About Us
OCD Tennessee was founded in 2024 and is an official affiliate of the International OCD Foundation. Our mission is to create awareness about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as well as provide those impacted with support. We deeply understand how exhausting it can be to live with OCD and are passionate about empowering you to live a life filled with joy and peace.
Board of Directors
Chris Pursell – President
Chris is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who earned his master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee. He has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults experiencing OCD, anxiety, and related disorders. His clinical experience includes working with individuals, groups and families. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Chris works as the Nashville OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center (NOATC) Director of Community Engagement and loves getting the opportunity to connect with the greater Nashville and Tennessee community. Chris is trained in and utilizes exposure and response prevention (ERP), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), Habit Reversal Training (HRT), behavioral activation (BA), and mindfulness techniques. Chris is constantly motivated and encouraged by the change and progress that clients have allowed him to witness and is excited about the future of OCD Tennessee and the impact it can have across the state.
Malissa Duckworth – Vice President
Malissa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and owner of Limitless Living, LLC, an Anxiety and OCD specialty practice group in Memphis, Tennessee. Malissa received her MSSW from the University of Tennessee, and since that time, has been providing care to individuals, families, and groups impacted by anxiety and OCD related disorders. Malissa is trained in the use of exposure and response prevention (ERP), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), Habit Reversal Training (HRT), Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Malissa is excited to stay abreast of the best practices in the provision of quality care and can be found reading and attending trainings and conferences as her schedule allows. When not working, Malissa enjoys hanging with her family, playing sports, gardening, baking, and traveling to new spaces and places.
Matthew Gumb – Treasurer
Matthew is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Mental Health Service Provider (LPC-MHSP) in Tennessee, as well as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) in North Carolina. He has worked in settings such as residential treatment, as an intensive in-home therapist, and as a mental health counselor and practice training manager for a large psychotherapy group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Matthew relocated with his family to Knoxville from the Charlotte area in the Fall of 2021. After personally having a transformative experience in going through his own OCD journey and therapy as a young-adult, Matthew felt a strong sense of vocational calling to become a counselor. Since then, Matthew has created an environment that fosters safety and acceptance for others, while also being shaped by the desire to bring greater self-awareness and personal growth to those with whom he works.
Karina Rovey – Co-Secretary
Born and raised in Tennessee, Karina is honored to be a part of the first OCDF advocacy group in the state. As a person with lived experience, she is passionate about OCD awareness and is a strong believer that better understanding of mental health conditions is key to overall societal health and wellbeing. In her day-to-day, Karina works in community partnerships at Silicon Ranch, where she contributes to developing a more equitable and environmentally-friendly energy grid in the Southeast. When not advocating for the causes she cares about, Karina enjoys long walks, spontaneous road trips, and playing tennis.
Kristin Jones – Co-Secretary
Kristin (she/they) is a speech-language pathologist and private practice clinic owner located in Nashville. As the founder of Voce Speech Therapy, they specialize in neurological rehabilitation and gender-affirming voice training and seek to increase community accessibility to high-quality, evidence-based care. Kristin currently resides in Nashville with her spouse and three children. They are passionate about social justice, human rights, and tearing down the stigma of mental health disorders. Kristin enjoys exploring nature, yoga, hiking, vintage clothing, and spending time with friends and family. She is active in multiple community advocacy and activist organizations and enjoys volunteering at OASIS Center Nashville.
Kenzie Bartlett – Communications Chair
Kenzie is a Michigan native who moved to Nashville in 2017 to pursue nursing. Her career began in critical care, eventually taking her on several travel nursing assignments, where she encountered numerous opportunities to improve the clinician work environment and patient care. This experience led her to a role in clinical informatics. Today, Kenzie works in a Care Transformation & Innovation department, where she focuses on de-burdening caregivers through automation and the integration of AI tools. Her commitment to improving healthcare delivery and her firsthand experience in patient care drive her work in creating more efficient and supportive systems for both patients and caregivers. Diagnosed with OCD at the age of 7, she knows firsthand how overwhelming and scary intrusive thoughts can be. It wasn’t until she completed Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy that she discovered a profound level of relief that she didn’t know was possible. Kenzie is passionate about advocating for anyone impacted by OCD and leading them to affordable resources. In her free time, Kenzie enjoys trying new food in new cities and backyard campfires with her partner and rescue pup.
Amy Mariaskin – Board Member
Amy Mariaskin, PhD (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience treating OCD, anxiety and related disorders. She is also the owner and founding director of the Nashville OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center. Dr. Mariaskin received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her masters and doctoral degrees from Duke University. She completed her internship and postdoctoral work at the University of Florida and has been in private practice in Nashville since 2011. Dr. Mariaskin is also an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University where she provides supervision to graduate doctoral students and serves as faculty for the International OCD Foundation’s Behavior Treatment Training Institute. She is a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the Association for Contextual Behavior Science, the IOCDF, and the Nashville Area Psychological Association where she is currently board President. Moreover, she has been featured as an anxiety expert in various media. In December 2022, she published a book about thriving in relationships when you have OCD with New Harbinger Publications.
Elizabeth Wood – Board Member
Eliza Wood is a Nashville native and currently works in the Philanthropy sector as an Executive Assistant, utilizing her education in Business and Psychology from Belmont University and her commitment to social impact. As someone with her own personal experience with OCD, she is passionate about bringing awareness to the true nature of OCD and advocating for those who are affected by it. In her free time, Eliza loves to travel, explore new local coffee shops, and spend time with her friends.
Cole Wise – Board Member
Dr. Wise is a K-12 educator, adjunct professor, and researcher. His journey with OCD since childhood has imbued him with firsthand understanding and empathy for those grappling with similar challenges. Driven by a desire to foster understanding and support for individuals affected by OCD, Dr. Wise is committed to facilitating connections within the OCD community. He believes strongly in the transformative power of building networks of support and empowerment. With multiple family members also navigating OCD, Dr. Wise’s personal and professional experiences uniquely equip him to contribute to the mission of raising awareness and providing resources for those impacted by OCD.