Leah Kawleski

My family's history of mental health, and seeing that a lot of folks have trouble talking about mental health in general, led to me wanting to become a therapist myself. I wanted to reduce the stigma around therapy, be able to have open conversations, and change people's lives in a meaningful way.

OCD kind of found me. I enjoy working with anxiety disorders in general, and OCD is related. I did my graduate school internship working with OCD and fell in love with the work. I worked in a residential program, so I saw very severe cases of OCD. I found the condition fascinating, and the amount of change people were able to achieve in their lives was huge. I love seeing people make little gains to reclaim their lives—like getting out and doing things with friends again, or whatever they've been missing out on because of OCD.

I also work with depression, trauma, eating disorders, and PTSD. Depression is a big one—most folks who come in with OCD have depression as well. It makes sense, because OCD can really whittle your life down to a much smaller version of what it could be. I've also treated OCD in children.

OCD therapy is hard work, but it's super rewarding. We will work together as a team to make sure things become manageable for you.

Please tell me that you're feeling nervous about sharing something with me. A lot of folks are, so that makes sense. Telling someone what's on your mind, perhaps for the first time, can be really scary. But I can almost promise you—whatever's going on in your mind, it’s probably not the first time I've heard something like that.