2027 OCD Treatment Conference
ERP, ACT, I-CBT and New Strategies for Overthinking, Intrusive Thoughts, Compulsions and More
Join 10 leading OCD specialists for two days of diagnosis, ERP, ACT, and Inference-Based CBT — built for the presentations a standard protocol misses, from scrupulosity and Pure O to neurodivergent and postpartum clients.
January 25–26, 2027 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM CT
or get the complete recording package
and 9.25 self-study CE hours
OCD Can Recruit You Before You Even Know What You’re Treating
It feels like the session went well.
Your client is terrified. You slow them down, help them breathe, and listen for the fear beneath the fear.
You do what any compassionate clinician would do.
You reassure. You reality-test. You give them language for what feels unbearable: they’re safe, good, not broken, not dangerous, not secretly capable of becoming the thing they fear most.
And for a moment, it works.
Your client’s shoulders drop. Their panic softens. They say, “That helps.”
But if that client has OCD?
You may have just taught OCD where to go for relief.
That’s the quiet horror of misdiagnosed OCD.
It looks like excellent therapy that never quite moves your client forward.
Once OCD is mistaken for something else, your best clinical instincts can start working for OCD instead of against it.
That’s how it pulls even the most compassionate clinician into its cycle—turning reassurance into ritual, insight into rumination, and relief into reinforcement.
OCD rarely announces itself as OCD.
It shows up as the client who keeps replaying the same moment. The client who needs to confess “one more thing.” The client who can’t tolerate uncertainty long enough to move forward. The client who leaves session relieved… and comes back next week needing the same relief again.
This is the moment to ask the question most clinicians are never trained to ask:
Am I treating the anxiety… or am I fanning the flames of OCD?
For clinicians like you who suspect there’s more going on beneath the symptoms than the diagnosis on the chart.
This conference is for you if…
Ideal for Counselors, Social Workers, Psychologists, and Marriage and Family Therapists.
An entirely new lens for the cases that won’t move.
This conference gives you a sharper, evidence-based lens for the presentations already sitting inside your caseload — from differential diagnosis and case formulation to treatment planning and intervention.
Sharper diagnosis. Smarter intervention. Real clinical confidence.
Distinguish OCD from the conditions it gets mistaken for: generalized anxiety disorder, psychotic disorders, depression, autism, and OCPD.
Build plans informed by ERP, ACT, and Inference-Based CBT — so your clinical choices target the actual reasoning and reassurance cycle driving the obsession, not a generic anxiety protocol.
Support your clients without supporting their OCD. Know how and when to coach before, during, and after exposures.
Modify ERP for the clients it wasn’t designed around: autistic clients, new parents, and the ones whose compulsions are entirely internal. Learn what changes, and when.
Talk with clients about violent, sexual, and taboo intrusive thoughts directly — with clarity, authority, and compassion — and sharpen your assessment of where an ego-dystonic obsession ends and a genuine duty-to-warn situation begins.
Here’s some of what you’ll be able to do the moment you leave this conference…
Better identify OCD and pinpoint what’s driving your client’s specific presentation.
Use ERP, ACT, I-CBT, and metacognitive interventions that target doubt without feeding it.
Confidently treat suicidal, harm, and taboo obsessions — even when the content is disturbing.
Adapt treatment to work with neurodivergent and postpartum clients.
You leave with a sharper way to see what’s actually driving the presentation in front of you — not just the anxiety, the reassurance-seeking, or the ritual, but the OCD underneath it.
Instead of treating obsessions, compulsions, and moral fear as generic anxiety to manage, you’ll begin to recognize the specific reasoning, doubt, and reassurance cycle that keeps OCD alive — and know exactly which intervention it calls for.
That shift changes your work.
becomes sharper.
becomes exact.
becomes targeted.
And the reassurance you give becomes a deliberate clinical choice — not an accidental compulsion you’re performing on your client’s behalf.
You may sense OCD is present, but struggle to separate it from anxiety, trauma, or personality — and unknowingly reinforce the very cycle you’re trying to treat.
You’ll have a precise, evidence-based framework for diagnosing and treating OCD in all its forms — and the confidence to respond instead of reassure.
Two days. Ten leading OCD specialists. Every format that fits your schedule.
January 25–26, 2027 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM CT
Earn up to 13.5 live and 9.25 self-study CE hours
Earn up to 22.75 self-study CE hours
Where the research on OCD meets real clinical work.
Each session is built to hand you something you can use in your very next session: differential markers, adapted protocols, and the exact language for the conversations most clinicians avoid.
Here’s a first look at the sessions waiting for you at the 2027 OCD Treatment Conference:
Taboo Topics in OCD: ERP Tools for Working with Suicidal, Violent, and Sexual ObsessionsConfidently work with the intrusive thoughts clinicians are least trained to talk about.
Perinatal OCD: Assessment, Differential Diagnosis and Evidence-Based InterventionSpot perinatal OCD hiding behind postpartum depression and anxiety, and treat it with the right tools.
“Pure O”: Fact, Fiction and Treatment of Pure Obsession OCDSeparate what the research actually says about “Pure O” from the myths, and learn when standard ERP needs to change.
What Isn’t OCD?: Avoiding Common Diagnostic Traps in OCD TreatmentLearn to separate true OCD from anxiety, trauma-related, personality, and neurodevelopmental conditions before treatment ever begins.
Relationship OCD: ERP and ACT Tools to Break the Doubt-and-Reassurance CycleRecognize Relationship OCD and treat the doubt without feeding the reassurance cycle.
OCD on the Autism Spectrum: Diagnosis and Adapted ERP Treatment Tools for Improved OutcomesTell OCD rituals apart from autistic routines, and adapt ERP for autistic clients of any age.
Scrupulosity: Integrative Approaches for Treating Religious OCDLearn to treat religious OCD without pathologizing faith or accidentally reinforcing the compulsion.
Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) for OCD: Evidence-Based Tools to Target Obsessional Doubt without ExposureLearn a whole different way to treat OCD — one that doesn’t require clients to tolerate uncertainty.
ACT for OCD: Strategies to Move Clients from Control to Embracing UncertaintyUse Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help clients respond more flexibly to obsessions, urges, and uncertainty.
Course objectives and outline.
*All times shown in US Central Time
Intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviors, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, moral concerns, or rumination…
It could be OCD, but often only partly. And sometimes something else entirely is driving the presentation. If you don’t know what you’re working with, therapy can stall — or miss the mark completely.
Join Jon Hershfield to enhance your diagnostic skills, pinpoint what’s driving your clients’ presentation and set the stage for effective treatment.
You’ll leave this session ready to:
- Differentiate OCD from anxiety, trauma-related, personality, and neurodevelopmental conditions
- Ask targeted questions that cut through diagnostic uncertainty
- Spot when compulsive-looking behaviors aren’t OCD rituals at all
- Know when to modify, combine, or set aside standard ERP
Is it truly obsessions without rituals? A distinct subtype? Or something else?
Drawing on decades of research and clinical work, Dr. David A. Clark cuts through the confusion on “Pure O” and separates what we actually know from the myths…
…then provides you with the tools, step-by-step instruction and case illustrations you need to work through the feared self, thought-action fusion, ego-dystonicity, and more.
By the end of this session, you’ll be able to:
- Correct the misconceptions that lead treatment astray
- Know why and when conventional ERP may be contraindicated
- Use CBT interventions that target the specific features of pure obsessions
11:40 AM – 12:10 PM | Mid-Day Break
When clinicians focus primarily on reducing unwanted thoughts, feelings, and urges, they can fall into OCD’s central trap: the harder you fight a thought, the tighter its grip.
In this session, ACT expert and author Dr. DJ Moran — whose work has been endorsed by ACT co-developer Steven Hayes — shows you how to avoid it. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy gives you an evidence-based framework to help clients change their relationship with OCD and respond more flexibly to obsessions, uncertainty, distress, and compulsive urges.
Walk away from this session able to:
- Shift the goal of treatment from reducing anxiety to increasing willingness and flexible responding
- Use ACT tools to help clients reduce ritualized avoidance and engage more fully in exposure work
- Help clients choose values-based action instead of compulsions that function as short-term relief strategies
OCD can turn faith into fear. But it’s easy to get it wrong with these clients.
If we reassure or push too hard, we can inadvertently feed the OCD cycle, pathologize normal faith practices or even have clients challenging their beliefs instead of the OCD cycle.
Join Amber N. Pilkington, LPC-S, for the assessment tools, adapted exposure and response prevention, ACT, metacognitive and inference-based strategies you need to get treatment right.
This session gives you the tools to:
- Distinguish scrupulosity from healthy religious devotion, religious trauma perfectionism, and moral injury
- Stop unknowingly reinforcing religious compulsions with reassurance
- Adapt treatment so it targets the disorder without targeting the faith
When OCD co-occurs with autism spectrum disorder, overlapping features, communication differences and rigid thinking patterns can blur diagnostic lines and complicate even your most trusted interventions.
Join Dr. Caleb Lack as he helps you untangle the complexities and gives you the tools you need to deliver more effective, individualized care for children, adolescents and adults on the spectrum.
You’ll leave this session able to:
- Tell OCD rituals apart from autistic routines—and target the right symptoms
- Adapt ERP for autistic clients: adjust your language, pacing, and approach
- Work with sensory needs and rigidity instead of against them
Unwanted thoughts of harming a loved one, violent images they can’t shake, even taboo sexual obsessions.
They’re enough to make you freeze, even as a seasoned clinician — unsure whether you’re looking at a symptom or a warning… and an OCD obsession misread as intent can end in an unnecessary hospitalization or a shattered therapeutic bond.
Join Dr. Ashley Smith for the clinical tools you need to help your clients break free.
Here’s what this session prepares you to do:
- Differentiate obsessions from true risk of harming others, suicide or paraphilic interest
- Address suicidal, harm, pedophilic, and sexual obsessions openly and without shame
- Use in vivo, imaginal, and interoceptive exposures for taboo content
- Stay grounded when the content is graphic, disturbing, or hits close to home
“Is this the right person?” “How do I know for sure?” When clients ask, it feels so reasonable.
But if you don’t recognize Relationship OCD, you can reinforce the very things that keep the obsession-compulsion cycle spinning.
Join Dr. Sonia Greaven and learn how to recognize Relationship OCD, sidestep common therapeutic missteps and treat it with evidence-based approaches.
By the time this session ends, you’ll be able to:
- Tell the difference between Relationship OCD and genuine relationship red flags
- Spot the reassurance-seeking, checking and avoidance that keep ROCD alive
- Deliver ERP and ACT interventions that target the doubt without feeding it
11:40 AM – 12:10 PM | Mid-Day Break
The constant breathing checks? Looks like new-parent vigilance. The reassurance-seeking? Looks like anxiety. The intrusive thoughts about harming the baby? They don’t mention those.
Perinatal OCD is easy to miss, easy to mislabel, and far more common than most clinicians realize.
Join Gina Abbondante, co-founder of the OCD Training School, as she shows you how to recognize perinatal OCD behind its disguises, distinguish it from postpartum depression and anxiety, and confidently adapt and deliver the evidence-based treatment these clients need.
This session equips you to:
- Spot the presentations of perinatal OCD that can be easy to miss
- Assess and differentiate perinatal OCD from postpartum depression, anxiety, and other look-alike conditions
- Adapt ERP, Metacognitive Therapy, and Inference-Based CBT for OCD to work with pregnant and postpartum clients
Katie Marrotte, LCSW | Information about Katie Marrotte
Bronwyn Shroyer, LCSW | Information about Bronwyn Shroyer
What if the key to effective OCD treatment wasn’t needing clients to tolerate uncertainty?
I-CBT is effective, evidence-based and gives therapists a whole different way to treat OCD — shifting the focus from confronting feared outcomes to addressing the flawed reasoning that makes those fears feel real in the first place.
Join the founders of the OCD Training School to expand your treatment toolkit so you can help clients recognize and dismantle the “obsessional doubt” narrative, restore trust in their senses, and break free from the OCD cycle.
You’ll walk out able to:
- Pinpoint specific thinking traps that pull clients away from reality and into doubt
- Help clients rebuild confidence in their own senses and move them away from imagined possibilities
- Integrate concrete I-CBT strategies into your practice—no exposure required
Available as soon as you register
In this recorded training, Jon Hershfield shares the integrative approach he’s honed over 15 years as a national leader in OCD treatment. In this training, you’ll learn how to…
- Avoid missed diagnosis and overdiagnosis of OCD
- Integrative strategies from DBT, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Radically Open-DBT and more, into approaches you’re already using
- Spot the 8 main OCD themes and know which questions to ask for diagnostic clarity
- Direct treatment when depression, substance use, borderline and other diagnoses are present
And so much more… Walk away from this training with elevated confidence and skill in treating OCD.
Learn how to confidently identify, assess, and treat OCD in children and teens – including the sneaky subtypes and taboo thoughts most clinicians overlook.
Get step-by-step guidance in designing and delivering developmentally appropriate Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) protocols, and discover how ACT, mindfulness, and parental support strategies can boost motivation, reduce accommodation, and lead to lasting change – even when motivation is low or treatment gets stuck.
- In-session exposure tips and troubleshooting guidance
- Kid-friendly ACT and mindfulness techniques that work
- Behavior plans that support — not sabotage — treatment
This conference was designed for counselors, social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists and other professionals, whether you’re experienced with OCD clients or just starting out.
Yes, it includes up to 22.75 CE hours (up to 13.5 Live hours and up to 9.25 Self-Study hours) at the very low price of $149.99.
Yes! Just register for our fully on-demand version of this conference, which will be available 4–6 weeks after the live event dates of January 25–26, 2027. You’ll get access to the content for 12 months after the product becomes available. During that access period, you will be able to earn self-study CE hours! Register for the on-demand, self-study package here.
YES! You’ll be able to engage with the presenters and chat with colleagues throughout each presentation.
Yes, you will get free 90-day access to all sessions (replays and on-demand sessions) after the training. Replays will be available within the week after the training ends and will be in the same place where the live sessions took place in your account portal.
Contact Us with questions. We’re happy to help!
ERP, ACT, I-CBT and New Strategies for Overthinking, Intrusive Thoughts, Compulsions and More
January 25–26, 2027 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM CT
$1,049.89 Value — $149.99
Yes, Register Me Live!- 90-day access to all sessions (replays and on-demand sessions)
- 2 on-demand sessions
- Up to 13.5 live CE hours and 9.25 self-study CE hours
- Dynamic panel discussion CE session
- Live Q&A with leading OCD experts
- Downloadable resources
Credit approvals may differ per session.
$1,049.89 Value — $149.99
Yes, Send Me the Recordings!- Get unlimited access to every session for 12 full months
- Up to 22.75 self-study CE hours
- Recorded Q&A
- Downloadable resources
CE details available 4–6 weeks after the event.
Self-study CE hours and approvals may vary from live event.
Content will be accessible for 12 months after the product becomes available.