ERP for OCD and Anxiety Disorders: Telehealth Therapy Across California
What if your life didn’t revolve around fear, doubt, or the need for certainty?
What Is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy?
Not Your Typical Talk Therapy
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and related anxiety disorders. Rather than trying to eliminate fear or achieve certainty, ERP helps you gradually face feared thoughts, situations, or sensations while reducing compulsions, avoidance, and reassurance-seeking. Over time, anxiety loses its grip—and you gain more freedom, flexibility, and confidence in your daily life.
In practice, ERP is active and structured. Together, we identify specific fears and patterns, then build a gradual plan of exposures—small, intentional steps where you face what feels uncomfortable while choosing not to engage in compulsions. During and after these exercises, you learn how to respond differently to anxiety, allowing it to rise and fall on its own without trying to control it.
This approach tends to be a strong fit if you’re open to active work and practicing new responses outside of session. It may not be the right fit if you’re looking for reassurance-based or purely supportive therapy.
You’ve tried avoiding, checking, or seeking reassurance…
When your mind won’t let things rest
There is a way forward without forcing certainty
When your mind won’t let things rest
Your mind holds you hostage with questions that have no answers. You're exhausted from trying to think your way to certainty that never comes.
Life starts to shrink in subtle ways
There is a way forward without forcing certainty
When your mind won’t let things rest
Over time, your attention drifts away from the present moment.
You might feel less connected — to your work, your relationships, or the activities you used to enjoy — not because you don’t care, but because your mind is busy managing threat, uncertainty, or discomfort.
There is a way forward without forcing certainty
There is a way forward without forcing certainty
There is a way forward without forcing certainty
Struggles like these aren’t a personal failure or lack of strength. They’re patterns — ones that can be understood and changed with the right approach.
Effective therapy doesn’t require you to eliminate fear, control your thoughts, or achieve perfect certainty.
Conditions Treated with ERP Therapy
ERP helps you learn how to respond differently to intrusive thoughts rather than trying to eliminate them. In treatment, we gradually and intentionally face the thoughts, images, urges, or situations that trigger anxiety, while reducing compulsions such as reassurance-seeking, checking, mental review, or avoidance. Over time, your nervous system learns that anxiety can rise and fall on its own — without rituals — and that you don’t need certainty to move forward. ERP is structured, collaborative, and tailored to your specific OCD themes and patterns.
Unsure if OCD? Check out our self-screening tools
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) helps treat perfectionism by changing how you respond to the pressure to get things “just right.” Instead of trying to eliminate doubt or achieve perfect outcomes, treatment focuses on gradually practicing tasks in ways that feel incomplete, uncertain, or imperfect—while resisting urges to fix, redo, overcheck, or overprepare. This might include turning in work without endless reviewing, making decisions more quickly, or allowing small mistakes to remain. Over time, you learn that the discomfort of imperfection is tolerable, and that your progress, productivity, and confidence improve when you stop organizing your behavior around getting everything exactly right. ERP is structured, collaborative, and tailored to your specific perfectionism patterns.
ERP for social anxiety focuses on helping you engage in social situations without relying on safety behaviors like over-preparing, rehearsing, avoiding eye contact, or monitoring how you’re perceived. Together, we practice entering feared social scenarios and allowing uncertainty about judgment, embarrassment, or rejection — without trying to control the outcome. As avoidance decreases, confidence grows naturally through experience, not reassurance.
ERP for panic and agoraphobia focuses on breaking the fear-panic-avoidance cycle. Treatment may involve intentionally experiencing feared physical sensations (like increased heart rate or dizziness) and gradually re-entering avoided places or situations — without using escape or safety behaviors. As panic becomes less threatening, avoidance decreases, and your world begins to open back up.
Learn more about ERP for Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
ERP for illness anxiety helps you face health-related fears without compulsive checking, reassurance seeking, or excessive research. This may include sitting with physical sensations, reading health-related information, or postponing checking behaviors — while resisting the urge to “figure it out.” The goal isn’t to convince you that you’re healthy, but to help you tolerate uncertainty and respond to health anxiety in a more flexible, sustainable way.
ERP for GAD targets chronic worry, mental reassurance, and the urge to “solve” uncertainty. Instead of engaging with worry as a problem to fix, we practice allowing uncertainty while reducing compulsive mental behaviors like rumination, planning, and seeking certainty. Treatment helps you shift from living inside constant “what ifs” to engaging more fully in the present — even when answers aren’t available.
ERP for specific phobias involves gradual, planned exposure to feared objects or situations — without avoidance or escape. This may include images, videos, imagined exposure, or real-world experiences, all paced to your readiness. As exposure increases, fear loses its grip, and confidence is built through direct experience rather than avoidance.
Your OCD & Anxiety ERP Therapist in California
Matthew Baker, LCSW (CA #121926)
I’m a California therapist who specializes in evidence-based treatment for OCD and anxiety disorders, as well as PTSD. I provide structured, hands-on therapy and work actively and collaboratively with adults, teens and children to help them reduce unhelpful responses, face uncertainty, and make meaningful, lasting progress.
Many of the people I work with experience thoughts or images that feel disturbing, confusing, or difficult to say out loud. I’ve worked across multiple treatment settings and approach this material with openness, professionalism, and care. Together, we’ll make sense of what’s happening and move forward with a clear plan and consistent guidance.
Credentials, Experience and Affiliations
M.S.W., California State University, Long Beach
- California Licensed Clinical Social Worker # 121926
- NOCD Academy - Advanced Training in Exposure and Response Prevention
- Professional and Listed Member, International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)
- Professional Member, Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA)
- Professional Member & Listed Clinician, Psychology Today
- Fully Insured • HIPAA-Compliant Telehealth
You don’t have to solve this on your own.
You deserve support that helps you move forward.
Availability is limited to ensure high-quality care.
Serving Adults, Teens and Children Across California
Licensed in California and available to clients in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Orange County, Inland Empire, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento and throughout California via secure telehealth.
Matthew Baker, MSW, LCSW (CA License #121926) is based in Lakewood, California, where he provides online therapy for clients throughout the state. He specializes in helping adults, children, and teenagers better manage intrusive thoughts, worries, and fears, as well as work through trauma. Trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Prolonged Exposure (PE), Matthew offers structured, personalized care focused on helping you make meaningful changes and move forward.
Ready to take the next step? Reach out today to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Phone: (714) 686-9447
Email: Matt@whatiftherapy.com
Location: Telehealth throughout California
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