Elena Fasan MSW, LCSW

My practice is focused entirely on treating children, adolescents, and emerging adults with OCD, OC spectrum disorders, and anxiety disorders. I have experience working with very young children and with those diagnosed with PANS and PANDAS.
I offer evidence-based treatments, including CBT, mindfulness, ERP, ACT, HRT, ComB, and SPACE treatment. I often work with parents, helping them to learn effective responses to their children’s symptoms.
My background in child and adolescent development helps me to bring a developmental perspective to my work. I am an adjunct professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Development at California State University, Northridge.

The vast majority of my caseload is made up of young people diagnosed with OCD. That being said, I have a good deal of experience providing evidence-based treatment to clients diagnosed with body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), such as trichotillomania and excoriation disorder (skin picking), as well as other OC spectrum disorders, including body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), olfactory reference syndrome (ORS), misophonia, and emetophobia. I have also treated many clients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (social phobia), separation anxiety disorder, illness anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and specific phobias.

I have been working in the field for over a decade. I received extensive training in the provision of the evidence-based treatment of OCD, anxiety, and BFRBs while working as a therapist at UCLA’s Child and Adolescent OCD Intensive Outpatient Treatment Program and at the OCD Center of Los Angeles. I received training in CBT for depression at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia, taught by Judith Beck, and have taken various courses focused on mindfulness, including mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR). I have undergone continuing education in mindful self-compassion, including a course taught by Kristin Neff and Chris Germer.

I usually have at least one client who is a member of the LGBTQIA+ population in my caseload, at any given time.
I am committed to offering all of my clients and their family members a safe and inclusive therapeutic space, regardless of their race, culture, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. I strive to provide affirming care to clients who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community. I am sensitive to the ways in which race, ethnicity, culture, and religion may impact the experience, therapeutic and otherwise, of my clients, and I adjust the treatment protocol, particularly ERP, accordingly.

As part of my undergraduate education and also in graduate school, I took courses designed to increase cultural competency. In addition, I have repeatedly engaged in continuing education classes focused on working with diverse populations in the field of mental health.
I have worked with clients who are members of various cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious groups.