Approach to Therapy

Dr. Katz trusts that patients know themselves best, and that building a foundation of mutual agreement on problems and goals is a key step in recovery. Treatment begins with a thorough assessment of potential diagnoses and difficulties, as well as factors that might maintain or exacerbate challenges. With each patient (and often family), Dr. Katz translates their unique challenges and life circumstances into treatment targets, and provides psychoeducation to help people better understand their own behavioral patterns. Treatment interventions are based on each individual’s goals as well as the science of behavioral and cognitive therapy, and are planned collaboratively. Dr. Katz believes in teaching patients to be their own therapists, and works to help patients flexibly implement effective treatment principles for their long term success.

Experience and Training

Dr. Katz earned her Bachelors degree from Tufts University with a double major in Psychology and Community Health. She completed her Masters degree and Doctorate of Psychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. As part of that degree, she completed a year-long internship at Westchester Jewish Community Services, and then was a post-doctoral fellow at Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants in White Plains, NY, where she stayed as a staff psychologist for several years specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). In Houston, Dr. Katz was a Behavior Therapist at the OCD Institute – Texas (formerly the McLean OCD Institute // Houston), working primarily with residential and Partial Hospitalization patients presenting with moderate to severe OCD or anxiety.

Dr. Katz has significant expertise with the treatment of OCD and related disorders, anxiety disorders, and PTSD and trauma, working at all levels of care with these diagnoses. In this capacity, she utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and DBT. Dr. Katz is intensively trained in both DBT as well as DBT-Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) for co-occurring PTSD and emotion/behavioral dysregulation. She has greatly enjoyed teaching DBT skills groups, as well as integrating emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness skills into individual and family therapy/parent coaching. Dr. Katz has also completed training in the SPACE protocol (Supporting Parents in Anxious Childhood Emotions). She is passionate about the dissemination of evidence-based care, and therefore enjoys working to support families of those with anxiety, as well as training and advocating with other professionals. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the International OCD Foundation.

More About Aviva

Aviva was raised on Long Island and completed her clinical training across New York City and Westchester. She spent four years in Houston, Texas prior to moving to the Chicago area. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and twins, reading, and searching for the perfect bagel.