The IWK OCD Clinic provides specialty service to children and youth with moderate to severe OCD and their families. Care is multidisciplinary including psychiatry, psychology and an in-home support worker to provide exposure-response prevention (cognitive behavioural therapy) treatment within the youth’s home and/or community. Education and support for families and the youth with OCD is a key component of treatment at the clinic.
The OCD clinic also has a clinical research mandate as well as an academic focus to train psychiatry residents and other mental health trainees in the identification and effective treatment of youth with severe and persistent OCD. The team provides consultative services and collaborative care to clinicians across the Maritime Provinces for those youth who show signs of moderate to severe OCD. Clinical training and research opportunities in clinical assessment, medication and psychotherapy (cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT / exposure and response prevention, ERP) treatment in child and adolescent OCD are available for interested students and residents.
Accessing this Clinic, Program or Service
Central Referral will help determine whether the Specific Care Clinics offer the right support for you or your family member or friend. Most referrals to the Specific Care Clinics come from Community Mental Health and Addictions (CMHA) following a Choice appointment.
As the IWK is a tertiary care facility, child and adolescent psychiatrists from the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or PEI) can request a consult appointment for their patients with any of the Specific Care Clinics through Central Referral. Physicians and clinicians from the Maritimes can also request to speak to a member of the Specific Care Clinic if they wish to consult on a case.