Who do I help and what do I help with?
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I have extensive training in assessment and treatment of youth who struggle with anxiety, OCD, and related disorders. Working with young people means I also usually involve their parents and caregivers in their treatment; it really helps with the effectiveness of the therapy! If you or your child fall between the ages of 10-19 and think OCD or anxiety (or both) have gotten louder than you would like, we might be a great fit.
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OCD involves obsessions: unwanted, frequent, intrusive thoughts or images (that might be frightening, disgusting, uncomfortable, or not “just right”) and rituals or compulsive behaviors completed in response to the obsessions and the emotions attached to them.
OCD is more than wanting things arranged nicely or your stuff to be clean. It’s an often misunderstood (or missed) disorder that can seriously impair a young person’s overall wellbeing, friendships, academic progress, sleep, eating…truly anything. Not to mention, OCD can be highly challenging for parents and caregivers who see their loved one struggling.
Learn more about OCD at: https://iocdf.org/
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Anxiety is a normal emotion— we all experience it! However, when anxiety starts showing up too frequently and too intensely, it can really mess things up.
Think about anxiety like a fire alarm in your home. The fire alarm can warn you about danger and keep you safe, it serves a purpose. In fact, one could argue it’s necessary. If that fire alarm started blaring louder and louder every hour of every day, or maybe the whole day…it would get really hard to focus, to relax or enjoy your favorite activities, to sleep, to think straight! It might start getting harder to tell what’s truly a threat and what’s just a possibility. You might even start avoiding anything that could set the “alarm” off, making your life very confined.
Whether you have anxiety that has taken over the driver’s seat, or you have a diagnosed anxiety disorder (e.g., generalized anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobia, separation anxiety, panic attacks), there is treatment that can help you get back on track.