Research, Training and Resources

Helping children, families and clinicians to effectively manage OCD

OCD BUSTERS refers to a suite of evidence-based treatment programs for children and young people with OCD and their families, developed by Professor Lara Farrell and her colleagues at the Griffith Centre for Mental Health.

Current Research Projects

FAST-CBT

FAST (Families Accessing online Skills Training) CBT for Paediatric OCD : A nationwide randomised controlled trial.

Funded: Australian Rotary Mental Health Grant (2023-2025)

Chief Investigator: Professor Lara Farrell

“Despite childhood OCD affecting more than one in 50 children, there are currently no specialised services for OCD in Australia, and rarely do families receive evidence-based treatments that work.”

OCD onsets early in childhood and is associated with profound impairments at home, school and with peers. Sadly, early onset of OCD and delayed access to care are robust predictors of poorer prognosis and escalating mental health problems over time.

Despite the well-documented burden associated with OCD , most children never receive first-line, cognitive-behavioural treatment including exposure and response prevention ( CBT-ERP ), highlighting an unacceptable treatment gap for OCD .

Technology and parents are crucial enablers of earlier access to CBT-ERP for children with OCD . Our team has developed a novel multi-technology intervention that trains parents to be ‘ ERP coaches’ for their children via four self-directed web-based modules and videoconference group sessions with a therapist (i.e., FAST-CBT : Families Accessing online Skills Training in CBT ). The multi-technology approach empowers families by transferring effective therapies (i.e., ERP ) for OCD directly to parents where they are, thereby increasing earlier access and more immediate relief to children and families in need.

We will conduct a nationwide randomised controlled trial of FAST-CBT relative to care as usual, for children with clinical and subthreshold OCD , to determine efficacy and cost-effectiveness as a first-line, efficient modality of CBT-ERP . This scalable, digitally enabled intervention has wide reaching clinical potential, as a stand-alone intervention, or as one component within a suite of interventions within a stepped or staged care model of treatment for OCD .

Co-Investigators: Professor Allison Waters, Professor Caroline Donovan, Iain Perkes, Jessica Grisham, Professor Sonja March, Katelyn Dyason, Matthew McKenzie, Gabrielle Paton, Rob Ware and Joshua Byrne

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Clinician Training in CBT-ERP for Children and Young People with OCD

Training and Supervision for Specialised CBT-ERP for Child and Youth OCD

OCD BUSTERS includes a suite of evidence-based treatment programs for children and young people with OCD and their families, developed by Professor Lara Farrell and her colleagues at the Griffith Centre for Mental Health.

OCD BUSTERS is a family-based, cognitive-behavioural treatment, with a focus on Exposure and Response Prevention (CBT-ERP). OCD BUSTERS modalities include:

Group CBT-ERP
Intensive delivery of CBT-ERP
Multi-technology Parent Training in CBT-ERP

For training and supervision in CBT-ERP for children, young people and their families, and access to OCD BUSTERS resources, please contact:

Professor Lara Farrell

Deputy Director, Griffith Centre for Mental Health

School of Applied Psychology

Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus.

Email: l.farrell@griffith.edu.au

OCD & Phobia Clinic

For over 15 years our team have been providing specialised assessment and therapy services to the Gold Coast community for child phobias and OCD. Developed from a research framework and globally recognised best practice standards, we deliver individually tailored, cognitive-behavioural treatments (CBT) for children, adolescents and their families. There are three types of formats of OCD BUSTERS:

Individual Therapy Sessions

These sessions are one-on-one with the child and clinician, and where applicable a parent/guardian. These sessions are ~60 minutes per week.

Group Therapy Sessions

These sessions are a fun and effective format for treating OCD in children and young people. Each group program includes weekly child group sessions (1.5 hours for 10 weeks), as well as individual family review sessions (two family sessions), parent group sessions (3 parent group sessions) and booster sessions.

Intensive Therapy Sessions

During the intensive sessions, children, with the guidance of an experienced therapist, are taught skills to help face their fears without performing their OCD habits or compulsions. This treatment is individually tailored to the child’s presentation, and delivered in two to three 3-hourly sessions, across several days, rather than weeks. Telehealth sessions support ongoing maintenance of gains. These sessions allow the clinician to spend more concentrated time helping the child face their OCD related fears over a shorter duration of treatment. They are particularly well suited to families accessing specialised care from interstate.

Contact Us Today

If you are interested in accessing treatment services for a child or young person experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or specific phobias please get in touch with our friendly team. Phone: (07) 56788317 or ocdbustersgc@griffith.edu.au

OCD & Phobia Clinic

Publications and Resources

Publications (selected)

Relevant Publications from the OCD Busters Research Team (selection):

Farrell, L.J., Waters, A.M., Storch, E.A., Simcock, G., Perkes, I.E., Grisham, J.R., Dyason, K.M., & Ollendick, T.H. (2023). Closing the Gap for Children with OCD: A staged-care model of cognitive behavioural therapy with exposure and response prevention. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10567-023-00439-2
Cooper, D. D. J., Perkes, I. E., Lam-Po-Tang, J., Farrell, L. J., Brakoulias, V., & Grisham, J. R. (2023). Finding help for OCD in Australia: development and evaluation of a clinician directory. Australian Psychologist, 58(3), 190–197. doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2023.2189003
Selles, R. R., Best, J. R., Lu, C., Soreni, N., Farrell, L. J., Mathieu, S., & Stewart, S. E. (2023). Challenges of insight assessment in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Initial results and clinical considerations from a measure development study. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 36, 100774. doi.org/10.1016/J.JOCRD.2022.100774
Kroon, R., Bothma, N., Mathieu, S., Fontenelle, L. F., & Farrell, L. J. (2022). Parental surveillance of OCD and mental health symptoms during COVID-19: A longitudinal study of Australian children, adolescents and families. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 152, 225–232. doi.org/10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2022.06.002
Abramovitch, A., Abramowitz, J. S., McKay, D., Cham, H., Anderson, K. S., Farrell, L. J., Geller, D. A., Hanna, G. L., Mathieu, S., McGuire, J. F., Rosenberg, D. R., Stewart, S. E., Storch, E. A., & Wilhelm, S. (2022). An ultra-brief screening scale for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: The OCI-CV-5. Journal of Affective Disorders, 312, 208–216. doi.org/10.1016/J.JAD.2022.06.009
Farrell, L. J., Waters, A. M., Tiralongo, E., Mathieu, S., McKenzie, M., Garbharran, V., Ware, R. S., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., McConnell, H., Lavell, C., Cadman, J., Ollendick, T. H., Hudson, J. L., Rapee, R. M., McDermott, B., Geller, D., & Storch, E. A. (2022). Efficacy of D-cycloserine augmented brief intensive cognitive-behavioural therapy for paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: A randomised clinical trial. Depression and Anxiety, 39(6), 461–473. doi.org/10.1002/DA.23242
Farrell, L. J., Nabinger de Diaz, N. A., Mathieu, S., McKenzie, M. L., Miyamoto, T., Donovan, C. L., Waters, A. M., March, S., Bothma, N., Kroon, R., Simcock, G., Ware, R. S., Selles, R. R., Storch, E. A., & Ollendick, T. (2022). FAST CBT for pediatric OCD: A multiple-baseline controlled pilot trial of parent training in exposure and response prevention delivered via telehealth. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. doi.org/10.3389/FPSYG.2022.1009735
Canavera, K. E., Ollendick, T. H., Farrell, L. J., & Whiteside, S. P. H. (2022). A Five-Day Intensive Treatment for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Multiple Baseline Design Pilot Study. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 8(1), 120–132. doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2022.2034553
Racz, J. I., Mathieu, S. L., McKenzie, M. L., & Farrell, L. J. (2022). Paediatric Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder and Comorbid Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Clinical Expression and Treatment Response. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 54(4), 1005–1014. doi.org/10.1007/S10578-022-01314-X/TABLES/4
McKenzie, M. L., Donovan, C. L., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Waters, A. M., Mathieu, S. L., & Farrell, L. J. (2020). Examining parent-report of Children’s emotion regulation in paediatric OCD: Associations with symptom severity, externalising behaviour and family accommodation. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 25, 100508. doi.org/10.1016/J.JOCRD.2020.100508
McKenzie, M. L., Donovan, C. L., Mathieu, S. L., Hyland, W. J., & Farrell, L. J. (2020). Variability in emotion regulation in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Associations with symptom presentation and response to treatment. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 24, 100502. doi.org/10.1016/J.JOCRD.2019.100502
Selles, R. R., Naqqash, Z., Best, J. R., Franco-Yamin, D., Qiu, S. T., Ferreira, J. S., Deng, X., Hannesdottir, D. K., Oberth, C., Belschner, L., Negreiros, J., Farrell, L. J., & Stewart, S. E. (2021). Effects of Treatment Setting on Outcomes of Flexibly-Dosed Intensive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Pediatric OCD: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 669494. doi.org/10.3389/FPSYT.2021.669494/BIBTEX
Mathieu, S. L., Conlon, E. G., Waters, A. M., & Farrell, L. J. (2020). Perceived Parental Rearing in Paediatric Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: Examining the Factor Structure of the EMBU Child and Parent Versions and Associations with OCD Symptoms. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 51(6), 956–968. doi.org/10.1007/S10578-020-00979-6/TABLES/4
Storch, E.A., Peris, T.S., De Nadai, A., Piacentini, J., Bloch, M., Cervin, M., McGuire, J., Farrell, L.J., McCracken, J.T., McKay, D. and Riemann, B.C., 2020. Little Doubt That CBT Works for Pediatric OCD. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(7), pp.785-787. 10.1016/j.jaac.2020.01.026
Selles, R. R., Højgaard, D. R. M. A., Ivarsson, T., Thomsen, P. H., McBride, N. M., Storch, E. A., Geller, D., Wilhelm, S., Farrell, L. J., Waters, A. M., Mathieu, S., & Stewart, S. E. (2020). Avoidance, Insight, Impairment Recognition Concordance, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Outcomes in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(5), 650-659.e2. doi.org/10.1016/J.JAAC.2019.05.030
Farrell, L. J., Lavell, C., Baras, E., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Waters, A. M. (2020). Clinical expression and treatment response among children with comorbid obsessive compulsive disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 266, 585–594. doi.org/10.1016/J.JAD.2020.01.144
Mataix-Cols, D., de La Cruz, L. F., Monzani, B., Rosenfield, D., Andersson, E., Pérez-Vigil, A., Frumento, P., de Kleine, R. A., Difede, J. A., Dunlop, B. W., Farrell, L. J., Geller, D., Gerardi, M., Guastella, A. J., Hofmann, S. G., Hendriks, G. J., Kushner, M. G., Lee, F. S., Lenze, E. J., … Rück, C. (2017). D-Cycloserine Augmentation of Exposure-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(5), 501–510. doi.org/10.1001/JAMAPSYCHIATRY.2016.3955
Farrell, L. J., Oar, E. L., Waters, A. M., McConnell, H., Tiralongo, E., Garbharran, V., & Ollendick, T. (2016). Brief intensive CBT for pediatric OCD with E-therapy maintenance. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 42, 85–94. doi.org/10.1016/J.JANXDIS.2016.06.005
Farrell, James, Maddox, Griffiths, White. (2016). OCD and Comorbid ASD - the case of Max. In "Clinical handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: A Case-Based Approach to Treating Paediatric and Adult Populations" Eric Stroch and Adam Lewis (Eds.)
Milliner, Cadman & Farrell (2016). Aggressive Obsessions. In "Clinical handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: A Case-Based Approach to Treating Paediatric and Adult Populations". Eric Stroch and Adam Lewis (Eds.)
Farrell, L. J., & Milliner, E. L. (2014). Intensive Cognitive Behavioural Treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, a1(1), 182–188. doi.org/10.5127/PR.034113
Farrell, L. J., Waters, A. M., Boschen, M. J., Hattingh, L., McConnell, H., Milliner, E. L., Collings, N., Zimmer-Gembeck, M., Shelton, D., Ollendick, T. H., Testa, C., & Storch, E. A. (2013). Difficult-to-treat paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: feasibility and preliminary results of a randomized pilot trail of D-cycloserine-augmented behaviour therapy. Depression and Anxiety, 30(8), 723–731. doi.org/10.1002/DA.22132
Farrell, L. J., Hourigan, D., & Waters, A. M. (2013). Do mothers enhance responsibility in children with obsessive–compulsive disorder? A preliminary study of mother–child interactions during a problem solving discussion. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2(2), 78–84. doi.org/10.1016/J.JOCRD.2012.12.001
Farrell, L. J., Waters, A. M., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2012). Cognitive Biases and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Children: Examining the Role of Maternal Cognitive Bias and Child Age. Behavior Therapy, 43(3), 593–605. doi.org/10.1016/J.BETH.2011.10.003
Farrell, L., Waters, A., Milliner, E., & Ollendick, T. (2012). Comorbidity and treatment response in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: A pilot study of group cognitive-behavioral treatment. Psychiatry Research, 199(2), 115–123. doi.org/10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2012.04.035
Byrne, S. P., Farrell, L. J., & Rapee, R. M. (2011). Using cognitive enhancers to improve the treatment of anxiety disorders in young people: Examining the potential for D‐cycloserine to augment exposure for child anxiety. Clinical Psychologist, 15(1), 1–9. doi.org/10.1111/J.1742-9552.2011.00005.X
Farrell, L. J., Schlup, B., & Boschen, M. J. (2010). Cognitive–behavioral treatment of childhood obsessive–compulsive disorder in community-based clinical practice: clinical significance and benchmarking against efficacy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48(5), 409–417. doi.org/10.1016/J.BRAT.2010.01.004
Barrett, P., Farrell, L., Dadds, M., & Boulter, N. (2005). Cognitive-Behavioral Family Treatment of Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Long-Term Follow-up and Predictors of Outcome. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 44(10), 1005–1014. doi.org/10.1097/01.CHI.0000172555.26349.94
Barrett, P. M., Healy-Farrell, L., Piacentini, J., & March, J. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Childhood and Adolescence: Description and Treatment. Handbook of Interventions That Work with Children and Adolescents: Prevention and Treatment, 187–216. doi.org/10.1002/9780470753385.CH9
Barrett, P., Healy-Farrell, L., & March, J. S. (2004). Cognitive-behavioral family treatment of childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: a controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(1), 46–62. doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200401000-00014

Books for Parents, Youth, and Therapists

Links to international experts in OCD

Current research, training and resources

Helping children, families and clinicians to effectively manage OCD

Current Research Projects

FAST-CBT

FAST (Families Accessing online Skills Training) CBT for Paediatric OCD : A nationwide randomised controlled trial.

Clinician Training in CBT-ERP for Children and Young People with OCD

OCD & Phobia Clinic

Publications and Resources

Contact us

Location, Delivery and Postal Address

OCD Busters Research Lead