Our organization consists of clinical experts, mental health advocates, empathic family & friends, hopeful parents & loved ones, and sufferers of OCD & anxiety disorders. Having witnessed firsthand the disparaging and debilitating effects of OCD & anxiety, we aim to remove the negative stigma associated with mental health by providing our communities with public service initiatives, awareness campaigns and events, groundbreaking research, and clinical trainings of professionals.
Our Mission
Our mission is to raise accurate awareness and improve access to evidence-based treatment by implementing our Three Pillars:
Clinical Services
Sponsorship of individual, family, & group treatments
Public Awareness
Outreach through speaking engagements, media campaigns, & community events
Education
Professional Training & Research for workshops, internships/fellowships, & physician/teacher in-service seminars
Why We Need You
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is one of the top 10 most disabling conditions according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and affects at least 1 in 100 adults and at least 1 in 200 children worldwide. On average, it takes a person suffering from OCD 14-17 years from the time symptoms begin to the time they receive proper treatment. Obsessions are unwanted thoughts, images, or sensations that occur repeatedly and trigger intense anxiety and discomfort. To combat obsessions, compulsions are the behaviors or mental reactions that serve to escape from the distressing feelings. Over time, sufferers become debilitated from the vicious cycle of obsessions and corresponding compulsions that consumes many hours in a day. Having OCD can feel like being stuck in a nightmare that keeps replaying like a broken record.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, separation anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety, are the most common mental illness worldwide according to the World Health Organization (WHO) affecting about 1 in 3 adults and 1 in 4 children. Anxiety disorders often hinder learning, lower academic achievement, decrease job performance, impair work productivity, and impede social and family engagement. These disorders can also negatively impact a person’s physical health and trigger or worsen headaches, body-aches, chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), sleep disorders, fibromyalgia, heart disease, eating disorders, substance abuse, and a compromised immune system. Although short-term, effective treatment exists, only 36.9% of sufferers receive proper treatment. Anxiety disorders cost the US economy over $42 billion annually, and is one of the main reasons for college dropout amongst today’s youths.
OCD and anxiety disorders don’t discriminate, and can happen to anyone at any age. Without proper treatment, sufferers endure lives of constant distress that ultimately become disabling, and rob them of the opportunity to live fulfilling, quality lives. Family members and loved ones are often left feeling helpless and hopeless as they observe the sufferer’s life become imprisoned by stress, anxiety, and fear while their own lives become entrapped by the demands of the disorder. Unfortunately, with a lack of public awareness, misinformation online and in the media, unfamiliarity of proper treatment amongst mental health and medical professionals, shortage of skilled treatment providers, and existence of social stigma, many individuals with OCD and anxiety suffer for decades to a lifetime.
Together with your help, compassion, and contributions, we can close the gap to understanding and attaining evidence-based treatment for OCD and anxiety disorders, so individuals and families can thrive without needless suffering.
Our Current Efforts
Clinical Services
Through contributions from generous donors, our program has been able to provide scholarships for treatment to underserved families and individuals suffering from OCD and related anxiety disorders. Since 2011, our team of dedicated clinicians, all trained in evidence-based treatments for OCD and anxiety under the guidance of Dr. Jenny Yip, has offered services at low to no cost in order to mitigate mental illness and improve the lives of those facing financial hardship. Without the compassionate and charitable support of our donors, many children and adults would not have access to the necessary treatment to regain their mental and physical health from these disabling disorders.
For information on low fee – free groups currently offered, please click here.
For individuals or families with financial hardship seeking OCD or anxiety treatment, please contact us directly.
Awareness
We introduced our Community Outreach Program in the Fall of 2014 with the goal of disseminating accurate information about evidence-based treatment for OCD and anxiety disorders to our local communities. We aimed to reach individuals, families, and other involved support systems such as educators and physicians to provide them with knowledge and skills to defeat OCD and anxiety. While we continue to hold and support local community events in collaboration with likeminded organizations, our awareness campaigns have since reached national and international audiences through the use of social media. Our dynamic team of volunteer clinicians, patients, families and loved ones regularly share their experiences and expertise via speaking engagements, interviews, and media posts, so other sufferers have the necessary information to gain relief from OCD and anxiety.
For an overview of our awareness campaigns and community events, please click on the following links.
Education
Providing professional training on OCD, anxiety disorders, and its evidence-based treatment – Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and more specifically, Exposure & Response Prevention therapy (ERP) – is the central goal to ensure sufferers have access to effective treatment. Workshops, in-service seminars, and webinars are held throughout the year to equip mental health providers, physicians, and educators with the tools needed to help and inform OCD and anxiety sufferers. Since 2011, our program has sponsored pre-doctoral internships and post-doctoral fellowships to train new clinicians on evidence-based treatment of OCD and related anxiety disorders. Many of our trainees have engaged in research on OCD and anxiety, and are now specialists in the field who have dedicated their practice to serving patients suffering from OCD or anxiety.
To inquire about our ongoing training opportunities, or request to have an in-service seminar or webinar provided to your organization, please contact us directly.
How You Can Help
Our OCD and anxiety disorder community urgently needs all the help available to raise accurate awareness, educate providers, and improve assistance to individuals and families who are not able to seek treatment through traditional avenues due to financial and/or geographic constraints.
To support our Three Pillars, our nonprofit organization generates aid through:
- Fundraisers
- Charitable Donations
- Grants
Funds raised through charitable donations, fundraisers and awarded grants are used for the following:
- Offer treatment services through the Renewed Freedom Center for Rapid Anxiety Relief at reduced rates or pro-bono to families facing financial hardship.
- Sponsor treatment scholarships for Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) to individuals and families with severe symptoms needing significant financial assistance.
- Provide training, research, and development for the treatment of OCD, anxiety, and other related disorders.
- Implement awareness campaigns and community outreach events to destigmatize mental illness, and raise accurate information on the commonly misunderstood conditions of OCD, anxiety disorders, and what constitutes evidence-based treatments.
