Parent of former OCD and Anxiety Center patient shares how Rogers helped her son overcome his “fear-soaked” world
12/15/23 05:30:pmWhen a person has mental health challenges, friends, family, and others within their circle are also affected.
Jess says since her son Jake was little, their lives revolved around his “fear-soaked” world. They were overwhelmed, feeling helpless and hopeless that he could ever get better.
“From the time he could talk, he could narrate how loud the fear was in his brain all the time,” says Jess.
Knowing Jake wasn’t ready for high school, Jess and her husband asked him what he would do if he took a year off. Jake said he wanted to deal with his anxiety.
After several people recommended Rogers, Jess says they decided to pursue treatment. Her despair turned to hope with the first phone call.
“Even during intake, I felt like I could breathe,” she says. “The way they were describing back to me what I was explaining and putting it in clinical terms was the first light bulb I had that Rogers was going to understand his brain in a way that no one else did.”
That was a huge relief. As Jake’s mom, Jess felt like she should have been able to help him.
“During the call, I was hearing things for the first time that helped me understand that Jake wasn’t broken, and we weren’t doing it wrong,” she says. “We did not have the right diagnosis.”
“Jess, Jake, and the family put their full trust in us as a treatment team, and they always allowed us to do the work with Jake,” says Jennifer Skemp, manager of operations, OCD and Anxiety Center. “The family was fully engaged in the fight with us, and we had fun working with them. Jake is an outstanding young man and is doing phenomenal in life after treatment. We are so proud of him! He truly did the work.”
Click the video above to hear Jess’ emotional story of finding hope at Rogers and see Jake’s reunion with several members of his treatment team.
Click here to read Jake’s blog where he describes his experience with OCD and his treatment at Rogers.
