Alex Habens: A Therapist's journey with OCD and Compassion Focused Therapy (#540)
The OCD Stories
Stuart
4.8 • 933 Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In episode 540 I interview Alex Habens. Alex is a BABCP Accredited CBT Therapist, Clinical Supervisor and OCD Specialist. He also works with myself at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy.
We discuss why he became a therapist and his own OCD experiences, what is compassion focused therapy (CFT), compassion more generally, integrating CFT into OCD treatment, shame, connecting with compassion, fears blocks and resistances to compassion, compassion during exposures, his CFT therapy group, and his CFT therapist training he is running, and much more. Hope it helps.
Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/alex-540
His CFT for OCD (Integrating Compassion Focused Therapy for OCD) training for therapists: https://www.icocdtraining.co.uk/
The podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, convenient therapy available in the US and outside the US. To find out more about NOCD, their therapy plans and if they currently take your insurance head over to https://go.treatmyocd.com/theocdstories
Join many other listeners getting our weekly emails. Never miss a podcast episode or update: https://theocdstories.com/newsletter
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The OCD Stories podcast, hosted by me, Stuart Ralph. |
| 0:05.5 | The OCD Stories is a podcast dedicated to raising awareness and understanding around obsessive, |
| 0:11.1 | compulsive symptoms. I do this for interviewing inspired therapists, psychologists, and people |
| 0:16.8 | who have experienced OCD. Welcome to the OCD Stories. |
| 0:25.2 | And welcome to episode 540 of the podcast. And in this one, I chat with Alex Heymans. Alex is a BABCP accredited CBT therapist, clinical supervisor and |
| 0:33.1 | OCD specialist. He also works with myself at the Intracotives Centre for OCD Therapy. |
| 0:39.3 | In this episode, we discuss why he became a therapist and his own OCD experiences. |
| 0:45.1 | What is compassion-focused therapy, or CFT for short? |
| 0:49.4 | Compassion more generally, integrating CFT into OCD treatment, shame, connecting with compassion, fears, |
| 0:57.0 | blocks and resistances to compassion, compassion during exposures, his CFT therapy group, |
| 1:03.1 | and his new CFT therapist training that he's running soon. And thanks to our podcast partners |
| 1:09.1 | NoCD? If OCD is interfering with your life, |
| 1:12.7 | no CD can help. They're licensed therapists, specialise in exposure and response prevention therapy, |
| 1:18.9 | the most proven therapy for OCD. With no CD, effective treatment that is 100% virtual, |
| 1:24.4 | is available for children and adults with OCD. |
| 1:30.8 | And most members can get started within seven days on average. |
| 1:35.0 | No hassle, just real, science-backed help and support between sessions. |
| 1:39.9 | Begin your journey at nocd.com or I'll put the link in the episode description. |
| 1:41.7 | It's great to have Alex on. |
| 1:45.1 | I speak to him weekly obviously because I work alongside him. He's a wonderful therapist and it's great to have Alex on. I speak to him weekly obviously because I work alongside him. He's a wonderful therapist and it's great to have him on sharing his work with CFT and OCD with you all. |
| 1:53.1 | So thank you to him and thank you to you guys as always for listening. It means a lot. |
| 1:57.6 | Without further ado, here is Alex. Welcome to the podcast, Alex. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 22 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Stuart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Stuart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.