Kitty McQuaid, LPC | 484-925-0528 | 30 South Valley Road, Suite 123B, Paoli, PA 19301
Therapy for Anxiety and OCD
Solution-Focused Therapy for Children, Teens, and Adults
Anxiety doesn’t always show up the same way—and it certainly doesn’t discriminate by age. Whether you're an adult who feels constantly on edge, a teen who dreads social situations, or a parent watching your child get stuck in patterns of fear and avoidance, you deserve support that actually works.
At Resilient Minds Counseling Services, I specialize in helping individuals and families navigate general anxiety, social anxiety, separation anxiety, and OCD using a thoughtful, evidence-based approach. Together, we’ll identify what’s fueling the anxiety and develop concrete tools to manage it—so you or your child can live with more freedom and confidence.
Therapy Tailored to Your Specific Needs
Generalized Anxiety
Chronic worry, overthinking, physical tension, difficulty sleeping—generalized anxiety can feel like your mind never shuts off. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight is exhausting and can interfere with daily life. In adults, it might look like perfectionism, irritability, or difficulty concentrating. For children and teens, it may show up as school avoidance, social withdrawal, or needing to sleep in a parent’s bed.
Social Anxiety
For many teens and adults, social anxiety isn't just shyness—it’s a deep fear of being judged, embarrassed, or rejected. It can keep you from speaking up, pursuing opportunities, or enjoying meaningful relationships.
Separation Anxiety
This isn’t just a childhood issue. While younger kids may refuse to separate from caregivers, even teens and adults can struggle with anxiety around being apart from loved ones.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD is not about being "neat" or "quirky"—it involves distressing intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and the urge to perform rituals or mental acts (compulsions) to reduce anxiety.
Therapy helps challenge anxious thought patterns and develop a more grounded, flexible way of thinking. We'll work together to gently confront these fears and rebuild trust in yourself and your ability to connect.
My Approach to Treating Anxiety
While talk therapy can be helpful, I firmly believe therapy is most effective when clients are encouraged to take action. We'll explore how anxious thought patterns can be rooted in core beliefs that have developed over a lifetime and work on shifting thought patterns to lead to more values-centered, meaningful behavior. This means not just understanding your anxiety, but actively learning how to respond to it differently—whether that’s setting boundaries, facing fears gradually, or choosing actions that align with the kind of life you want to live. Therapies that can be helpful include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence-based form of psychotherapy that helps people identify and change unhelpful thought patterns, emotional responses, and behaviors. The core idea behind CBT is that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected—so by changing how we think and act, we can change how we feel. CBT focuses on practical strategies to solve current problems and is often goal-oriented and time-limited.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is the gold standard treatment for OCD and anxiety. You’ll learn to gradually face feared situations—without relying on compulsions or avoidance—and discover that anxiety can rise, peak, and pass without it controlling your life. ERP is always tailored to your pace, needs, and readiness.
Mindfulness-Based Strategies can offer a powerful shift: learning to observe thoughts without getting tangled in them. These tools strengthen emotional regulation, increase awareness, and promote a more compassionate relationship with yourself.
Addressing Family Accommodations through SPACE
When working with younger clients, I often invite parents into the process—sometimes as the primary focus of treatment. I’m trained in SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), an evidence-based approach developed at Yale that helps parents support their child’s progress from the outside, and usually lasts for 8-12 sessions.
Instead of trying to “fix” the anxiety directly, SPACE helps parents reduce their own accommodating behaviors (offering excessive reassurances, allowing avoidance of anxiety causing situations, or adjusting routines to prevent distress). These patterns are often well-intentioned but can unintentionally reinforce anxiety. SPACE guides parents in making supportive changes that create more room for growth, confidence, and long-term independence.