Functional Analytic Psychotherapy for OCD Training
We recently hosted a professional training event that offered something quite rare in the field: an in-depth exploration of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) applied specifically to OCD. It was a pleasure to make this available to practitioners who are eager to broaden and refine their therapeutic toolkit.
The session, offered as a 1 hour 40 minute edited training, was originally a four-hour workshop that included real clinical footage. For confidentiality reasons, the client material has been removed, but the core teaching remains fully intact.
This training was created for qualified and trainee counsellors, psychotherapists, and psychologists who already have experience working with OCD. The focus is on how FAP can be integrated into OCD treatment in a way that complements and enhances existing evidence-based approaches.
Across mental-health practice, the field is shifting away from rigid protocol-driven models toward more flexible, individualised therapeutic methods. OCD treatment is no exception. Approaches such as ERP and ACT continue to be central, but they primarily focus on intra-personal processes, obsessions, rituals, avoidance patterns, and internal experiences.
FAP brings an important interpersonal dimension into the picture. It draws attention to the relational processes that shape the lived experience of OCD: emotional awareness, openness in communication, and understanding the impact one has on others. A growing number of clinicians are recognising how these interpersonal patterns can reinforce or ease OCD symptoms.
The workshop was led by two experienced clinicians: Nate Gruner, LICSW, and Meaghan Cleary, LMHC, both affiliated with the McLean Hospital OCD Institute. Their combined expertise offered a grounded and practical look at how FAP principles can be woven into existing OCD treatment frameworks to create a more comprehensive therapeutic approach.
If you missed the live workshop, the on-demand version of this training is now available. You can find it here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fapforocd
Participants will have six months’ access to the on-demand recording, making it easy to revisit and reflect on the material at your own pace.
