Desiree Untch, LISW
Licensed Independent Social Worker
Desiree is an independently licensed social worker with a specialized focus in the treatment of OCD, anxiety, and the related disorders. Desiree recognizes that OCD and anxiety can often consume our thoughts and force us to avoid people, places, and things while causing us to miss out on positive life experiences. Desiree is passionate about teaching clients skills to help better manage worries and intrusive thoughts so her clients can reclaim their lives and have the ability to live in the present moment. Desiree completed IOCDF’s Pediatric Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) in 2022 and has extensive training in Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Desiree believes learning to approach anxiety, rather than avoiding it, helps individuals break free from the cycle that anxiety and OCD try to trap us in.
Since OCD is often found with a variety of other mental health disorders, Desiree has the ability to treat a range of mental health struggles including but not limited to anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD, body-focused repetitive behaviors and more. She works with her clients to assess how their illness is impairing their lives and collaboratively develops an individualized treatment plan that honors individual needs and goals.
Desiree believes that empowering clients to recognize their unique strengths can be a helpful vehicle to facilitate change, and recognize their own resilience to overcome life’s challenges. She enjoys working with children, teens, and young adults and partners with clients, starting where they are, while exploring internal and external factors related to thinking, feelings and behaviors to help identify ways to improve overall functioning while working to change negative thinking patterns. With younger children, she incorporates play therapy and sensory techniques to create a more comfortable and relaxed therapeutic environment.
Regardless if you are seeking therapy for yourself, your child, or both Desiree uses an integrative approach while using various skills and interventions to help instill resilience and partner with clients to live a deserving and fulfilling life.
