Annie Adams-Roselle

I wanted to become a therapist to work with people struggling with anxiety. My upbringing exposed me to people from many different backgrounds, which helped me develop empathy and compassion for others’ experiences. My own experience with anxiety made me want to learn more about psychology and social work. I chose to become a licensed clinical social worker because clinical social work focuses on an individual’s mental health, environment, and social injustice.

Specializing in OCD snuck up on me, to be honest. When I was working in community mental health, I started encountering people who had symptoms consistent with OCD. Graduate school hadn't given me the specialized training to work with this population; I had to do my own learning. In that process, I realized that I had OCD. Going through ERP treatment was a huge success story for me. I'm grateful for how it changed my life. I hope I can help others change their lives too.

I've worked in community mental health and private practice for the past 10 years. This experience has allowed me to work with many different challenges. Over the past six years, I've focused on individuals with PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

During ERP, I'll ask you to do hard things. Keep breathing! I'll never ask you to do something unsafe, and your consent and participation is important. Although I'll challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, I'll never ask you to do anything I wouldn't do myself. You're the expert on your own life and values. I will respect whatever you're ready to do. That said, the more we're able to challenge you during therapy, the more you'll get out of it. But the pacing is up to you.

Please know that I have been in your shoes. Even if you can’t share your thoughts with me, just knowing that you're afraid to talk about them helps me to understand your situation better. Believe me, I've heard every taboo OCD theme out there. People with OCD often think they may not really have OCD, and these are actually their own thoughts. But if that were true, why would these thoughts cause so much anxiety and stress? There is no one right way to have OCD. Even if your thoughts don’t fit neatly into any particular kind of OCD, I hope you feel empowered to share what's going on, even if we don’t get there right away. The more you can tell me about what's causing you anxiety, the more we can work together to get you better.