Emily Austin, LCSW

Emily Austin Therapy is a virtual private practice specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders in adults, with approximately 75% of my caseload consisting of clients with OCD. I frequently treat OCD presentations characterized primarily by mental compulsions, including rumination, mental reviewing, checking, and reassurance-seeking, as well as relationship, sexual orientation, harm, health, and sensorimotor OCD.

My approach is grounded in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and rumination-focused interventions. I also work with co-occurring anxiety, panic, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and self-doubt.

I treat co-occurring anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, and health anxiety, as well as related concerns such as perfectionism, people pleasing, and chronic self-doubt. Treatment is individualized based on the client’s presenting concerns and may integrate Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and exposure-based interventions. When OCD and anxiety co-occur, treatment focuses on identifying overlapping patterns of avoidance, reassurance-seeking, rumination, and other safety behaviors while helping clients build greater tolerance for uncertainty and distress.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders since 2022. I founded Emily Austin Therapy in 2024 to provide specialized care for adults with OCD and anxiety.

I completed the International OCD Foundation’s Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI), Dr. Jonathan Abramowitz’s OCD/ERP training, and Rumination-Focused ERP training with Dr. Michael Greenberg. I have participated in multiple ongoing IOCDF consultation groups for specialized clinical support and regularly attend the IOCDF Annual OCD Conference. I pursue continuing education in ERP, ACT, anxiety disorders, ethics, cultural competency, and clinical practice to maintain my professional licenses.

I have extensive experience working with diverse populations, particularly through my work in the Victim Services Unit at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where approximately 90% of my clients were people of color. My MSW education at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College included coursework and field experience focused on cultural awareness, systemic inequities, marginalized populations, and anti-oppressive practice. I have also completed numerous continuing education trainings in cultural competency and culturally responsive clinical practice. These experiences inform my commitment to providing ethical, culturally responsive, and individualized care.