Willa Marquis

Parents often come to me feeling overwhelmed and confused by their child’s obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or anxiety. Often it starts with a small fear – about something bad happening to Mom or Dad, about getting sick, about doing poorly in school – but the fear and anxiety grows over time and keeps your child from experiencing the calm and joy you wish for them. Your child may retreat and avoid people and situations that used to bring them happiness. Many parents do their best to help them regain control of their thoughts and emotions, but they become disheartened when their efforts seem to make no difference. The good news is we can stop OCD and anxiety from being in control. Proper assessment and therapy can help you understand your child’s difficulties and provide manageable steps towards a more confident, happy future. After our work together, I often hear parents say, “I never understood how all the pieces fit together until now,” or a child or teen tell me, “I didn’t think I’d feel this way again.” I am passionate about providing evidence-based care for anxiety and OCD for youth and their families, primarily using exposure and response prevention (ERP) and other empirically-supported practices based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Beyond learning practical tools, clients and their families work to develop a new stance towards their anxiety, OCD, or challenging behaviors that allows them to feel confident facing future challenges. Facing our fears and changing the way we view our world is very challenging work - if this was easy to do, you would’ve done it already! I will be with you each step of the way, providing support, humor, validation, and encouragement - and, of course, to celebrate your child and family’s big and small steps towards relief.