Anxiety & OCD
Offering telehealth services to clients across Minnesota
Compassionate, Effective Care for Anxiety & OCD in Minnesota
Support that helps your brain respond differently to fear and intrusive thoughts so you can feel steadier, calmer, and more in control.
You’ve been carrying so much for so long that it’s hard to remember what it feels like to have a quiet mind. On the outside, you’re doing everything you’re supposed to: working, showing up, keeping it together. But inside, your thoughts won’t stop. They spin through worst‑case scenarios, replay old conversations, or latch onto intrusive fears that feel impossible to shake. It’s exhausting and disorienting to feel like you’re fighting your own mind every single day.
Maybe you’ve tried pushing the anxiety down, avoiding the things that set it off, or talking yourself out of thoughts that won’t leave you alone. Maybe you’ve even tried therapy before and felt discouraged when it didn’t help the way you hoped. Anxiety and OCD can make your world feel small, but you don’t have to stay stuck there. With the right support, things can become lighter, steadier, and more manageable.
At Emberly, we understand how overwhelming this can feel. We work with children, teens, adults, and families from all identities and backgrounds, offering evidence‑based, person‑centered care that meets you where you are. You’ve been doing your best with the tools you have. Now you deserve support that truly helps you move forward.
When Calm Feels Out of Reach
Anxiety and fear are important emotions that help us stay safe and solve problems, but when the brain starts sending too many “false alarms,” they can become overwhelming and interfere with daily life. Anxiety isn’t one single experience—it can take many forms. Some people struggle with generalized worry that feels exhausting and impossible to shut off. Others face specific phobias, such as fears of flying, needles, driving, or animals, that make certain situations feel unbearable. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is another anxiety‑related condition where the fear response becomes tangled in intrusive thoughts, unrelenting doubts, or mental “what ifs,” often followed by rituals or behaviors meant to reduce distress. These patterns can feel confusing, exhausting, and incredibly hard to break without guidance.
How Anxiety Shows Up
You’re trying the best you can to manage all of this, but some of the strategies that bring relief in the moment may actually be making things harder over time. Avoidance and skipping situations that trigger fear can temporarily soothe anxiety but ultimately teaches the brain that the feared situation is dangerous, making anxiety stronger. For OCD, certain well‑intentioned talk‑therapy approaches that focus on reassurance, insight, or analyzing intrusive thoughts can unintentionally worsen symptoms. None of this is your fault. It simply means you deserve support that truly helps and tools that actually move you forward.
When Coping Strategies Backfire
With the right tools, people can learn to quiet false alarms, face fears gradually, and build confidence in their ability to handle discomfort. That’s why working with a provider trained in the nuances of anxiety and OCD is so important. Specialized, evidence‑based treatments are designed to teach your brain a new way to respond to fear, uncertainty, and discomfort.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you understand the patterns that keep anxiety going and gives you practical skills to shift them. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold‑standard treatment for OCD and highly effective for phobias, guides you in facing fears step by step while resisting the urge to avoid, reassure, or engage in compulsions. Over time, your brain learns that discomfort is tolerable and temporary, and that you don’t have to get pulled back into old cycles.
With the right support, these treatments can help you reclaim your peace of mind and move toward a life that feels more open, flexible, and hopeful.
The Good News: Anxiety and OCD Are Treatable
Our clinicians bring advanced training in anxiety and OCD treatment, including ERP, CBT, and related evidence‑based modalities. We use these tools thoughtfully and collaboratively, tailoring each plan to your needs, your pace, and your goals. You can expect a therapeutic relationship that is warm, encouraging, and grounded in ethical, high‑quality care. Our aim is to help you feel braver, more capable, and more in control of your life.
The Emberly Approach: Evidence‑Based Care Rooted in Connection, Inclusion, and Real‑Life Understanding
A Higher Standard of Clinical Care
We know that healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Identity, culture, neurodiversity, and family dynamics all shape how anxiety shows up and how recovery unfolds. The Emberly approach is intentionally welcoming to LGBTQ+ clients, neurodivergent individuals, and people from diverse cultural and family backgrounds. We work to create a space where you feel seen, respected, and safe to explore what relief and authenticity look like for you.
Affirming, Inclusive, and Culturally Aware
Anxiety and OCD can emerge at any age. Our team has extensive experience supporting adolescents navigating school transitions, young adults stepping into independence, and adults moving through career shifts, relationship changes, or identity exploration. We also offer informed support for parents, including those in the perinatal and postpartum period. Whatever chapter you’re in, we meet you there with skill and compassion.
Competent Across the Lifespan
Many people turn to coping strategies, like alcohol or other substances, that once helped but now create new challenges. With clinicians trained in both mental health and substance‑use treatment, we offer nonjudgmental support to help you understand these patterns and build healthier, sustainable alternatives.
Integrated Support for Coping Patterns
Above all, the Emberly approach is about helping you live in a way that feels true to who you are. We take time to understand your hopes and the life you want to build. Together, we create a path toward relief, resilience, and grounded confidence so you can move through the world with clarity and authenticity.
Therapy That Honors Your Authentic Life
At Emberly, exceptional care begins with the belief that people heal best when they feel understood. Our approach to treating anxiety and OCD blends rigorous, evidence‑based practices with genuine human connection. We don’t rely on rigid manuals or one‑size‑fits‑all protocols. Instead, your story, your strengths, and your values shape every step of the work we do together.
Meet the Anxiety & OCD Specialists
For more than a decade, I have provided individual and group therapy to clients of all ages to support them through their unique challenges. I specialize in helping my clients navigate anxiety and OCD,
I currently provide individual therapy to teens and adults. My practice is rooted in evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). I also integrate person-centered and strengths-based principles to ensure that each session is tailored to your individual needs.
Mara Fusco
Frequently Asked Questions
You deserve support that fits your life. We offer in‑person therapy for anxiety and OCD in the South Metro, along with flexible telehealth options for clients across Minnesota.
