Jon Hershfield, MFT, is director of The Center for OCD and Anxiety at Sheppard Pratt in Towson, MD. He specializes in the use of mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders. Jon is a member of the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation, and is on the faculty of their Behavioral Therapy Training Institute. He is author of Overcoming Harm OCD, When a Family Member Has OCD, and The OCD Workbook for Teens; and coauthor of The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD and Everyday Mindfulness for OCD.
Shala Nicely, LPC, is a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) therapist in metro Atlanta, GA, specializing in the treatment of OCD and related disorders. She was the keynote speaker for the 2013 International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) conference with the story of her triumph over OCD, “Is Fred in the Refrigerator?” Shala promotes the power of turning personal challenges into service to others as an advocate for The Adversity 2 Advocacy Alliance. She is cofounder, with Jeff Bell, of beyondthedoubt.com, an initiative dedicated to helping people learn to thrive through uncertainty and the fear and doubt it creates. Shala also blogs for Psychology Today, offering an inside perspective on life with OCD and the lessons of uncertainty.
C. Alec Pollard, PhD, is director of the Center for OCD and Anxiety-Related Disorders (COARD), and professor of family and community medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Pollard is a licensed psychologist who works with a range of obsessive-compulsive and anxiety-related disorders, with a special interest in patients ambivalent about or resistant to therapy. He serves as a reviewer for a number of professional journals and conference program committees, and has authored and coauthored more than eighty-five publications, including two books: The Agoraphobia Workbook and Dying of Embarrassment.
