Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone interested in the Child Mind Institute’s Intensive OCD Program can request information by calling us at 212.308.3118. Our intake coordinator will have an initial conversation with you to determine if your child is a candidate for intensive treatment and to answer any questions. Our clinical team will also lead a screening process to determine if the intensive treatment program is appropriate for your child.

Your initial one-hour consultation with our clinical team will allow us to determine if intensive treatment is appropriate. He will work with the treatment team to develop a detailed proposal including costs. It will also include a list of accommodations in the neighborhood if you are from out of town. We will work with you to select dates that work for your family and share the daily schedule with you.

Yes, the Child Mind Institute has a family network comprised of alumni, parents and siblings who are available to share their own experiences and insights and listen to your concerns. Contact Rachael Esman (rachael.esman@childmind.org or 646.625.4376) to connect.

Yes. We are able to treat many conditions related to OCD, including depression, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social anxiety. In addition, we also intensively treat chronic tic disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, illness anxiety disorder, hoarding, trichotillomania, and skin picking.

We understand that children entering the program often have complex symptoms outside of OCD that can interfere with their lives. We treat the whole child and not just the OCD.

Sessions are 90 minutes long. Families can expect two 90-minute sessions per day with a half hour break in between.

This program is for a child or adolescent who requires at least three hours per day for 5 days a week. (Children in our non-intensive program typically visit us once a week for a 45-minute session.) We can provide treatment for three hours a day, five days a week.

The intensive phase of a patient’s treatment lasts four weeks. After the intensive phase, a patient typically transitions to a more traditional outpatient plan — but with the same treatment team in place from start to finish.

Absolutely. Studies have shown that parental and family involvement in a child’s treatment can lead to more positive outcomes. We include parents and family members in every stage of a child’s treatment, and offer psychoeducation, parent training and family therapy.

We’re committed to helping patients successfully transition back to their home environment. We offer home sessions, phone sessions and video conferencing sessions. We also help families from outside the New York metropolitan area to identify local specialists and/or collaborate with the clinicians from whom they’re already receiving care.

We can consult clinicians (who may already be seeing a child) to help them provide exposure and response prevention (ERP) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as effectively and efficiently as possible. The clinician working with a child outside of the Child Mind Institute often needs insight into the treatment we’ve provided and how to continue that treatment with the best possible results. We consult with outside clinicians in our offices and in teleconferences.

We want our patients to get better after intensive treatment and succeed at home. We work to prevent relapse by gradually scaling down the level of care from intensive to a more traditional standard of outpatient care. This allows patients to utilize at an appropriate pace the skills they’ve acquired in treatment while managing the demands of real life. We teach our patients strategies for identifying their symptoms (as well as what triggers their symptoms), and we provide personalized guidelines for maintaining progress after treatment ends.

The Child Mind Institute has financial aid available for families who qualify. If you have financial need, our intake coordinators will send you a financial aid application prior to scheduling. For those families who qualify for financial aid and are traveling from out of town, the Child Mind Institute Cares Fund offers a daily stipend for travel expenses to families from out of town.

Yes. We welcome children and families from across the country and around the world.

If you are traveling to the Child Mind Institute from outside the New York City area, you can receive a discount on hotel accommodations at one of the Affinia Hotels located only a few blocks from our office. Please contact us to take advantage of the special rate before making your reservation. We have compiled a list of places to stay in our neighborhood, including the Affinia Hotels, and hope this will help you find a comfortable, affordable place to stay.

We encourage you to visit what to expect during your first visit, including a virtual tour of the Child Mind Institute. You will also find information about directions and parking and suggestions for how to prepare your child for the visit.

New York is a wonderful place to visit. Our website has a list of some of our favorite places for families to visit.