Hi, My name is Thai-An.
I am passionate about helping people heal from past trauma and OCD. If you feel haunted by your past trauma, I've dedicated myself to learning the best treatments for helping people heal from those difficult life experiences. I love helping people get to a place where they feel free from their past, are able to live more fully in the present, and enjoy life with the people who matter the most to them.
If you are suffering from OCD and anxiety, I would love to help you heal from the mental and physical exhaustion and torment that OCD causes, so you can feel more inner peace. joy, and connection in your life. Instead of having your life be ruled by OCD and fear, I want you to be able to regain a sense of freedom, getting to do what you want with your time and your life.
I also have a special passion for working with couples, seeing how these struggles with past trauma and OCD can really negatively impact your relationships. I love helping couples communicate better, reconnect on a deeper level, and enjoy life with each other. I’ve transitioned from specializing in working with postpartum women, but you can still find helpful resources here.
My Treatment Approaches
I’ve dedicated my life to finding the best, evidence-based tools to help you overcome past trauma and OCD. I am the first Certified TEAM-CBT Therapist and Trainer in Oklahoma. I’ve also had intensive training in Prolonged Exposure (PE), Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) - all beautiful approaches that I really believe in to help people heal from past trauma and OCD.
I’ve seen my clients go from a space of shame, terror and feeling a complete loss of control, to getting their life and joy back again.
1) TEAM-CBT
TEAM-CBT is an effective, powerful treatment approach that offers practical tools for healing depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and various habits and addictions. This active approach goes beyond traditional talk therapy.
I’ve seen TEAM-CBT help many people overcome their struggles. My clients who are willing to engage in the active work of learning tools in session and practicing them in between sessions for therapy homework find themselves feeling a lot better. I love seeing clients become more confident, connected, and happier with life through our work together.
CBT is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the most widely used therapy approach in the world. TEAM is a structure for therapy that has made CBT even more effective. It stands for Testing, Empathy, Assessment of Resistance, and Methods -- the 4 key components of effective therapy.
Testing - I’ll have you complete a mood survey at every session to track your symptoms and progress, so I can find the tools that are most helpful for you. At the end of every session, you’ll also fill out a short feedback form about our work together. Your feedback is important to me and I will make changes as needed to make therapy the most effective it can be for your healing journey.
Empathy - While our approach is active with learning tools in session and doing therapy homework outside of sessions, it is also really important to me that there is space for you to talk about what’s bothering you, so you can receive genuine care and support through your pain and struggles. I love my clients and connecting with you is one of my favorite things to do.
Assessment of Resistance - This part of the process helps clients work through ambivalence to change and ultimately improves motivation to change, making all of the tools more effective.
Methods - We have over 50 methods from many schools of therapy that have been shown to help people heal from anxiety, depression, past trauma, and relationship problems. We are passionate about having a wide-variety of evidence-based and practical tools, so we can more effectively help each unique individual heal in their own way.
You can Click here to listen to a live demonstration of TEAM-CBT with me and Dr. David Burns. We help a man overcome his struggle with depression and social anxiety. You can look up the Feeling Good Podcast and listen to Episode 187 on your podcast player of choice for a more user-friendly experience.
Here are a couple of great self-help books from Dr. David Burns:
I’ve been featured on the following Feeling Good Podcasts with Dr. David Burns:
Feeling Good Podcast Ep 367: Help for Troubled Couples with Thai-An Truong
Feeling Good Podcast Ep 344: The Grief Method: Featuring Thai-An Truong
Feeling Good Podcast Ep. 283: The O of OCD: Featuring Thai-An Truong, LPC, LADC
Feeling Good Podcast Ep. 264: How to Get Laid! (With a little help from the 5 secrets of effective communication)
Feeling Good Podcast Ep. 218: Treating Postpartum Depression and Anxiety with TEAM-CBT
Feeling Good Podcast Ep. 187: Live demonstration of using TEAM-CBT to treat depression and social anxiety.
You can listen to these episodes on your podcast player of choice for a more user-friendly listening experience.
2) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT was created by Drs. Steven Hayes and Kelly Wilson, and has become the most widely researched and empirically validated treatment approach. ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. It focuses on helping people accept their internal state (thoughts and feelings) instead of being stuck in a cycle of trying to ineffectively control thoughts and feelings. Instead, the focus is on connecting people with their values, what matters the most to you, and taking commited action that aligns with your values, so you can lead a more present and meaningful life.
Two great books that cover ACT are:
3) Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS is an evidence-based approach created by Dr. Richard Schwartz. Many people find that they have more internal harmony and balance with less extreme reactions from working to connect with and heal various parts of their internal system. IFS believes that parts of us only get extreme because we’ve been through hard life experiences, and these parts of us are doing their best to try to protect us in some way. For example you may have a part of you that drives you to achieve and works really hard for you to succeed in life (manager). You may have another part of you that engages in addictive processes to help you escape from pain/stress/pressure and have more pleasure in life (firefighter). And there may be another vulnerable, younger part that the manager and firefighter parts are trying to protect, a part that carries the burdens from the hard life experiences, believing you’re worthless, not good enough, will only get rejected if you show who you really are, etc. I love that IFS sheds light on how we all have a core Self that’s not impacted by our trauma and hard life experiences. This core Self is intrinsically wise and compassionate and is the healing agent for our extreme parts and reactions. Our ultimate goal is to become Self-led instead of parts led.
Two great books that cover IFS are:
4) I-CBT and ERP
I-CBT and ERP are both evidence-based and effective treatment approaches for OCD. I-CBT is more cognitive and ERP is more behavioral. I-CBT focuses on treating the initial doubt/what ifs that come up, helping to resolve that doubt so you can better trust your sense, common sense, and yourself. Once the initial doubt is resolved, you are no longer absorbed in the fear and no longer feel the need to do compulsions. ERP on the other hand addresses the compulsions and has you face the fears (exposure) while practicing letting go of the compulsions (response prevention), so you can train your brain and yourself to face these fears. learn that you have agency over whether you do compulsions or not, and gain freedom from knowing that you do not need the compulsions to keep yourself and others safe.
A great analogy for these two approaches by I-CBT Trainer Katie Marrotte, LCSW is to think of going through a haunted house. I-CBT turns on all the lights so you can see the inner mechanisms of all the scary things that pop out. Once you see how they work, they no longer feel very scary and you no longer need to avoid them. ERP has you go through the haunted house over and over again without avoiding it or running the other way, so you can see that nothing bad really happens, even though it feels really scary in the moment. Then you also no longer feel the need to avoid or run away.
If you are ready to move toward a life of more confidence, connection, and fulfillment, complete the form below: