Beside you every step of the way

We engage patients and families in a fully virtual care journey that research has shown to be as effective as in-person treatment for youth with anxiety and OCD. The treatment plan is personalized to fit into the patient’s life, with regularly scheduled therapy sessions as well as real-time coaching and check-ins via phone and text to help engage kids in treatment and increase accountability. The child will have many opportunities to be supported by the therapist/coach virtually while actively practicing exposures at home as well as out in the community (using portable devices and headphones.) Many of these exposures would be much harder, if not impossible, to practice if treatment were in office.

Our InStride care teams are not only experts in treating anxiety and OCD, but also in engaging young people and finding ways to make care meaningful to them. We’ve successfully treated many youth who were initially hesitant about virtual therapy, and the virtual element has made care much more accessible to them. 

Care at InStride is so much more than just sitting at a computer for a traditional telehealth appointment. Our therapists design individualized exposure plans that are tailored to specific needs with exposures that may take place at home, in the community (e.g., in school, stores, restaurants, etc.), and in the neighborhood.  Our coaches work hard to ensure that sessions are fun and active and incorporate the young person’s interests – this could look like having a mini dance party, playing a game, or going on a scavenger hunt as rewards for doing exposures and practicing skills. We want the young person to be fully engaged in treatment so that they can get back to doing what matters most to them. 

Our care team is well versed in managing the avoidance that comes with anxiety, so rest assured that we know how to work with kids, teens, and young adults who don’t want to be onscreen.  In fact, there are times when we frame getting and staying on screen during a session as an exposure in and of itself.

InStride exposure coaches are highly skilled at helping young people build and sustain motivation for treatment. However, we recognize that some individuals may not be ready or willing to participate in InStride treatment, and in those instances, we give parents the option to meet with the care team largely without their child to learn skills and strategies that will help their child manage anxiety or OCD. Treatment still targets the young person’s anxiety and/or OCD, but sessions focus on changes that parents can make to their own behaviors and to the environment around the child.

Exposure therapy is a key component of CBT that involves purposely confronting the situations, objects, and places that trigger your anxiety and/or OCD symptoms to break the cycle of fear and avoidance.

Your InStride therapist will work with you to develop a roadmap for exposure practice. Your therapist and exposure coach will then support you in practicing your exposures out in the real world—at school, in stores, in restaurants, in your home, and in your neighborhood—wherever you need it most. We do this at a pace that feels right for you, and we’ll never ask you to do something that is unsafe or dangerous or that we, as the care team, wouldn’t do ourselves.

We work with school personnel while a child is in our program to ensure consistency and support; however, we are not a school-based program. We also conduct exposures and between-session coaching during school, as appropriate.

Yes! Our only location requirement is that the child must be physically located in a state we serve while treatment is going on.

Yes, your dedicated psychiatrist can prescribe medications. However, since we meet virtually, we cannot prescribe controlled substances, such as stimulants and benzodiazepines.

Yes, that’s your choice. Your InStride Health psychiatrist will collaborate with your existing doctor to ensure coordinated care. We’re happy to work with you to determine the best option to meet your needs. Families may:

• Work with their InStride psychiatrist while meeting with their outside psychiatrist less frequently, in order to stay connected. If that is the best approach for you, be sure to verify that your insurance will cover it.
• Pause appointments with their outside psychiatrist during InStride treatment and resume after graduation. Your care team will ensure that your outside psychiatrist has all of the information needed to step back into their ongoing role at that point.

You’ll be assigned an InStride therapist to lead your care team, along with an exposure coach and a psychiatrist. For that reason, most people pause their ongoing therapy while they take part in the InStride program. In certain circumstances, however, it can be helpful to continue meeting with your existing therapist to address issues that are separate from anxiety and/or OCD. If that is your situation, please be sure to check that your insurance will cover both InStride treatment and outside therapy at the same time.

Parents and/or caregivers are an integral part of the treatment process. At a minimum, we ask that parents participate in the initial clinical and medication evaluations as well as intermittent treatment review sessions. We also highly encourage you to participate in parent/caregiver groups and additional family and/or psychiatry sessions, as needed. Additional family support can be provided and coordinated by the care team. For young adults, we work with the individual and family to determine the most appropriate plan of action, based on their unique needs and circumstances.

In the states in which we practice, we accept most major insurers. To check if we accept your insurance, use our insurance finder.

We recommend that families call the number on the back of their insurance card to confirm current coverage, as we’re continually working to add new insurance options and new states.

Note: At this time, we do not accept Medicaid.

Yes! If you choose to undergo care at InStride Health and elect to not use insurance, or if you are uninsured, you will be expected to cover the full cost of care.

No. We bill for services in a monthly bundle. You may see a psychiatrist, therapist, and exposure coach all in the same week, but you will not have a copay for each of those sessions. Your insurance carrier will determine how many copays are due for a given week or month of InStride treatment.

Click here for our latest outcomes reports.

At this time, we are only able to provide services in English.