Who we are

Clinical Interests:
Michelle is driven by a variety of clinical interest. Her areas of focus include targeted treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, secondary traumatic stress in law enforcement officers, and treatment of severe mental illness. She has an affinity for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as it deeply resonates with her own approach to therapy as collaborative, mindful, and guided by her client’s own values. Michelle strives to work with flexibility, humor and a little dose of creativity.

Clinical Experience:
Michelle’s experience began at Therapeutic Pathways, where she provided Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA therapy) to children and adolescents with developmental delays. Michelle went on to work at The Behavior Center, where she provided behavioral therapy for adults and adolescents with severe behavioral difficulties, mental health concerns, and developmental delays.

Later on, Michelle provided empirically-supported therapy services at the Berkeley Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Clinic, as well as the Wright Institute Clinic. Currently, Michelle provides therapy and assessment services to children, adolescents and adults at a local inpatient psychiatric hospital.

Clinical Training:
Michelle is currently a 3rd year doctoral candidate at the Wright Institute, working towards her PsyD.

Clinical Research:
Michelle is in the early stages of writing her dissertation, which focuses on secondary traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth in law enforcement officers.

Dr. Zurita Ona, or “Dr. Z,” is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in California. Her clinical work started first as a school psychologist and then as a clinical psychologist. For over sixteen years she has developed significant experience working with children, adolescents and adults struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, procrastination, and emotion regulation problems; particular areas of expertise are Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and related conditions.  Dr. Z is passionate about helping clients to get unstuck from any problem related to fear-based struggles.

Dr. Z attends local, national, and international conferences on a regular basis in order to present her clinical work and keep up with current clinical research to deliver up-to-date therapy services to her clients.  In addition to her doctoral training, Dr. Z is a  graduate of the International OCD foundation Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) for the treatment of pediatric OCD and adult OCD; her clinical work is primarily based on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the recognized front-line treatment for OCD, anxiety and related condition disorders. Dr. Z completed a 10-day intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and over the last 10 years, she has been learning, practicing, and teaching Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) applied to specific populations.  In 2019 Dr. Z had been nominated a Fellow of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science. 

Dr. Z is the author of the following books:   

ACT beyond OCD: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy workbook for adults

The ACT Workbook for Teens with OCD: Unhook Yourself and Live Life to the Full, is dedicated to all the teens she worked with and were struggling with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  

Parenting a troubled teen: using acceptance and commitment therapy,  written for parents or caregivers raising teens struggling with “feeling too much, too quick, and acting too soon.” 

Escaping the emotional roller coaster: ACT for the emotionally sensitive, a self-help book for adults struggling with having an emotional switch that goes on and off, anytime, anywhere. 

Dr. Z is the co-author of the book Mind and emotions: a universal protocol for emotional disorders” that has received a “Self-help seal of merit” from the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapists (ABCT).” 

In addition to private practice, Dr. Z is a clinical faculty for The Wright Institute where she supervises and teaches doctoral students. Every year, Dr. Z selects 1-3 students to collaborate in their doctoral dissertations and/or continue training them as psychological assistants. Dr. Z is very interested in advancing clinical science that could fundamentally improve clients’ struggles in their life. 

Dr. Z is a member of the following organizations: 

Anxiety and Depression American Association (ADAA), Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF), Northern California CBT Network (NCCBT), and Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), and Made of Millions.

Experience: Caitlyn brings her academic work and previous experience to the EBBTC. Caitlyn has experience as an ABA therapist with young children with Autism. Caitlyn has completed her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s Institute Inc and earned certification in Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). She has also previously worked in community mental health with young children and their families providing in-home services.

Clinical Interests: Caitlyn maintains a broad range of clinical interests, though particularly with developmental delays, and clinical work with children and parents. She is also interested in continuing her PCIT training.

Prior to her internship, she was a psychological assistant with the practice, where she developed a love for values based interventions and collaborating with clients to facilitate change with the clients and families she works with.

Clinical training: Caitlyn is currently a 6th-year doctoral candidate at The Wright Institute, working towards her Psy.D. In the course of this training, she has received her Master’s in Psychology and completed her pre-doctoral internship.

Clinical experience: Caitlyn is currently providing therapy services to children and adults with disabilities at a local community mental health agency. She has previously treated children, adolescents, and adults in several settings, ranging from in-home, to high schools, to community mental health centers. She also is training to provide psychological assessments to investigate questions of ADHD, learning disabilities, and various disorders.

Clinical research: Caitlyn is currently focused on her doctoral dissertation research project, focusing on the experience of clinicians providing psychotherapy treatment of children and teens with Autism.

Clinical Interests: Clara has a wide variety of clinical interests. Particular areas of interest include anxiety, emotional dysregulation, neurocognitive deficits, and childhood trauma.

Clinical training: Clara is currently a 1st-year doctoral candidate at The Wright Institute, working towards her Psy.D. and has received her Master’s of Science by research from The University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Clinical experience: Clara is currently providing therapy and consultation services to at risk youth ages 13-18 years at a local high school. She has previously worked with adolescents in volunteer settings through mentoring and providing care.

Clinical research: Clara recently completed a dissertation on the effects of mastery imagery ability on perceptions and cardiovascular responses to stress in individuals with high levels of anxiety and stress. She also published her peer reviewed undergraduate research on the influence of acute multi-species and multi-strain probiotic supplementation on cardiovascular function and reactivity to psychological stress in young adults.

Experience: Emma attended Yavapai College and completed general education classes. She has since worked in multiple roles perfecting customer service skills and is dedicated to helping our clients every step of the way.

Emma is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle, spending time family and does photography in her spare time.

Experience: Eunice recently received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from UC Berkeley. She has already earned two Associate’s Degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Diablo Valley College. Although she has not chosen a particular clinical interest, being a part of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center (EBBTC) has given her some knowledge and experiences on how to utilize the different kinds of methods that EBBTC has to offer, including Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). Soon, Eunice hopes to achieve a Master’s Degree and/or a PsyD to become a Clinical Psychologist herself.