OCD Coaching
Increase motivation, reduce rumination, and take back control from your intrusive thoughts.
Is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder preventing you from living life to the fullest? Are you missing out on experiences or opportunities out of fear, doubt or shame? Do you spend more time thinking about your life rather than truly living your life? If so, you are not alone!
Whether you’re recently diagnosed and just learning about OCD, are aware you’ve been struggling with it for years, have tried therapy, medication and/or supplements, or you’re undiagnosed but think you may have OCD, you belong here!
When left untreated, OCD has the potential to significantly impact all areas of your life and suck the fun and joy out of some of life’s most beautiful moments. Yet, with proper support, OCD does not have to be chronically limiting; hope and help is available!
Mastering the delicate balance of compassionately meeting you where you’re at, while encouragingly pushing you toward where you’d like to be, the work I do with clients is simultaneously gentle and powerful. OCD can be a debilitating illness, OR, it can be a challenge with a solution.
I have worked with hundreds of individuals who have demonstrated that OCD does not have to be a tormenting, nor chronic, condition. A key to unlocking the freedom from OCD is in learning to work WITH your brain, rather than fighting against it. And, I’m here to teach you to do just that!
My Approach
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Validate
By the time client’s come to work with me many of them have felt like they’ve been alone on an “island” for years. They describe feeling misunderstood, invalidated, weak, or “crazy” due to the thoughts in their head and/or the reactions they’ve received when opening up in the past.
Creating a supportive, non-judgmental environment where clients feel fully seen, heard and safe to heal is my number one priority. I find it to be a crucial part of the healing process to genuinely validate one’s experience, rather than immediately jumping into “healing mode”.
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Educate
My goal is to set my clients up for self-sustaining healing success. As such, I believe it’s supportive to educate clients on the cognitive and physiological ways the brain and body respond when experiencing a trigger. Understanding the obsessive-compulsive cycle, how OCD may be serving them, and how fighting the OCD is actually keeping them more deeply rooted in this obsessive-cycle is an important part of the healing process.
Learning how and why the skills we cover in session work, allows clients to more quickly and willingly access them on their own between sessions; ultimately setting them up for long term healing success.
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Motivate
Ultimately, no amount of research, knowledge, reassurance or “preparing yourself” for healing will take the place of actively doing the healing work. You can’t think your way out of having OCD!
Our work is solutions focused and action oriented. Together we come up with a plan of action that is “comfortably uncomfortable.” One that challenges you enough to propel you along your healing path, whilst not challenging you so much that it’s unmanageable or unsustainable. I act as a supportive, encouraging and motivating teammate; compassionately holding you accountable to your goals, dreams and values.
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Celebrate
When beginning our work together, most clients are *very good* at being *very hard* on themselves. They’ll easily dismiss progress, wins or successes because they’re not “big enough”. The thing is, BIG wins in healing are often a cumulation of consistent, small wins.
Learning to be proud of, and compassionate toward, yourself is foundational for continued growth, healing and whole-hearted living. While I’m as invested as you are in your BIG goals, I don’t let the small ones slip you by! I help keep you focused on how far you’ve come, rather than how far you have to go. Believe it or not, with this practice, many actually find themselves looking forward to facing fears for the sake of growth!
Modalities to support your healing process may include:
Mindfulness Techniques
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
Self-Compassion Exercises
Somatic Therapy
Homeopathic Medicine
Herbs/Botanicals
Mental Health Supplementation
I’m here to help!
Ready to take the first steps towards a managing your OCD in a holistic way? I cannot wait to support you. I offer an introductory consultation so that we can get to know one another and ensure working together would be a good fit.
FAQs & Further Reading
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I understand, and deeply empathize with, the temptation of confessing your thoughts or seeking certainty and reassurance in hopes of making the angst go away. I also understand that OCD is highly adaptable and will never be satisfied. As such, OCD coaching is focused less on the content or “theme” of your thoughts, and more on guiding you toward living a peaceful, joyful, value-based life no matter what thoughts or images are thrown your way! While living a life free of the burden of OCD is our ultimate goal, we don’t spend every session talking about your OCD. That is counterproductive.
The work I do with my clients is solutions focused. We focus our time on learning and practicing the solutions that will get you what you want, rather than focusing on the problems, or obstacles, preventing you from having what it is you want. Together, we create a manageable, highly effective, recovery focused plan to help you reach your healing goals in a timely manner.
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Absolutely not! To benefit from coaching, all you need is a desire to heal and a willingness take courageous action in the direction of your goals, dreams and values. While diagnoses can provide valuable information, they’re often the start - not the end - of the healing process.
