April Kilduff

I'm actually a career switcher. In my first career, I worked in advertising and burned out on that after a decade. I'd always had an interest in psychology, in part because I personally grew up with anxiety issues that I had some great therapy for. I wanted to focus on anxiety disorders and be one of the people who gave good, evidence-based therapy that actually helped.

I did an internship at an anxiety- and OCD-specific program here in Chicago. That was where I learned about OCD—sadly, grad school didn't really go over that. I think OCD is misunderstood by so many therapists. I like being able to ensure people get a proper diagnosis and good-quality therapy. I've seen it change so many people's lives.

Many people I work with are on the autism spectrum, another misunderstood diagnosis. I enjoy adapting ERP in ways that are appropriate and helpful for autistic folks (like me!) Also, I am affirming and informed about things like kink, polyamory, and different types of non-monogamous relationships.

When starting therapy, it can be intimidating to know you'll be asked to do things that are scary and uncomfortable. We will start at a low level, then progress gradually to more and more challenging things. That way you'll get good practice with ERP, understand how it works, and get some good wins right away. Right now your OCD is offering you short-term relief in exchange for long-term discomfort. We want to flip that, so if you're going to be uncomfortable, let's make it productive. You can feel uncomfortable in the short term to attain the long-term relief you've been looking for.

It’s really common for people with OCD to feel afraid or ashamed to share intrusive thoughts. Sometimes this comes from previous therapy experiences where a therapist didn’t know much about OCD and didn’t respond to those thoughts very well. I’ve been an OCD/ERP Specialist since 2009. Nothing will shock me at this point. I would ask you to share why you’re afraid to bring some things up, and we can talk about that. OCD can be about anything. Trust that I’ve probably heard it before and am here to help work with those thoughts.