Founder | Anxiety & OCD Specialist | Cognitive Behavioral & ERP Therapist

Ernest Schmidt, LCSW

Founder | Cognitive Behavioral & ERP Therapist

About Ernie

Ernie Schmidt, LCSW, is the Founder of Palo Alto Therapy, an evidence-based mental health practice serving the Bay Area from locations in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and San Jose. Since founding the practice in 2006, Ernie has remained committed to delivering high-quality, research-supported care while building a collaborative clinical team dedicated to ongoing learning and professional development.

For more than 20 years, Ernie has specialized in helping adolescents and adults overcome anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, social anxiety, and related conditions using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold-standard treatment for OCD.

Areas of Expertise

Ernie’s clinical interests include:

• Anxiety Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• TEAM-CBT
• Feedback-Informed Treatment
• Panic Disorder
• Social Anxiety
• Phobias

Professional Training & Certifications

Ernie earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of the Pacific and his Master’s Degree from UC Berkeley.

His advanced training includes:

• Certified in Cognitive Therapy through the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies
• BTTI Certified through the International OCD Foundation
• Level 5 TEAM-CBT Therapist
• Advanced training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Before founding Palo Alto Therapy, Ernie served as a tenured faculty member at Foothill College, where he provided student counseling and taught courses on stress management and emotional wellness.

Founder & Clinical Leadership

As Founder of Palo Alto Therapy, Ernie has built a practice centered on evidence-based care, therapist development, and measurable clinical outcomes. He believes excellent therapy requires more than compassion alone—it requires ongoing training, collaboration, accountability, and treatments supported by research.

He continues to mentor clinicians, provide clinical consultation, and help shape the practice’s commitment to delivering thoughtful, individualized care across all three Bay Area locations.

Feedback-Informed Treatment

Ernie has a particular interest in Feedback-Informed Treatment, an approach that regularly measures client progress and therapeutic fit throughout therapy. He believes that effective therapy should not rely on assumptions, but should continually evaluate whether treatment is producing meaningful change and adapt when it is not.

Clinical Insights by Ernest Schmidt

Ernie writes educational articles for Palo Alto Therapy’s Clinical Insights library, helping individuals and families better understand anxiety, OCD, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention, and what makes therapy effective.

His writing focuses on:

• Anxiety
• OCD
• CBT
• ERP
• Feedback-Informed Treatment
• Choosing the Right Therapist
• What Makes Therapy Effective