Paulina Stephens
Licensed Therapist, LCPC • (She/Her/Hers)
- Education:
- California Southern University
Want to work with me or a member of my team? Schedule a free call with our team.
My experience with treating OCD:
I'm an OCD specialized therapist, and I began my career as a licensed clinical professional counselor. I have received training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy under the guidance of Dr. Patrick McGranth, the head of clinical services at NOCD. Working with a research-based treatment like ERP is rewarding because it allows me to see people break free from the hold that OCD has over them.
About Me
It’s important that you know what’s going on with your OCD while you work to overcome it. Information is empowering. Learning why intrusive thoughts occur and why you practice compulsions (for example) is just as important as learning how to respond to your thoughts in a healthy way. You must understand why the tools you’re being taught are so useful. It can also help you explain yourself to others, which can be a challenge in itself. Members describe me as empathetic and easy-going. I enjoy helping people learn how to challenge themselves while having fun along the way because you need to be positive throughout a process that can be quite difficult to go through. Together, we’ll walk on a path that leads you to feel more like your real self.
NOCD Therapists are specialists in OCD
Each of our therapists is trained by our world-renowned clinical leadership team.
Learn more about our training >
Welcome Video
States
- Illinois
- Indiana
What our members say about
Paulina Stephens
T.D.
Sep 28, 2022
I am so happy that I stuck it out in therapy. I am seeing more & more progress each week as I keep acknowledging that I see my ocd & what it is trying to do & then I do not follow along behind it. Sometimes it gets me still but I am getting stronger in sitting with how what it is saying makes me feel.
K.B.
Sep 27, 2022
After just a couple of so see that this is helping tremendously
T.D.
Sep 21, 2022
I really like my therapist. I believe that she has my best interest in mind when it comes to suggestions of exercises to try. Even when I’m not so sure that I want to do something right away. She listens & is encouraging but not overly reassuring-as one of my compulsions is reassurance seeking. She helps me to see my progress when I am having trouble seeing past the current, immediate discomfort I am feeling. I am thankful to have found NOCD when I got my OCD diagnosis this year after a decade of other therapists missing it.
T.D.
Aug 31, 2022
My therapist has been great at helping bring me back to the task at hand, my ocd work, while my depression was so bad over the last month. I have learned a lot about my OCD & how to not engage with it. It’s a work in progress. I certainly don’t do it all perfectly. No one would. But i get back up & I keep trying each time.
J.M.
Aug 25, 2022
I plan on doing my see check ins with Paulina Stephens for as long as possible. She’s helped me so much.
K.B.
Aug 15, 2022
Paulina is insightful and shows compassion and care with my daughter. She is moving at a comfortable pace for my daughter.
T.D.
Aug 09, 2022
I was inspired to paint after therapy today. Something my theorist was telling me about a bird & a branch. I found it very inspiring & wanted to give myself a visual reminder.
Seriously, my therapist has been awesome at continuing to help me with my ocd, & bringing me back to that work, while I have been struggling more with my depression & have had trouble staying focused on the task at hand. My ocd work.
T.D.
Jul 26, 2022
I am making real progress! I have really started to put in the effort now to utilize my skills & do the erp exercises. The progress is really starting to show & I am seeing the difference between my ocd being in charge & when I am in charge of my ocd. It is a vast difference. A big thank you to my therapist for sticking in there with me until I got to this point of really working on my ocd.
T.D.
Jul 22, 2022
My therapist has been very supportive & encouraging while I have had some medication changes & other things happening lately. Finally I am feeling better now & I am ready & committed to doing the work to get me where I want to be with my ocd.
L.M.
Jun 30, 2022
My therapist Paulina has really helped me build awareness around my condition. I’ve learned skills to help me reduce my trich and anxiety.
T.D.
Jun 28, 2022
I am learning a lot about my ocd & I am really starting to get somewhere with it.
A.S.
Jun 27, 2022
I have silently suffered with OCD my whole life, I was diagnosed at 7 years old and am now 35. I'm so glad I found this app as it's changed my life. Paulina is my therapist and has been phenomenal, never making me feel abnormal or crazy and guiding my way through the sessions. My OCD is never going away but I now know the tools to combat it and keep it at bay and live a fulfilling life. I owe that to NOCD.
T.D.
May 25, 2022
My therapist is very good at helping me to see the ocd more clearly for what it is. Just thoughts, that I do not have to engage or take deeper meaning from. They are just thoughts. I am seeing better how the ocd changes it up a lot in order to keep getting to me so I will do the compulsions. Paulina is helping me see that. It’s hard doing the erp & it’s hard obsessing & doing the compulsions. Little steps of progress are still steps of progress all the same.
anonymous
Apr 29, 2022
My mind wanted to focus on the negative during session. Paulina is very good at keeping the focus on not perfection & in normalizing having times where the ocd is worse & that that is not a failure. I really like how she puts it as the ocd is throwing a tantrum to get me to do a compulsion. Like a two year old throwing a tantrum. I remember two years old tantrums from raising my kids & they are not logical or predictable. The tantrum just wants it’s way & will pull out all the stops in order to get it. I can see the ocd as being like that since I have started working on sitting with the thoughts, feelings & emotions that come up with it.
anonymous
Apr 07, 2022
Therapy was really good today. I was able to get back on track & back into doing the erp exercises again. My therapist does pretty well at keeping me focused & to the task at hand. She is positive, supportive, encouraging & helps me see when & how to go about taking those next steps when I ready.
anonymous
Apr 02, 2022
My therapist was wonderful in talking to me where I was & encouraging me to do what I needed to in order to get myself the help I needed while I was having a medication issue on the day I saw her. I like that Paulina is observant & willing to help me where I am when I was struggling with more than just my OCD.
anonymous
Mar 23, 2022
I was better able to understand the ocd. What it looks like in me. How it shows. This is the first appt where I really felt like I was getting it. I asked a question & we talked about that so I understood better.
anonymous
Mar 16, 2022
My therapist took the time to talk with me about the loss of my long time pet that happened the morning of my appt. Rather than just getting straight into the ERP, she took the time to meet me where I was at that moment in sadness over that loss. That meant a lot as I was trying so hard to avoid my feelings over it up to that point & the tears coming out the. helped.
anonymous
Mar 08, 2022
I left today’s appt feeling more encouraged. I have really been struggling with my diagnosis of ocd & my thoughts have been running rampant ever since. Starting therapy has given me hope, but also been pretty frustrating as my ocd thoughts tell me that I need to know every little thing right now & that if I don’t then it is a failure. Today my therapist helped me to look at that in a different, more positive structured way rather than the really negative one I had been seeing it in as a failure. So I am back to being more hopeful again. That it is possible for me to get there & be able to better navigate through my ocd as it comes up.
anonymous
Mar 08, 2022
Paulina is always so helpful and really cares how I’m doing. She gets excited to see when my scores are improving. She’s helped me a lot.
anonymous
Feb 17, 2022
I’m surprised that I am as calm as I am right now after a therapy session. That is usually something that causes my thoughts to run rampant in a full blown ocd episode. My first obsession, triggers & compulsions have been identified in the hierarchy & I think that my therapist explained everything well for how to go about my first exposure to start working on.
anonymous
Feb 03, 2022
I feel like this might really be the missing piece of the puzzle that has been going on, unrecognized as OCD, for years. Having hope for change is difficult for me as I have been the way I am for so long, without knowing what it was, that getting better is like a dream that you don’t know if it is true or not. Could I actually get better now? Is this the missing piece of the puzzle? Once my OCD is treated will that help me more with my depression too? Will I finally be able to move past the trauma & be able to stay there then? So many questions. But there is some hope also.
anonymous
Jan 24, 2022
Paulina does an excellent job talking to my daughter and gives her space to be the child that she is. I have seen massive improvements in our work together.
anonymous
Jan 24, 2022
I was a little nervous for my first appointment. A new therapist again. It is always hard for me to feel like I can really open up & trust someone in the beginning. It takes me time. I think I did okay though. I just want to get to where I feel better in my own mind. Being who I am without all the fear & anxiety running things. To stay present with people & in situations is my goal that I want to get to.
anonymous
Jan 11, 2022
Paulina has helped me so much already.