There is no commercial support for this activity.

About the speakers

Ozge Gurel received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from American University.  She trained and worked at Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington for behavioral treatments of OCD and related disorders.  She gained experience working with college students on trauma during her training at Virginia Tech University, Counseling Center.  She has an MS in Experimental Psychology from Villanova University.   

Dr. Gurel provides cognitive behavioral treatments and Exposure and Response Prevention interventions couched in a value-based and growth-mindset approach.  Almost all her practice is dedicated to treatment of OCD and related disorders and sleep problems in adult populations. She also specializes in working with women experiencing OCD, anxiety and adjustment problems during pregnancy and postpartum periods. In addition to clinical work in her private practice, Dr. Gurel takes on teaching and supervision roles at Georgetown University, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. 

Jeff Szymanski, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of “Getting to the Next Level Consulting”, a firm specializing in clinical consultation and professional development for mental health professionals at all levels. With more than 25 years as a leader in mental health, Dr. Szymanski is a senior clinician, consultant, trainer, and administrator. He previously served as the Executive Director of the International OCD Foundation for 15 years following his role as the Director of Psychological Services at the OCD Institute at McLean Hospital. Currently, Dr. Szymanski is a Clinical Instructor in Psychology (part-time) at Harvard Medical School, where he supervises pre-doctoral psychology interns through McLean Hospital’s internship program. He is the author of “The Perfectionist’s Handbook”, and he has appeared in over 150 media stories, presented at a multitude of conferences, as well as delivering several domestic and international trainings.

Disclosure Statements

Sheppard Pratt holds the standard that its continuing medical education programs should be free of commercial bias and conflict of interest. In accord with Sheppard Pratt's Disclosure Policy, as well as standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the American Medical Association (AMA), all planners, reviewers, speakers and persons in control of content have been asked to disclose any relationship he /she has with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, during the past 24 months. All planners, reviewers and speakers have also been asked to disclose any payments accepted for this lecture from any entity besides Sheppard Pratt, and if there will be discussion of any products, services, or off-label uses of product(s) during this presentation.

Ozge Gurel, PhD, reports that she has no relationships with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients during the past 24 months. She will not discuss any products, services, or off-label uses in this presentation.

Jeff Szymanski, PhD, reports that he is the owner of Getting to the Next Level Counselling, LLC. He will not discuss any products, services, or off-label uses in this presentation.

Event Planners/Reviewers Disclosures: The following event planners and/or reviewers are reported as having no financial interest, arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, during the past 24 months: Jon Hershfield, MFT,  Todd Peters, MD, Deepak Prabhakar, MD, Elizabeth Ryznar, MD, MSc, Louis Marino, MD, Ehsan Syed, MD, Devi Bhuyan, PhD, Faith Dickerson, PhD, Carrie Etheridge, LCSW-C, Tom Flis, LCPC, Stacey Garnett, RN, MSN, Stephanie M. Robinson, MSN, RN, PMH-BC, NPD-BC, NE-BC , Heather Billings, RN, Lisa Illum, MLIS, MEd, and Jennifer Tornabene.