No one knows for certain what causes OCD. We know what areas of the brain are implicated in OCD, but the rest seems up for discussion. We need more research to understand this disorder. Some kids have OCD symptoms due to an umbrella of issues under PANDAS/PANS. Research is showing that inflammation in the brain can impact mental health and cause neuropsychiatric symptoms, including OCD. Many kids have autoimmune issues, infections such as strep or have had environmental exposure to things...

Annie Gudger was in her twenties and six months pregnant when she lost her husband in a car accident. Her story is one of tragedy and resilience. It is one of loss and love.  In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk to Annie about her journey through grief and the lessons her story can offer us all.  Check out Annie’s memoir, The Fifth Chamber. You can also go to her website or listen to her podcast Coffee, Grief and Gratitude. 🌸 Sign up for my FREE series starting Nov 2nd, 2023...

Ben was always an anxious child, but behind that anxiety lurked something else. It took a stay in a treatment center for eating disorders and eight therapists to finally get the help he truly needed, with the diagnosis he actually had - OCD. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, Ben walks us through his journey with OCD, from his inability to share his intrusive thoughts, to his unrelenting search to find an effective therapist trained in OCD. Ben is determined to be a part of the...

It is important for all kids to learn how to advocate for themselves. It is an especially important skill for kids with anxiety or OCD. Many of us feel like we have to go to bat for our kids with anxiety and OCD over and over again. But often we forget the important aspect of pulling back over time to teach our kids how to advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy builds self-esteem and empowerment. It helps kids learn that they have a voice. We can teach our kids to advocate for themselves in...

Ultimately we want our kids to live a life where they walk towards their anxiety or OCD fears and discomfort. The more they build those anxiety and OCD skills, the more resilient they will become. Natural exposures can help on two fronts. If your child is not ready to commit to formal ERP (Exposure Response Prevention), the main approach in OCD treatment, doing natural exposures can be a great first step. Second, we want our kids to develop an organic, authentic way of dealing with anxiety or...

Sometimes the anticipation of doing something can create even more anxiety than the event itself. Many of our anxious kids have anticipatory anxiety. Anticipatory anxiety can immobilize our kids and create a tsunami of anxious feelings.  Unfortunately anticipatory anxiety can grow anxiety to such a height that it becomes insurmountable when the day finally arrives. So how can we take the wind out of anticipatory anxiety’s sails? It is key to learn how to catch those spirals before our kids...

Parents often ask me if they should tell the school about their child’s anxiety or OCD. The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. There are things to consider. Like does their anxiety or OCD impact their academic performance or ability to function at school? Is there a chance that they will be mislabeled or misunderstood due to their anxiety or OCD? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the areas to consider when weighing the pros and cons of telling the school about your child’s...

It is helpful to understand the many different disguises OCD can wear. When we understand how OCD can show up, we can nip it in the bud more often. Relationship OCD is often talked about in an adult context, but it impacts kids and teens as well. I invited Kristina Orlova, an anxiety and OCD therapist and creator of OCD Academy, to come onto the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to help us understand ROCD better. To learn more about Kristina Orlova’s OCD Academy click here. Also, check out her...

When your child is in therapy or you are searching for an anxiety or OCD therapist, you might have expectations and assumptions about how treatment should go. Often those expectations and assumptions are inaccurate. I invited therapists Dr. Josh Spitalnick and Marti Munford from Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta, to sit down with me on the AT Parenting Survival Podcast to discuss the most common misconceptions they see among parents.  To learn more about Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta click...

Anxiety and OCD don’t live in a bubble. Often kids with anxiety and OCD have sensory processing issues as well. It can help to understand what is sensory, what is anxiety, what is OCD and what is a little bit of all three! I always like to bring in experts to educate us about things that are out of my wheelhouse. That is why I have partnered with my friend and colleague, Alisha Grogan, from Your Kids Table. Alisha is an OT and an expert in all things sensory! In my latest episode of the AT...

When your child is struggling with anxiety or OCD it can feel overwhelming to travel internationally. How will their anxiety handle all the change? Will their OCD be triggered?  Helping our child with anxiety or OCD is a marathon not a sprint, and life should still be lived and enjoyed.  In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I discuss my tips, tricks and hacks to traveling internationally with kids who have anxiety or OCD. Click here to listen: 🌸 To get in-depth support helping your...

Often parents give up before they even start because their child with OCD or anxiety refuses to talk. It is easy to think there is nothing you can do if you can’t get your child to discuss their anxiety or OCD. But there is always a place to start, always.  Kids refuse to talk about anxiety or OCD for various issues. Here are some common ones: -They have a hard time expressing their emotions in general -They are embarrassed about having anxiety or OCD -They think you’ll force them to work on...

School refusal can be one of the hardest aspects of anxiety or OCD. It can impact so many areas including your child’s education and your employment. With everyone so stressed, it can be hard to respond in an intentional, effective way. That is why I brought Dayna Abraham, author of the new book, Calm the Chaos, onto the AT Parenting Survival Podcast. She has a talent for breaking things down into simple steps. Click here to get a copy of Dayna’s new book Calm the Chaos: A Fail-Proof Road...

We are hearing more and more about how inflammation is implicated in many mental health issues including anxiety and OCD. But what does that mean? Are there ways we can see if our child is struggling with inflammation? Are there things we can change in their diet or lifestyle that will reduce inflammation? I don’t know those answers, but I do know someone who does! That is why I invited Dr. Ann Kulze, a renowned physician and founder of the Healthy Living School to come and talk to us.  Dr....

OCD and Eating Disorders are often comorbid conditions, but beyond that, OCD can cause disordered eating. Many OCD issues including Emetophobia, Moral OCD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Orthorexia, PANDAS/PANS and ARFID can impact our kids ability to eat. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the various OCD issues that can overlap Eating Disorders and some that can be incorrectly diagnosed and treated as only an Eating Disorder. Click here to watch my short Youtube video on...

Shaun Flores was only a couple of years into his own struggle with OCD when he became an OCD advocate. He quickly became a stronger messenger of hope through his OCD awareness work.  Recently I had Shaun back on the AT Parenting Survival podcast to discuss how his OCD recovery is going, what he does to maintain progress and how the perception of recovery can be part of a bigger issue.  As Shaun discussed his recovery it became apparent how OCD decimated his financial stability, derailed his...

Going to college can bring a mix of emotions. Many kids feel excitement and some trepidation. But kids with anxiety or OCD can be overwhelmed with the transition. They can worry about being far from home, being independent or maintaining their mental health. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore how we can help our kids prepare for the transition to college in order to set them up for success. *** This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in...

It can be difficult having a child with both chronic health issues and anxiety or OCD. Often there is a symbiotic relationship between them. Anxiety and OCD can hijack health issues and make them worse. Stress and worry make health issues worse. It is a vicious cycle that some kids struggle to break. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to help a child with both chronic health issues and anxiety or OCD. **** This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides...

When we are raising kids with anxiety or OCD it can take a toll on our own level of happiness. We can be consumed with fear, overwhelm and the what-ifs of tomorrow. But our child’s journey with anxiety or OCD is a marathon not a sprint. If we live in crisis mode all of the time we rob ourselves and our family of the joy life can bring. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to find moments of happiness even during difficult times with your child’s anxiety or OCD (or any...

Social anxiety shows up differently for each person. Social anxiety is about the fear of rejection, criticism or embarrassment, but it goes much deeper than that. The core fear can be different for each person. I am raising three kids with social anxiety and have social anxiety myself. However, our core fears are all different. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I’ll explore the many faces of social anxiety and how to craft effective social anxiety exposures based on those fears. 🌸...

How do you define success when it comes to getting anxiety or OCD under control? What does “recovery” look like to you? What does it look like to your child? How we view success and how we convey it to our kids is critical. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore what a healthy view of “success” looks like and how to communicate that effectively to our kids. *** This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. To...

When kids feel stigma attached to their OCD they are less likely to want to discuss it or receive treatment. One of the first steps we can do to help kids with OCD is to help remove the stigma society has placed on this disorder. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the importance of removing stigma around OCD and concrete ways to do that. Resources: Crushing OCD Course for Kids and Teens Child Mind Institute’s You Got This campaign Unstuck: An OCD Kids Movie **** This...

The fear of dying is a common core fear in both anxiety and OCD. So how do we help kids deal with something that inevitably will happen to all of us? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I discuss how to approach the topic of death, how to reframe thoughts and reduce the level of anxiety those fears bring. Click here to listen: Link for The Fall of Freddie the Leaf 🌸 Grab my FREE PDF: 15 of the Most Common Reasons Why Kids are Scared to Sleep **** This podcast episode is sponsored...

Many of you know that we suddenly lost my husband due to a blood clot in 2021. It has been a bumpy journey with grief for me and my children since then.  In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I discuss how I’ve helped my kids with anxiety and OCD navigate grief, what I discovered about loss and my new children’s grief book. To order your copy of The Grief Rock click here. **** This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in the US, UK, Australia and...

Raising kids with anxiety or OCD is hard enough. But when you add chronic pain to your daily routine it can push you over the edge. Often we backburner our own issues. We tell ourselves that we don’t have time for our struggles. That we don’t have time to address our needs. We push through and do more damage in the end. But the truth is if you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to effectively take care of your child. Helping a child with anxiety or OCD is exhausting and chronic...