Support Kim Naeseth's Fight Against OCD

Hi, thanks for reading.

My name is Kim Naeseth and I live in Bloomington, IN. I live with severe OCD and was just recently discharged from my fifth hospitalization. I have treatment resistant OCD and depression, and residential treatment is recommended to treat both of these conditions and get me back to work, to a job I love where I serve people living with HIV. Unfortunately, residential treatment is often private pay due to the level of care that is necessary to treat the severity of people living with the illness, insurance has historically been too unwilling to pay for such care. There are times that insurance companies will try to work with residential treatment programs, but this is very difficult to achieve. I am presently on my third appeal for treatment that has been deemed necessary by multiple providers.

In residential treatment, I will go through Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy, the gold standard therapy for treating OCD. It is a very specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that seeks to address the intrusive thoughts that lead to obsessions and compulsions. The type of OCD that I struggle with is know as Harm OCD, where you are fearful of causing any amount of harm (the obsession) and repeatedly check in or perform some type of ritual (the compulsion) to try to reduce the obsession from coming back, even though it always does because that's the nature of the disease. My OCD is the driver of my depression, leading to suicidal ideation because the frequency and intensity of the obsessions is so intense, and the fear of causing harm so deep, that it's often felt better and easier to not be here. However, that would then cause harm to those that I love, so I'm left in this terrible conundrum. You can learn more about ERP here: https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/treatment/erp/

My OCD is too severe to do ERP in an outpatient setting and needs to be treated in a residential environment, where you are supported by OCD coaches, therapists and psychiatrists whom you see each day.

There are two specific residential programs in the midwest I would like to attend. One is called Sibcy House, located in Cincinnati, OH. Sibcy House is part of the Lindner Center of HOPE who specialize in the treatment of OCD. I am particurlary interested in Sibcy House because I have already been hospitalized at the Lindner Center of Hope twice and am familiar with their high quality of care and their proximity to my home in Bloomington, IN, about a 2.5 hour drive so friends and family can visit. Sibcy House also offers trans magnetic stimulation (TMS), a new FDA approved treatment for severe treatment resistant OCD. I would be able to access this treatment at the same time as I participate in my residential treatment program which would reduce time away from work in the future, since the closest place that offers TMS to my home is an hour away in Bloomington and I would have to take at least a month off work to attend this treatment at a later date. For more information about TMS for OCD, you can visit: https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/treatment/tms/. The cost of Sibcy House is $50,500.

The other residential program that has been recommended to me is Rogers Behavioral Health in Oconomwok, WI, about 5.5 hours away from Bloomington. This program is also internationally recognized for its work with OCD residential treatment. This program ranges from 45-60 days with a daily rate of $1180 and as such will also cost around $50,000-$60,000.

We are lucky enough to have some financial means and candidly we can finance this with savings and familial support though it would cause some financial strain. I set this gofundme amount at $15000 because many people have asked how they can help and this is one way people can assist.

I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 11, but had symptoms as early as 5. This disease has taken so much from my life. I am presently awaiting a decision on short term disability for the second time in the past 12 months. It's my hope that residential treatment will really provide me with the treatment and tools I need to cope and fight this illness. I've tried many medications, intensive outpatient programs, completed many workbooks. I have the will and readiness, I just need the resources to do so and your support would make that easier. Should one of my appeals go through, any unused funding would go directly to the International OCD Foundation, the leaders in understanding and treating OCD.

With all my sincere and heartfelt love and gratitude, thank you.