John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge between Cincinnati, OH and Covington, KY
← Services ← Group Therapy & Workshops ← Bridging the Gap
Bridging the Gap: OCD & Anxiety Skills Group
Understanding what keeps OCD and anxiety going is a useful start. Putting that understanding into practice can be harder, especially when your mind insists that you need to feel certain, comfortable, or ready first.
Bridging the Gap is a therapy group being developed at River City OCD Clinic to help adults practice new ways of responding to OCD, anxiety, and uncertainty. Facilitated by Dr. Vanessa Tirabassi, the group will draw on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles to connect treatment skills with everyday life.
New Group Forming
Help Us Choose a Meeting Time!
We're currently gathering scheduling preferences from adults interested in joining Bridging the Gap. Share your availability to help us plan the group's next offering.
Takes approximately 2 minutes. No commitment required.
Put Recovery Skills Into Practice
OCD and anxiety can gradually organize life around avoidance, checking, reassurance, and attempts to feel completely certain before moving forward.
Bridging the Gap is designed to help participants recognize those patterns and practice different responses. For OCD, the group will use ERP enhanced by ACT. Anxiety-focused work will emphasize approaching avoided experiences, psychological flexibility, and actions guided by what matters.
The aim is to build skills you can use alongside individual treatment: approaching difficult situations, reducing compulsive responses, and participating more fully in life even when discomfort comes along.
Group Status & Meeting Details
Status: New group forming
Facilitator: Dr. Vanessa Tirabassi
Participants: Adults ages 18+
Location: River City OCD Clinic, 4010 Dupont Circle, Suite 600, Louisville, KY 40207
Meeting day, time, and start date: To be determined based on interest and scheduling preferences
Fees: Fee details will be provided before enrollment.
Participation: A brief screening will help determine whether the group fits your current needs and goals.
Interested? Contact us and share your availability. Expressing interest does not commit you to joining.
Skills You’ll Practice
Planned topics include:
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Recognizing compulsions, avoidance, and reassurance seeking.
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Responding differently to intrusive thoughts without repeatedly analyzing or neutralizing them.
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Making room for uncertainty, anxiety, disgust, or incompleteness.
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Approaching avoided situations through purposeful practice.
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Noticing thoughts without automatically treating them as instructions or commands.
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Choosing actions guided by your values.
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Applying skills between appointments and responding flexibly to setbacks.
For OCD, practice includes addressing mental rituals as well as visible behaviors. Reviewing memories, checking feelings, or silently reassuring yourself can be just as important to recognize as washing or checking a lock.
You don’t need to feel calm for the practice to count. The work is learning how to choose your next action with discomfort present.
Meetings will combine facilitated discussion, guided exercises, and opportunities to connect treatment principles with real situations.
Participants will be encouraged to discuss obstacles, ask questions, and learn from different perspectives. Between meetings, the emphasis will be on applying skills in ordinary moments when OCD or anxiety asks you to avoid, check, seek reassurance, or put life on hold.
Support will focus on helping one another practice flexibility. Repeatedly settling someone’s doubts or providing certainty can unintentionally reinforce the patterns the group is working to change.
You don’t need a polished recovery story to participate. “I understand the concept, but my brain apparently missed the meeting” is a perfectly reasonable place to start.
Who Is This Group For?
Bridging the Gap may be a useful fit for adults working on:
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OCD across different themes and presentations.
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Intrusive thoughts and visible or mental compulsions.
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Anxiety and patterns of avoidance.
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Repetitive worry and difficulty leaving uncertainty unresolved.
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Perfectionism associated with OCD or anxiety.
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Applying treatment skills more consistently in daily life.
The group is intended to complement active treatment and recovery work. It may be suitable whether you’re new to ERP and ACT or looking for additional opportunities to practice skills you’ve already learned.
A brief screening will help clarify fit. Contact us if you’re unsure whether this group matches what you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bridging the Gap a therapy group?
Yes. Bridging the Gap is being formed as a clinical therapy group focused on skills practice for OCD, anxiety, and related perfectionism. It will be facilitated by Dr. Vanessa Tirabassi.
When will the group start?
The start date has not been determined. We’re gathering interest and scheduling preferences before finalizing the meeting arrangements.
Contact us to express interest and share the days and times that could work for you.
Do I need to be in individual therapy?
The group is intended to complement active treatment and recovery work. During screening, we’ll discuss your current care and whether the group would provide an appropriate level of support.
You do not need to be an existing River City OCD Clinic client to ask about participating.
Can I participate if I’m new to ERP or ACT?
Possibly. Prior familiarity with every concept is not expected. Screening will help determine whether the planned group format fits your needs and where you are in treatment.
How do you determine whether the group is a good fit?
Prospective participants complete a brief screening before joining. We’ll discuss your concerns, goals, current treatment, and expectations for participation.
If another service appears more suitable, we can discuss available options.
How do I express interest?
Use our Contact page and mention Bridging the Gap. Include your preferred meeting days and times, along with a brief note about your interest in the group.
Expressing interest is not enrollment and does not obligate you to participate.