Rachelle M. Tonwar, LPC

Currently 95% of my clients are struggling with OCD/Perinatal OCD.

I also provide treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). When addressing these co-occurring conditions, I integrate evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).

I have been working with individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety related disorders for approximately seven years. My training includes:

**10.09.2026: Perinatal OCD Level I Workshop; 2hrs
**09.17.2026: Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma, Anxiety & Depression: Simple Science-Backed Movement & Breathwork Techniques for Nervous System Regulation with LeNaya Smith Crawford, LMFT, E-RYT 500; 6.25hrs
**7.28.2026: Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT) for OCD with Michael Parker, LCSW; 6hrs
**07.09.2026: Me, My Baby, and OCD -Understanding Perinatal OCD; 4hrs
**07.07.2026: Perinatal OCD vs Postpartum Psychosis; 1hr
**07.01.2026: Administering the Y-BOCS; 1hr
**03.06.2026: I-CBT for Challenging Presentations; 1.75hrs
**03.06.2026: Beyond Anxiety: Working with Grief and Loss; 1.75hrs
**03.05.2026: Using Exposure Therapy to Address Trauma and PTSD in the Context of OCD; 1.75hrs
**03.05.2026_Beyond Anxiety-Dealing With Disgust; 1.75hrs
**11.15.2025 – 11.16.2025: THE ONLINE OCD CONFERENCE, A GLOBAL EVENT (SoCAL Conference); 8.75hrs
**06.28.2025: Small Group I-CBT Basic Training with Gina Abbondante, LLC / OCD Training School; 18hrs
**07.09-07.10.2023: SPACE Workshop (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) with Eli Lebowitz; 13.25hrs
**03.01.2023: Postpartum Psychosis: Crisis Prevention to Intervention with Olivia Reichenbacker, DNP, PMHNP-BC & Kristina Delaney, RN, PMH-C
**02.17.2023: Advanced Integrative ACT and ERP for OCD with Ashlenn Von Wiegand, Ph.D. and Hamilton Von Wiegand, LPC; 6hrs
**10.06.22: ACT for Anxiety Disorders
**09.23.2022: Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs): Science, Impact and Competent Treatment with Christina Noble, Ph.D., LPC and Becky Beaton-York, Ph.D., Director
**07.30.2022: Social Anxiety: Assessment and Treatment; 1.5hrs
**IOCDF conference – 2022
**12.18.2021: Pure O” OCD Subtypes: How to Identify and Treat Them, 2hrs
**09.17.2021: Changing the OCD Mindset – Rapidly, 4hrs
**10.17.2020: Exposure & Response Prevention: The Gold Standard in Anxiety & OCD with Becky Beaton-York, Ph.D., Director, 12hrs
**12.11.2020: OCD SUBTYPES: Creative Treatment Strategies Using Exposure & Response Prevention, 5hrs

At my daughter’s 16th birthday party, she invited friends from school, soccer, flag football and from our neighborhood. Within minutes, the kids had naturally divided themselves, with her Indian friends at one end of the table and her white friends at the other. She pulled me aside and quietly asked, “Where do I sit?”

Her dad is Asian Indian and I’m white, so this wasn’t something I had personally experienced as a teen. She chose a seat in the middle and started bringing people together, asking what they had in common with her and how they knew one another. (Proud parenting moment;)

I see versions of this with clients as well. People carry more than one identity, and the groups they belong to don’t always overlap. Naming those identities usually isn’t the hard part. Finding where you fit is.

My best friend in high school taught me a lot about identity and belonging. She was adopted by a white family and grew up in our small town where few people looked like her. She identifies as white, yet others made assumptions about her identity based on her appearance. I asked her about these experiences back then and again as adults, trying to understand what it felt like to have others question something so personal. More than anything, I listened.

That experience continues to shape how I approach therapy. I know that I can’t understand someone’s identity simply by looking at them, and I don’t want to make assumptions about what their background means to them. I want my clients to feel safe sharing who they are without feeling the need to explain, defend, or justify themselves.

I’m still learning and believe that is an important part of being a therapist. I want to remain curious, open to perspectives different from my own, and most importantly…willing to listen when someone’s experience challenges what I thought I understood. If I’m asking my clients to embrace ‘willingness’ and to get ‘curious’, then I need to be able to do the same.