AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

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...

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 int...

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 Ku...

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 dia...

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.  A...

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...

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 he...

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...

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 fac...

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...

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 Ki...

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...

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 pod...

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 effe...

Shaun Flores had been suffering from OCD for years without knowing it. He hopped from OCD theme to OCD theme, listening to OCD’s lies and searching for certainty with each new worry.  It wasn’t until 2022, when he finally met the right therapist, that he learned that all of his fears had one explanation, OCD. Shaun has turned his OCD pain into a passion to advocate. Since his diagnosis he has...

We all want our kids with anxiety or OCD to use coping skills to deal with anxiety, overwhelm and dysregulation. But what happens when they refuse to use them? In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talked to my go-to expert on coping skills, best selling author and therapist, Janine Halloran. In this episode Janine and I discuss why some kids refuse to use coping skills and what approache...

When we are in the trenches trying to help our kids with anxiety or OCD it can be hard to think of our kids flourishing. Often, however, it is within the struggle itself that some kids can find resiliency and purpose. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I invited Stephanie Krauss, author of Whole Child, Whole Life , to discuss her own journey with her son’s OCD as well as elements of her...

When we are raising kids with OCD it is important that we fully understand the therapeutic approaches our kids are being taught in therapy. Ultimately we will want our kids to be able to utilize those tools throughout their life. The use of imaginal scripts can be an effective tool in their OCD toolbox. In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore what imaginal scripts are, how t...

Anxiety and OCD can impact executive functioning in so many different ways. When our children are being bombarded with upsetting thoughts, executive functioning skills can go out the window. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I invited Rachel Kapp and Stephanie Pitts, educational therapists and the hosts of the Learn Smarter Podcast , to discuss ways we can help our kids improve their ex...

I am often asked by parents just starting out on this journey, “Where do I start?” I have so many podcasts and Youtube videos on OCD it can be a bit overwhelming. That is why when a member of my community suggested I do my top 5 podcasts and youtube videos for those newly starting this journey, I jumped on the idea! Here are the top 5 podcast episodes I would listen to if you are new to helping yo...

One of the most common anxiety themes is the fear of choking. Kids with this fear often hyperfocus on what they eat and how they eat. At its worst they can avoid all sorts of foods that they feel are “unsafe.” This can limit their diet and cause nutritional issues. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore the many ways a choking fear can show up, how the fear grows and strategies to...

What we do matters. What we think matters. We may not be able to control how our kids tackle their anxiety or OCD, but we can control how we model skills to help them.  Anxiety and OCD can hit self-esteem hard. Having self-compassion and self-love can be an uphill battle. How do we talk to ourselves? How much self-compassion do we show ourselves? Resilience is another key factor in our kids'...

Dealing with OCD isn’t like dealing with a cold. It isn’t cured and then we move on. It can help to shift our perspective to focus on how to live and, more importantly, thrive with OCD.  In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about how to shift our kids from a victim to an empowerment mentality (and us as well)! We also dive into how to create a lifestyle that acknowledges and wo...

OCD progress is not linear. It is often actually bumpy along the way. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explore why things can get messy and how to see beyond the messy to recognize the OCD progress. Free OCD Webinar for parents: 🌸 5 Things Every Parent Raising a Child with OCD Needs to Know www. Natashadaniels.com/ocdwebinar **** This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provi...

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) are not the same. Many parents seeking treatment for OCD are not aware of that and search just for a CBT therapist. ERP is a specific type of CBT that provides evidenced-based treatment for those with OCD. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I explain the difference between CBT and ERP as well as how to find a thera...