I have more exciting news to share! Because of the extensive waitlists in Bend for children to receive specialty care, I have been working for a long time to think of solutions to get more children in for care more quickly. One of the first steps I took in this direction was to create my Parenting Workshop, which teaches parents how to intervene in their child’s anxiety. This class allows parents to begin helping their children to face their fears even while they are still waitlisted for individual therapy.
My next big step is to offer Group Therapy for OCD. With my move to my new practice space, I finally have a beautiful space to host these groups and I am excited to get them off the ground. There are currently no groups running for OCD in Central Oregon. Research supports that group therapy is an effective modality for treating OCD and I would argue that the group modality also offers validation, connection, and a sense of not feeling “alone” with the anxiety.
I am hoping to divide groups by academic levels (elementary aged, middle school, and high school) in order to keep content age appropriate. I will begin recruiting for all three groups and whichever one fills up first is the one that will run first!
You may be curious what a group would entail and the answer is that it will cover all of the content your child will receive in individual ERP therapy for OCD. The eight week course will cover the following modules:
· Education about Anxiety and OCD
· Coping Skills for Anxiety
· Planning Your Treatment Hierarchy
· Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy
· Living with Anxiety
· Parent Education
Sessions will be a combination of structured information, active treatment, and also will allow time for children to connect with one another about joint experiences. Parent education will also be included to educate parents about their child’s OCD and what their child is learning in the group.
My hope is these groups will offer youth the chance to get symptom relief much quicker than waiting on waitlists for individual therapy as well as decrease the length of time a child will eventually need to be seen by an individual therapist. In addition, because Bend does not offer intensive outpatient treatment for OCD at this time, adding on group therapy for a child who is already being seen by an individual therapist is a good way to get a higher frequency of treatment locally.
I am really excited to be offering this to the Bend community. Please feel free to fill out this form here if you are interested in learning more about the therapy groups and whether your child could benefit from participating.
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