Clinician’s Corner

Clinician’s Corner is a space for therapists who want to think more clearly, work more effectively, and move beyond surface-level protocols that break down with complex presentations.

This is where I share trainings, consultation groups, and clinical frameworks grounded in evidence-based practice, functional analysis, and real-world application. The focus is on how symptoms work, not just what they look like.

The work here frequently includes OCD, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, trauma, somatic presentations, and the overlap that is often missed in traditional models.

Here you’ll find:

  • Upcoming trainings and consultation groups

  • Resources designed to strengthen case formulation, treatment sequencing, and clinical confidence

  • Feedback and reviews from clinicians who have participated in past trainings and consultations

My approach is direct, practical, and rooted in clinical reasoning rather than rigid adherence to protocols. The goal is not to replace your clinical judgment, but to sharpen it.

Many clinicians who find their way here are already skilled and experienced, yet are looking for a more functional, process-based way to understand what keeps clients stuck and how to intervene more precisely.

If you are interested in deepening your work, expanding your conceptual flexibility, and treating complex cases with greater clarity and confidence, you’re in the right place.

Process-Based Clinical Consultation Group

Function First Consultation Group flyer for clinicians featuring a process-based, transdiagnostic consultation group focused on functional analysis, ERP, ACT, I-CBT, OCD, trauma, and eating disorders, led by Michelle Puerner, LCSW.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this consultation group, participants will be able to:

  • Conceptualize complex clinical presentations using functional analysis

  • Identify maintaining processes across disorders, including uncertainty, threat systems, experiential avoidance, inferential confusion, and emotional or moral compulsions

  • Integrate ERP, ACT, and I-CBT without getting stuck in rigid protocols

  • Recognize when guilt, shame, or morality are driving avoidance or compulsive behavior

  • Design exposures and behavioral experiments that target maintaining processes rather than surface symptoms

  • Support clients in values-based action and sustainable relapse prevention

  • Communicate clearly and confidently about function-based treatment with clients, families, and other providers

This is a hands-on, small-group training, not a lecture. Each meeting includes applied discussion and real clinical cases.

Who This Group Is For

This group is ideal for clinicians who:

  • Treat OCD, trauma/PTSD, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, or somatic presentations

  • Want a more flexible, accurate, and non-algorithmic approach to case formulation

  • Feel stuck when clients present with overlapping OCD, trauma, or eating-disorder processes

  • Have training in ERP, ACT, EMDR, CBT, or I-CBT and want a stronger functional framework

  • Value consultation that is collaborative, thoughtful, and clinically grounded

If you’re ready to reserve your spot, click here to complete registration and payment through Vagaro.

Sign Up Here

Session Overview

The Following six sessions build progressively, introducing a shared conceptual framework and then applying it across common maintaining processes seen in OCD, anxiety, trauma, and related presentations. Each sessions blends brief teaching with applied discussion to support real world clinical use.

Session 1: Orientation & Shared Language

Learn a practical framework for understanding how symptoms are maintained across diagnoses. We’ll introduce a functional loop diagram that can be applied to any presenting problem

Session 2: Uncertainty & Threat Systems

Explore how fear, uncertainty, and perceived threat drive many anxiety-based behaviors, even when clients present with different symptoms.

Session 3: Experiential Avoidance & Emotional Compulsions

Understand how avoidance of emotions like guilt, shame, fear, or vulnerability can keep clients stuck, and how these patterns show up in therapy.

Session 4: Inferential Confusion & Imaginative Reasoning

Explore how “what if” thinking and imagined scenarios can drive anxiety-driven behavior. Participants will learn to identify and correct reasoning traps that maintain anxiety and avoidance.

Session 5: Exposure & Approach Learning

Review exposure and behavioral change strategies in a way that applies across OCD, anxiety, and related conditions.

Session 6: Integration & Values-Based Action

Bring the series together by translating process insights into individualized treatment plans and relapse-prevention strategies.

To reserve your spot, click here, and you will be taken to Vagaro for payment.

Sign Up Here
Training Materials

The Review Board

  • "I used to think I would refer OCD clients out, but then would come to realize that several of my trauma client had co-occurring OCD, and we'd invested significant time building rapport. In spite of OCD seeming like a daunting hurdle for me, I decided to try Michelle's training. Michelle broke it down into a manageable series of tasks with a variety of tools. I started seeing improvements right away. Michelle has a wealth of skills and experience to share. Every case presented was met with a thoughtful approach which gradually decreased my fear of working with OCD. I have already, after this training, seen a noticeable shift in outcomes. Thank you, Michelle!"

    Colleen T, LCPC

  • "This introductory training to OCD was worth every bit of my time! I really appreciated the format; it was well organized and really an asset to increase knowledge regarding this much-missed diagnosis. Hearing directly from clients how long they have suffered being treated with the incorrect medications and how harmful 'traditional talk therapy' can be is useful. Thank you Emily, Michelle and your panelists for taking the time teach the group such valuable information. I look forward to attending more of your trainings in the future."

    Wendy S, LCSW

  • "This training was deeply impactful for me and helped me to understand the challenges some of my OCD patients face in all areas of life."

    Annie M, SWLC

  • "Michelle's OCD consultation group was informative, well organized, and very dynamic and interactive. I highly recommend it."

    Beth B, LCSW

Gone, but not forgotten…

  • A digital flyer for an OCD awareness event featuring headshots of two therapists, Michelle Puerner and Emily Pray, along with event details, date, time, and sign-up information.
  • Orange and teal poster advertising an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder November consultation group, featuring a photo of a woman, the cost of $300, and details about the schedule and contact info.
  • A promotional flyer for an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder consultation group hosted by The Anxiety Break. The flyer has a green and blue color scheme, with details about the program, including cost, start date, session schedule, and contact information. It features a photo of a woman in the lower right corner and a QR code in the upper right corner.
  • Flyer for an in-depth look at OCD, featuring details about a virtual event on April 25th from 4 to 6 PM via Zoom, led by Michelle Puernar, LCSW, founder of The Anxiety Break. Includes a photo of Michelle and a description of her background and experience.
  • Free suicide prevention training event scheduled for February 24, 2024, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm via Zoom, offered by Megan Bailey, with a profile picture of a smiling woman in the bottom right corner.
  • Flyer for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder consultation group by The Anxiety Break, starting February 7, 2024, with details on benefits, schedule, contact email, and website.
  • A digital flyer advertising an online workshop titled "SparkShift: Igniting Potential in Adult ADHD." The flyer includes information about the workshop, pricing, start date, schedule, and facilitator. It features a blue background, a QR code in the top left corner, and a photo of Michelle Puerner, the facilitator, in the bottom right corner.
  • A colorful poster promoting a talk on OCD, Tics, and Suicide Prevention featuring details about the event date, time, location, topics, objectives, and presenters, with illustrations of megaphones and brain icons.
  • Flyer for a workshop titled 'Accommodations & Recovery Avoidance in Treatment Resistance' with details about the date, time, location, cost, and speakers. Features an image of a woman comforting a child on a couch and a man looking distressed.