The Center for OCD and Anxiety, LLC

11/15/2025

✨ Celebrating Our Wexford Open House + Expanding OCD Care! ✨

What an incredible day with our leadership team, our Wexford staff, and even one of our telehealth teammates joining in! 💙
We’re thrilled to have opened the doors to our new Wexford office, expanding access to evidence-based care for OCD, anxiety, and related disorders.

This space represents our commitment to compassionate, research-driven treatment — including ERP and other gold-standard approaches — delivered both in-person and via telehealth. 🌿

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate this next chapter. The future of COA is bright, and we’re just getting started! 🌟

📍 COA – Wexford, PA
💙 Evidence-Based OCD Treatment • Anxiety Care • In-Person & Telehealth

11/14/2025

✨ You’re Invited! Our New Office Open House ✨

We’re excited to announce the opening of our new outpatient OCD treatment office — a space designed with evidence-based care at its core. 💚

Join us for our Open House to tour the space, meet some of our clinical team, and learn more about our specialized OCD and anxiety treatment programs, including ERP, ICBT, and supportive services for individuals and families.

📍6500 Brooktree Rd., Suite 301, Wexford PA 15090
📅 TODAY! Friday, November 14
⏰ 3-5pm

Whether you’re a current client, provider, community partner, or someone curious about OCD treatment options, we’d love to welcome you into our new home.

Light refreshments • Meet-and-greet • Good vibes in the new space ✨

11/13/2025

If you live with OCD, you’ve probably noticed how anxious family members can accidentally reinforce your fears. When loved ones share worries without solutions (“What if this goes wrong?” “Are you sure you did that right?”), it can make the OCD loop even louder. 💭

👉 Try this exposure: seek advice, then practice not taking it.
Let their worry be background noise — a chance to build your own tolerance for uncertainty.

You can also:
✨ Gently tune out or set limits when others spiral.
✨ Remind yourself that their anxiety is theirs.
✨ Ground yourself in facts, not fear.

You’re not being dismissive — you’re retraining your brain to trust you. 💪

11/11/2025

When you’re planning OCD exposures, consider starting with function over fear. Instead of chasing the “hardest” trigger, identify an exposure that helps you live according to your values.
Ask: What behavior is OCD blocking? What small, intentional step would reconnect me with who I want to be?
Focus on choices that increase flexibility, reduce avoidance, and move you toward a meaningful life—not just away from discomfort.
OCD loses power when you act in alignment with your values. Start there.

11/09/2025

🧠 Intrusive thoughts are not choices — they’re symptoms. For individuals with OCD, these thoughts are unwelcome, distressing, and often the opposite of their true values. The intense anxiety, fear, disgust, or discomfort that follows is what fuels rituals and compulsions.

👉 The goal of effective OCD treatment isn’t to eliminate intrusive thoughts or the feelings that come along with them. It’s to change the response to these thoughts and feelings.

Through Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) — the gold-standard treatment for OCD — individuals learn to experience anxiety without engaging in rituals or avoidance. Over time, this retrains the brain to recognize that anxiety naturally decreases, and that intrusive thoughts don’t require action.

🩵 Intrusive thoughts are not dangerous.
🩵 Anxiety/discomfort is not the enemy.
🩵 Changing your response is where recovery begins.

11/07/2025

🧠 Why your brain loves to find what’s wrong (and how to change it)

Ever notice how your mind can zoom in on the one thing that’s off — the typo, the awkward silence, the crooked picture frame — and totally skip over everything that’s good?

That’s not just OCD. That’s a human brain thing.

Our brains are wired for threat detection, not joy detection — it’s an ancient survival mechanism that kept us safe but now keeps us stuck in cycles of over-focusing on flaws, risks, or “what’s missing.”

But here’s the truth:
🌀 What you focus on grows.
✨ You can train your brain to notice what’s right, not just what’s wrong.
💪 Awareness is the first step to rewiring that mental habit.

Next time you catch yourself scanning for problems, pause. Ask:
👉 “What’s working right now?”
👉 “What’s one thing I appreciate about this moment?”

You can’t silence the brain’s protective instincts — but you can redirect them toward balance, perspective, and peace.

11/05/2025

🧠💭 If you struggle with OCD, your “people-pleasing” might not come from others’ real needs — but from what your OCD imagines they expect from you.

👉 It’s the mind saying:
• “They’ll be upset if I don’t respond perfectly.”
• “They’ll think I’m rude if I don’t over-apologize.”
• “I have to make them comfortable, or something bad might happen.”

This isn’t just kindness — it’s OCD-driven anxiety trying to neutralize imagined guilt, rejection, or harm.

💡 True connection doesn’t come from mental compulsions or physical rituals. It comes from understanding what others actually express, not what OCD predicts.

You don’t need to earn safety through perfection. You already deserve peace. 🌿

11/05/2025

🌟 Last Chance: ERP Essentials Training — This Friday! 🌟

Are you ready to feel confident treating OCD? Join us LIVE and virtual this Friday, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM (ET) for our OCD ERP Essentials Training — a small-group, hands-on workshop designed for mental health professionals.

🧠 Learn to:
✅ Identify and diagnose OCD with confidence
✅ Understand the core principles of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
✅ Begin implementing ERP techniques in your sessions right away

💬 Only 2–3 spots left! This interactive training keeps the group small so you can ask questions, practice skills, and leave ready to apply what you’ve learned. This post is cross posted, so where appropriate, trainers are listed on pinned spreadsheets.

📅 Date: Friday | Time: 9 AM – 12 PM (ET)
💻 Format: Live Virtual Training
🎟️ Reserve your spot now before it’s full!

👉 Click the link to register and start transforming your OCD treatment skills: https://pittsburghocdtreatment.com/training-and-consultation/live-virtual-trainings/

We offer regularly scheduled live virtual trainings for professionals looking to increase their skills working with OCD. As new trainings are scheduled, they are posted to this page. And signing up is easier than ever. Simply click on the desired event below, complete the purchase, and your spot is....

11/03/2025

📣 We’re Growing to Serve You Better!
Join us on Friday, November 14th, 2025, from 3–5 PM at our new Wexford location:
📍 6500 Brooktree Rd., Suite 301, Wexford, PA 15090

We’re excited to announce that COA has expanded to meet the outpatient need for evidence-based OCD treatment north of the city!

Come tour our new space, meet some of our team, and learn more about our commitment to compassionate, research-driven care. 💙

11/01/2025

Ever notice how Halloween teaches us to face fears gradually? 👻
When we’re little, we wear cute costumes — pumpkins, superheroes, fairies. As we get older and braver, we can handle the creepy masks and fake blood.

That’s kind of how exposure therapy for OCD works. 💭
It’s not about throwing yourself into your biggest fear — it’s about gradually learning that you can be near a trigger without doing a compulsion.

Over time, you build the skill and confidence to sit with discomfort — and realize you’re stronger than OCD wants you to believe. 🧠✨

ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) helps you take your power back, one small step at a time.

10/30/2025

🧠 Break the OCD Cycle: You’re Not Your Thoughts 💭

Do you feel stuck in a loop of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors? You’re not alone — and you can break free. 💪

Here’s how to start breaking the OCD cycle ⤵️

1️⃣ Notice the Loop — Obsession → Anxiety → Compulsion → Relief → Obsession again. Awareness is the first step.
2️⃣ Pause Before the Compulsion — Even a few seconds of delay builds resilience.
3️⃣ Allow the Uncertainty — Healing begins when you stop seeking 100% certainty.
4️⃣ Refocus — Shift your energy to something meaningful and valuable to you, not the intrusive thought.
5️⃣ Seek Support — OCD thrives in silence; recovery grows with connection.

Remember: You are not your OCD. You are the awareness behind it. 🌿

❤️ Double tap if you’re working on letting go of control.
💬 Comment “FREEDOM” if you’re ready to break the OCD cycle.
🔖 Save this post to come back to on tough days.

10/28/2025

📣 Upcoming Training: ERP Essentials for Clinicians!

Are you ready to build your confidence in treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? 🧠✨

Join us for ERP Essentials, a comprehensive training designed for clinicians who are new to Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) — the gold-standard treatment for OCD.

In this interactive, small-group training, you’ll gain:
✅ A deep dive into OCD diagnosis and key symptom presentations
✅ A clear framework for implementing ERP treatment effectively
✅ Real-world clinical insights with plenty of time for Q&A
✅ Continuing Education (CE) credits to support your professional growth

👩‍🏫 Led by experienced OCD specialists, this training will equip you with practical tools and evidence-based strategies to confidently support your clients.

🎓 Space is limited to keep our setting small and discussion-rich — don’t miss your chance to connect, learn, and grow!

📅 Friday, 11/7, 9am-12pm EST
📍 Live Online
🔗 Register on our website: pittsburghocdtreatment.com