Care that leads
to lasting change

Specialty outpatient care for
pediatric anxiety & OCD (ages 7-22)

Start treatment in a matter of weeks

Covered by most major insurance

Hear back within 24 hours

Get Started

855.438.8331

Are you a provider referring a family to lnStride Health? Click here to refer!

Accessible care that works for you and your family

Research-based treatment focused on skill development so that you can get back to doing the things you love.

See How It Works

98%

of graduates experienced overall clinical improvement.

97%

of caregivers reported they would recommend InStride Health to a friend.

82%

of caregivers reported a reduction in their own strain.

1. Assessed by clinicians that used the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Improvement rating at graduation. 2. Measured by Satisfaction with Services Scale assessed among caregivers with complete data at graduation. 3. Measured by Caregiver Strain Questionnaire-Short Form 7 assessed among caregivers of patients with complete data at graduation; change in absenteeism measured among caregivers who reported missing quite a bit or very much work at baseline.

Hear from those who trust us

Watch as Avery and her mother share their personal journey an how InStride has made a lasting difference in their lives.

Watch as Ellie and her mother share their personal journey and how InStride has made a lasting difference in their lives.

Six-month wait times are just not an option when your child is struggling.

Thankfully, the InStride team was able to see my daughter fast, and I saw a positive shift in her almost right away.

Parent of InStride Health graduate

InStride helped our son transform!

He went from skipping classes to attending all of them, landing a part-time job, and making new friends. Now he’s excited for graduation and college. Amazing care!

Parent of InStride Health graduate

I am so grateful for this incredible program.

We learned so much and continue to use the skills daily. Our lives are back on track, and our daughter is living a typical life thanks to InStride Health.

Parent of InStride Health graduate

InStride wasn’t just great for our daughter—they were perfect for our whole family.

It felt like they were truly invested in connecting with all of us and helping us succeed. Thanks to them, our daughter made incredible progress.

Parent of InStride Health graduate

Whenever I feel myself panicking, I use the techniques my exposure coach and therapist taught me.

Through the InStride program I learned effective coping strategies for both my social and academic anxiety. Now, nearly two years out of the program, I can confidently say InStride transformed my mindset and made me a better person—not just for myself, but also for my friends and family.

Proud InStride Health Graduate

What makes InStride unique and I think special, is that they deliver evidence-based care.

It is to the “tee” what you’d want for a child struggling with anxiety, with respect to the psychiatry, therapy support and exposure coaching. All of this is really helpful for getting kids back to their prior level of functioning.

Khadijah Booth-Watkins, MD, MPH

Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist–Massachusetts General Hospital

InStride collaborates with me to provide the high quality care that my students need.

Throughout my entire career, I’ve never seen an anxiety and OCD program as effective and efficient as InStride Health. I feel so grateful to have them in my back pocket as a resource for all families.

Catherine Fauth

School Adjustment Counselor

How It Works

Your personalized care plan

Our Treatment Approach

Grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—the gold standard for treating anxiety and OCD—our evidence-based approach focuses on exposure therapy to help kids, teens, and young adults face their fears and build resilience that lasts a lifetime.

Throughout treatment, you’ll work with a highly trained care team that has expertise not only in anxiety and OCD, but also in working specifically with young people. The dedicated team consists of a licensed therapist, exposure coach, and psychiatrist. Our care team also collaborates with your pediatrician, school, and other people involved in your care, as appropriate, to support your ongoing progress.

Traditional therapy for anxiety and OCD often leaves young people on their own between sessions, making it challenging to practice new skills consistently. At InStride, we provide real-time support during and between sessions – our care team helps young people as they practice exposures and learn skills in everyday moments. This real-world, virtual treatment approach was shown to be effective in reducing symptoms and enhancing daily functioning at the nation’s leading freestanding psychiatric hospital.

We provide comprehensive support through individual and group sessions where parents and caregivers learn practical strategies to help create a supportive home environment. They also have the opportunity to connect with others facing similar challenges.

What we treat, where we treat

Identifying Anxiety and OCD

The signs and symptoms can vary by individual. You may be experiencing:

School avoidance
Generalized anxiety and worry
Obsessions and compulsions
Panic attacks
Social anxiety
Separation anxiety
Fears (of crowded places, vomiting, etc.)
Perfectionism
Academic anxiety
Health anxiety
Selective mutism
Tics

Hair pulling (trichotillomania)
Skin picking (excoriation)
Eating-related fears (ARFID)
Obsessive concerns about body features
Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS)
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS)

Age

Our services are tailored for ages 7–22, with flexibility on a case-by case basis.

Location of Care

You must receive care in one of the states in which we operate:

Connecticut
Massachusetts
Maine
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia

Insurance coverage

We accept most insurance in the states in which we operate. (Medicaid is currently not accepted. Self-pay options available.)

We proudly partner with many major insurance providers in our service area. Check our full insurance list here.

Frequently Asked Questions

To contact our team directly with other questions, please email us at info@instride.health or call 855.438.8331.

See All FAQs

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, rather than the other way around. While we offer regularly scheduled therapy sessions, we also have real-time coaching and check-ins via phone and text to help engage kids in treatment and increase accountability, as well as opportunities to be supported by the therapist/coach virtually while doing exposure exercises out in the community (using portable devices and headphones).

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.

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.

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.

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.