Overview

Did you know that OCD affects 2-3% of the population, yet it often goes unrecognized or undertreated—sometimes for decades? While evidence-based treatments exist, many clients plateau, disengage, or struggle with traditional exposure approaches. What if there was a way to make OCD treatment both more effective and more compassionate? This comprehensive 4-hour workshop bridges two powerful therapeutic approaches: Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and evidence-based OCD treatment. Whether you're an IFS practitioner seeking to work more effectively with OCD or an OCD specialist interested in relational, parts-based approaches, this course offers an integrated framework that preserves the efficacy of proven treatments while enhancing client engagement and sustainable recovery.

Participants will gain a thorough understanding of both OCD phenomenology and IFS principles, learning how obsessional managers and compulsive firefighters form unique alliances that distinguish OCD from other conditions. Through detailed case examples and practical demonstrations, you'll discover how to assess OC subsystems, facilitate Self-led encounters with exiled parts, and help protective parts transform their extreme roles. The three-stage treatment approach presented— grounded in exposure principles yet deeply relational—offers hope for clients who haven't fully responded to traditional interventions while maintaining the therapeutic mechanisms proven effective for OCD.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this event, participants should be able to:

• Conceptualise the obsessive-compulsive cycle using IFS language, including the roles of obsessional managers,compulsive firefighters, and exiles
• Apply techniques to help clients unblend from OC protectors and access Self-leadership
• Demonstrate how to facilitate a Self-led exposure through encounters with exiled parts while maintaining willing cooperation of protective parts
• Evaluate when and how to work with protector burdens that perpetuate OCD symptoms even after exile unburdening
• Utilise the three-stage “Self-led Encounter and Relate to Parts” framework to integrate IFS principles with exposure and response prevention methodology

Presenter(s)

About the presenter(s)

Melissa Mose is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the founder/clinical director of Mose Psychotherapy & Coaching (Los Angeles), where she specialises in OCD and anxiety (currently comprising over 90% of her caseload). She is an IFS Level 3 Certified therapist and IFSI-approved consultant, and has served as a Program Assistant for multiple IFS Institute Level 1 and Level 2 trainings. Melissa is also trained through the International OCD Foundation’s Behaviour Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) at basic, advanced, and paediatric levels, with additional training in SPACE and CBIT. She is the author of Internal Family Systems Therapy for OCD, which integrates IFS with evidence-based OCD treatment through her Self-led Exposure and Response Prevention (Self-led ERP) approach. Melissa is President of OCD Southern California (an IOCDF affiliate) and is an international educator and speaker on OCD treatment and recovery.

More information about Melissa can be found at https://www.melissamosemft.com/meet-melissa/

Notes

Target Audience

This event is aimed at all practitioners working with OCD presentations and/or interested in augmenting their practice with IFS principles.

Please note:

• This is a Member Groups event. All communication will be sent to the registrants’ registered email address. This includes event reminders with details (such as the Zoom link) and any pre-event or post-event resources, if provided by the facilitators.
• A post-event email will be sent within two weeks of the event’s completion to each registrant’s registered email address. This email will include the CPD certificate, event-recording, and any additional resources shared during the session.

Duration of Access

This event will be recorded. The recording will be emailed to all registered within 2 weeks post event and available for viewing up to 90 days.

CPD

It is up to attendees to assess and determine how learning from this event aligns with the requirements of their learning plan. The providers accordingly do not make any representation that the event counts towards attendees’ CPD learning requirements. If an attendee determines themselves that the learning they complete aligns to their learning plan, then they can decide to count those hours towards their CPD requirements for the registration cycle.

The information in this presentation has been prepared in good faith and for educational purposes only. Therefore, the information is general in nature and should not be relied upon in the treatment of any condition and you should seek your own independent professional and/or legal advice concerning any specific issue. The APS accepts no responsibility for any errors, omissions or decisions relating to the information. The content should not be reproduced without permission or unless permitted by law.

If you are experiencing registration difficulties please contact APS Events Support.