Katie Lear, Founder & Author

Hi! I’m Katie

I was diagnosed with OCD at 7. If you asked my parents what I was like as a child, they'd tell you I was super worried and difficult to raise. I was a former anxious child, and I'm still an anxious adult, but I've figured out what works, and it's the reason I do what I do.

I love my job because I love helping kids and families who feel stuck. Stuck with anxiety that makes it hard to get to school. Stuck with OCD rituals that take up way too much time and energy. It's exciting to see kids get unstuck, and it often has a ripple effect on the whole family.

I specialize in OCD and am certified through the International OCD Foundation in ERP, the front-line treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. At this point, I primarily take OCD cases. It's the work I've always loved best, and having lived it means I understand it from both sides.

I have a deep and abiding love for tween-age clients. They're still playful, but gaining all these new cognitive skills that help them challenge their worries with logic, try new things, and work more independently in therapy. It's a best-of-both-worlds situation for me, because I love both creativity and hard science. It's important to me that children's therapy is as sophisticated and effective as what adults get. I want your kid to leave with real tools they can use now and as they grow up, long after therapy has ended.

My background is in the arts. I have a BFA from NYU, and I'm a registered drama therapist and registered play therapist. I love art and theater and geeky things like D&D, and I bring all of that into my work with kids. I also run our D&D therapy groups.

Before starting this practice, I worked with kids across all five NYC boroughs, including at one of the city's largest children's health clinics. I've used play therapy with kids from many backgrounds, including children affected by the refugee crisis in Greece. I moved to Davidson from New York, and now I live within walking distance of my office. Like my clients' parents, I'm raising my kid here. Being a therapist in a small town means your clients are part of your community—we’ll see each other outside the office. It keeps things real.

When I'm not working, I'm probably playing with my rescue cats, reading, or trying to figure out the rules of a new board game.