Now Serving Communities in MetroWest Boston, Rhode Island, and Eastern Connecticut
We began this journey with Braver late January of this year. My son was really struggling with sudden OCD. It was extremely hard to watch him fight this battle that seemed to happen overnight. If it w...
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— Parent of 11 year old with OCD
1. Tell Us About Your Child
First we’ll ask you to complete a questionnaire to help us understand if Braver's services are a good fit for your family. If so, we'll offer to schedule an evaluation with a doctor at Braver. If not, we'll explain why and offer other referrals to help you.
The most common conditions we treat at Braver are:
- OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)
- Separation anxiety
- Social anxiety
- Generalized anxiety
- Phobias (fear of vomiting, darkness, heights, medical procedures, bugs)
- School avoidance
- Selective mutism
- ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder)
2. Meet Your Doctor
Your first session will be a one-hour virtual intake assessment with one of our doctors (a child psychologist or psychiatrist). The doctor will review your history and what has brought you to Braver now. If after the assessment the doctor thinks your family would benefit from Braver, they will schedule an in-person orientation session to review your personalized treatment plan and answer your questions.
At Braver, all care is delivered as part of a team supervised by Dr. Garcia, Dr. Case, Dr. Kaltenstein, Dr. Arzamarski, Dr. Kim, Dr. Trachtenberg or Dr. Genereux.
3. Begin Your Treatment
After the intake assessment you will meet your Braver Coach, who works together with your psychologist to design your individualized schedule of sessions. The Braver Program often includes two sessions per week – one individual coaching session and one group session. Because participation in group sessions is optional, recommendations on your child’s fit for group therapy will be made during the Evaluation and Orientation process. Additionally, some patients may receive two individual coaching sessions per week if needed. The length of the program is customized for each family, but we expect a typical treatment will last approximately four months.
Treatment Format:
Individual Sessions
3-4 Sessions / Month
Each month, you and your child will participate in three sessions with your Coach. The optimal mix of in-person (office, home, or other community settings) and virtual visits will be determined during your evaluation and orientation visits.
Group
4 Sessions / Month
If participating in groups, once per week your child will join a session with several other kids led by a Coach. During that group they will work on Braver Challenges and support one another. Each month, two of these groups are in-person in the afternoon or early evening at one of our offices and two are virtual.
Family
1 Session / 4–6 weeks
Every 4-6 weeks, your family will have a virtual session with your child's psychologist.
Sample Schedules
Week 1
Sun
Mon
1:1
Tue
Wed
Group
Thu
Fri
Sat
Week 2
Sun
Mon
1:1
Tue
Wed
Group
Thu
Fri
Sat
Week 3
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Group
Thu
1:1
Fri
Sat
Week 4
Sun
Mon
1:1
Tue
Wed
Group
Thu
Fri
Sat
These sample schedules are intended to demonstrate what a typical Braver treatment plan may look like each month. Note that individual patient needs and availability of time slots will result in variations for an individual family’s schedule.