversations, avoiding situations that make you uncomfortable, experiencing panic, worrying excessively about your health, or feeling consumed by what other people may think of you.
For some people, anxiety has been present for so long that it simply feels like part of who they are.
In therapy, we can become curious about the patterns that are keeping anxiety going while developing practical ways of responding differently to difficult thoughts, emotions and situations.
I also recognize that anxiety and OCD rarely exist in isolation from the rest of a person’s life. Low mood, relationships, family experiences, trauma, identity, attention difficulties and other concerns may all become relevant to our work together.
I consider the whole person when developing a treatment plan. When another concern becomes the primary difficulty and would be better addressed by someone with specialized expertise in that area, I believe good care also means being transparent about that and helping connect you with appropriate support when needed.
My approach to psychotherapy
There is no single therapeutic approach that fits every person.
My work is integrative and collaborative, which means I draw from different evidence- informed therapeutic approaches depending on your needs, goals and preferences.
My practice may incorporate elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT).
My work is also informed by person-centred, emotion-focused and trauma-informed principles.
For me, these approaches are tools rather than a formula. I want to understand not only the symptoms bringing you to therapy, but also the person experiencing them. Together, we can explore what is happening, what may be maintaining it, what matters to you, and what kind of change you would like to work toward.
My style is warm and compassionate, and I also believe there are moments when good therapy requires honesty, gentle challenge and a willingness to sit with discomfort. There is room for humour, too.
Therapy can involve difficult conversations without every moment having to feel heavy. Most importantly, I want you to feel that therapy is something we are doing together. A space where you don’t have to hide the difficult parts. Some of the experiences that bring people to therapy are also the ones they are most afraid to talk about.
This can be especially true with OCD. Intrusive thoughts can involve subjects that feel frightening, shameful or completely inconsistent with the person you believe yourself to be. You may worry about what someone will think of you if you say them out loud. My role isn’t to judge you for having a thought.
It’s to become curious with you about what you’re experiencing, understand the patterns surrounding it, and help you develop a different relationship with the thoughts, feelings and uncertainty that have been taking up so much space in your life.
You don’t have to arrive at therapy with everything figured out. We can start with where you are. Therapy that respects the whole person Your experiences, culture, relationships, values and beliefs are part of who you are, and I believe therapy should make room for them.
I provide psychotherapy in English and Spanish.
For clients whose faith or spirituality is an important part of their lives, I am also comfortable incorporating this into our therapeutic work when you would like to do so.
This is always guided by your own beliefs, values and preferences.
Regardless of what brings you to therapy, my goal is to create an environment where you feel respected, involved in your care and able to talk openly about what matters to you.
I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Guelph and my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP) at Yorkville University.
I am a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)and practise under clinical supervision from a Registered Psychotherapist registered with the CRPO.
I am also a member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA).
My continuing professional development includes training related to Exposure and Response Prevention, and I continue to build my knowledge and clinical skills in OCD and anxiety treatment as part of my ongoing professional development.
A little about me
Outside of my clinical work, I enjoy spending time outdoors, particularly camping and hiking with my family and our Husky.
I value warmth, curiosity and authenticity both personally and professionally, and these qualities influence the kind of therapeutic relationship I try to create with my clients. OCD and anxiety therapy in Guelph
I practise at Natural Choice Medical Clinic in downtown Guelph and work with clients ages 10 and older.
Whether OCD has been part of your life for years, you’ve recently begun wondering whether your experiences could be OCD, or anxiety has started interfering with the life you want to live, you don’t need to have everything understood before reaching out.
We can begin by talking about what you’ve been experiencing, what matters to you, and what you would like to be different.
(519) 265-8035
info@naturalchoicemedicalclinic.com
