Whitney Tarver

I work with people who have already been diagnosed previously, or who believe they may be struggling with OCD. I've found that sometimes people make their way to my office without even knowing that their difficulties stem from these types of behaviors. I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment therapy and Exposure-Response Prevention to treat OCD, as well as empathy and compassion for this sometimes very difficult path to walk.

As mentioned in my bio, sometimes how we respond to people and situations today can be influenced by the past. Trauma can affect anyone and can happen to anyone. In my trauma work I use a three part model designed to prepare people for deeper trauma work. Beginning with safety and containment, you will learn about you window of tolerance and how to befriend your nervous system. Then we will move into deeper trauma work via IFS and parts work or EMDR, and finally, maintenance of this work.

More and more I have received clients who have revealed deep emotional and traumatic wounds due to religious and spiritual trauma. I treat this in the same way that I treat all trauma, with a special focus on values work and self-compassion. Clients are then free to decide how they do/want to believe moving forward in their lives, and experiencing confidence in themselves.

I have been practicing EMDR as a treatment for 1 year and have found it to be incredibly effective and interesting for both I and the client. I have seen very positive results in my work with EMDR and value it as a trauma treatment.

I have been using parts work with clients for 3 years and have enjoyed learning more about my clients through work with their parts. Identifying and befriending parts open clients in a way that many other theoretical approaches do not, and can give clients an "outside" look to where some of their difficulties originated and why.

ACT has proven to be a very thorough way to begin trauma and OCD treatment by helping clients not only commit to getting well, but also identify their basic values systems and understand how they can live within these systems better. I have found that many people have never fully identified what they value and how they can live within those value systems without shame.