Lori Aitken, LMHC, Co-Owner

Lori Aitken is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with almost 30 years of clinical experience. She has specialized in the treatment of anxiety, OCD, and related disorders for the past 15 years. Lori began her career as a CPA upon graduation from Indiana University’s School of Business. She soon realized she wanted to make a difference in the lives of others and began to take classes in psychology while working at a “Big 8” accounting firm. She ultimately attained her Masters’ degree from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago.

Lori has worked in a variety of settings with varied populations. She began her career in a private psychiatric hospital where she worked in inpatient, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs. There she served clients with severe mental illness, substance abuse, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and OCD. She went on to work with adolescents in a Partial Hospitalization Program, and then into Community Mental Health.

After owning a private practice in the Chicago area (and a brief stint in Jacksonville), Lori moved to Tampa in 2017. She worked at Rogers Behavioral Health in the Anxiety and OCD Program, where she met the co-founder of Anxiety Center of Tampa, Mary Brizuela.

In addition to advanced training in CBT, Lori is a graduate of the International OCD Foundation’s Behavioral Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) and has completed a training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Dr. Steven Hayes, one of ACTs founders. She is currently studying Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT) for OCD in order to offer clients an alternative evidence-based approach to OCD treatment. Lori is a long-standing member of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) and is on the Board of Directors of the IOCDF’s Central and South Florida affiliate.

Education
M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Illinois School of Professional Psychology
B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University
License, Certifications & Awards
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, State of Florida
Professional Activities and Memberships
International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation