Female OCD Specialist with curly dark hair and a bright smile standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

OCD SPECIALIST IN VENTURA

About Teva Johnstone

About 75% of my caseload is diagnosed with OCD and receiving ERP treatment.

Clinical Training in ERP

Foundational ERP for OCD with Dr. Eli Felt, 5 hours of live 1:1 instruction and ongoing consultation

Gold Standard OCD Treatment with Dr. Jon Grayson, 6 hours of live group instruction

Intensive Workshop: Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD with the Center for Anxiety & Behavior Therapy taught by Dr. Steven D. Tsao, Dr. David Yusko, Dr. Christina DiChiara, and Dr. Shannon Murphy, 27 hours of live group instruction

IOCDF Supervision and Consultation with Dr. Jon Grayson, 18 hours of live 4:1 instruction

Rumination-Focused ERP with Dr. Michael J. Greenberg, 8 hours of live 7:1 group instruction, in progress

Ongoing Education in OCD

I receive regular consultation in OCD treatment from expert clinician and professor, Eli Felt and I am part of a biweekly consultation group with expert, Jon Grayson offered through the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). I participated in an intensive traditional ERP training with the Center for Anxiety & Behavior Therapy offered through the Cognitive Behavioral Institute. I am training in Rumination-Focused ERP (RF-ERP) through a live weekly training by founder of RF-ERP, Michael J. Greenberg.

ADVANCED MENTAL HEALTH TRAININGS

Education & Qualifications

California Clinical License

Licensed Clinical Social Worker CA No. 103826

University Education

Master's of Social Work, Azusa Pacific University

Bachelor’s of Arts, University of California Santa Barbara

Adult Psychotherapy

Exposure and Response Prevention Eli Felt; Jon Grayson; Michael J. Greenberg; Center for Anxiety & Behavior Therapy

Advanced Treatment Protocol for Emetophobia Center for Anxiety & Behavior Therapy (in progress)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Steven Hayes & Daniel Moran

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Level 1 University of Iowa

Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Postpartum Support International

Children’s Mental Health

SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) Dr. Eli Lebowitz, Yale Child Center

Independence Therapy Dr. Camilo Ortiz, Cognitive Behavioral Associates

Attachment-based Family Therapy AFBT International

Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) SMART Moves LLC

Certified DIR Floortime Practitioner Level 1 ICDL

Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) Medical University of South Carolina

Advanced Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents PESI

High-functioning Autism, Adolescents & Young Adults PESI

Compulsive Internet Behavior

Technology Addiction and Digital Health Certification Dr. Nicholas Kardaras

Internet Addiction: Evaluation and Treatment Kimberly Young & Cristiano Nabuco de Abreu

DOPAMINE Fasting: Dr. Anna Lembke

“No mud. No lotus”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

In Person Therapy in Ventura, CA

I offer in person therapy at a professional office in Ventura near Ventura College (pictured above). The relaxed beach town where I practice is near Ojai, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Camarillo, Newbury Park, and Thousand Oaks.

Online therapy is provided to California residents via secure Zoom. I enjoy seeing clients for Telehealth across the state from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Clinical Experience

I have worked with adults, children, and teens as a social worker and therapist for about a decade in a variety of settings—including LA & Ventura County schools, inpatient psychiatry at Northridge Hospital in Los Angeles, Community Memorial Hospital’s New Parent Resource Center in Ventura, the Nan Tolbert Nurturing Center in Ojai (now Secure Beginnings), Koinonia Foster Care in Camarillo, and Parent Child Therapy Clinic in Ventura before opening my own private practice.

I have been licensed to practice psychotherapy independently since 2021 and opened my practice the same year. I have provided treatment in the mental health field, including graduate school internships, since 2011 and began specializing in the obsessive-compulsive spectrum in 2024.

For much of my career I focused on Maternal Child Mental Health, with interests in parenting stress, parental anxiety and depression, emotional regulation, and promoting secure attachment.

I have extensive experience providing treatment to youth with adverse childhood experiences (ACES) with histories of abuse, neglect, and trauma. I have advised many parents on caring for children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders—like Autism & ADHD—and provided consulting on parenting children highly sensitive and “spirited” temperaments.

Today I counsel parents on a variety of concerns, including child & teen anxiety, opting out of a phone-based childhood, and strategies to promote independence or “launching” into young adulthood. I use SPACE and Independence Therapy to mitigate risks of Highly Dependent Adult Children or “failure to launch.”

Although much of my experience has been with women and children, I also enjoy working with men and fathers and see many in my clinical practice.

Advancing the Profession

From 2023-2025 I mentored early career therapists and provided contracted BBS clinical supervision to Associates in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties. I loved supervising child therapists, and stepped back from the role to focus on my own growing practice.

In 2021 I held a volunteer Child, Adolescents & Young Adults committee position with the National Association of Social Workers and was selected as a Delegate for the NASW-CA Chapter.

Professional Affiliations

  • International OCD Foundation

  • Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies

  • Postpartum Support International