Center for Healing Kansas City

10/26/2025

NOCD is an online platform that connects people with licensed therapists who specialize in obsessive-compulsive disorder and delivers live video therapy, in-app tools, and a peer community for ongoing support. The service focuses on **Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)**, the evidence-based gold standard for treating OCD. NOCD’s app offers 24/7 messaging with clinicians, ERP tools for in-the-moment practice, symptom tracking, and educational resources that make homework and between-session work easier.

Reduce OCD severity significantly in just 10 weeks on average. Schedule a FREE phone call with team, and we'll connect you with a licensed OCD Therapist.

10/19/2025

In this eye-opening interview with NOCD, bestselling author John Green opens up about his lifelong struggle with OCD. He shares how his mind and day-to-day life were hijacked by relentless, intrusive thoughts that would lead to hours upon hours of compulsive checking.

"I felt like I wasn’t the captain of the ship of my consciousness… It really did feel like somebody else was running the show,” he told us during our convo.

For years, OCD shrunk his world, leaving him feeling trapped and powerless. But everything changed when John found specialized care that helped him fight back. Through ERP therapy, he slowly began to wrestle back control of his mind and life.

Listen to our sit-down interview to hear John’s heartfelt story of struggle and recovery. It’s a powerful reminder that with the right tools, it IS possible to manage OCD — no matter how bad it feels.

In this eye-opening interview with NOCD, bestselling author John Green opens up about lifelong struggle with OCD. He shares how his mind and day-to-day life ...

10/12/2025

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause significant anxiety and distress. To temporarily relieve this distress, a person with OCD feels driven to perform repetitive behaviors or mental acts called compulsions. This cycle becomes a severe mental health burden, as obsessions and compulsions can consume more than an hour a day, interfering with work, school, and social life. The constant anxiety, distress, and feeling of a lack of control often lead to secondary mental health issues like depression and other anxiety disorders. Individuals may experience profound shame, social isolation, and a diminished quality of life because of the time and energy dedicated to managing their symptoms. Overall, OCD is a debilitating condition that can severely impair a person's ability to function and maintain relationships.

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10/05/2025

Check out our blog, written by our Clinical Therapist, Cathy Durando, MA, PLPC 💻📝

“All people have intrusive thoughts. The phrase "intrusive thoughts" might seem to be somewhat mysterious. How can our own thoughts be "intrusive"? Why do some of our thoughts seem to be from somewhere else and yet be our own at the same time? Why do some people seem completely unaffected by intrusive thoughts, while for others, one can derail their whole day? And what do you do if you are one of those who is negatively affected by your intrusive thoughts?

The human mind processes thousands of thoughts each day. Some flit through without us even noticing, like birds that fly past our windows without a glance from us. Others require attention to manage, and still others require deliberation to resolve. Some thoughts, however, carry a heavy emotional charge and require not so much deliberation as reaction. These are the thoughts that inspire fear, worry, shame, and disgust. When a thought enters our mind and captures our attention by arousing a negative emotion in us, our natural reaction is to reject it, try to make it go away, and force it to never return.

Unfortunately, thoughts have a pattern of inverse reaction; that is, the more we try not to think a thought, the more we can't help but think it. This is the pattern of anxiety, worry, and OCD."

Check out "The Think Tank" on the Center for Healing website for more blogs like this

All people have intrusive thoughts. The phrase "intrusive thoughts" might seem to be somewhat mysterious. How can our own thoughts be "intrusive"? Why do some of our thoughts seem to be from somewhere else and yet be our own at the same time? Why do some people seem completely unaffected by intrusiv...

09/28/2025

Check out this month's blog, written by our Clinical Therapist, Andrew M. Forbeck, MA, LPC, SATP 💻📝

“Emotional sickness is avoiding reality at all costs. Emotional health, rather, is embracing reality at all costs.”
~ Scott M. Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Perhaps you have heard of the Twelve Steps but are unsure what they entail. The coauthor of the Twelve Steps was an alcoholic named Bill Wilson, who found recovery as a result of this “Damascus Road-like” spiritual experience in a hospital room where he lay dying of alcoholism. The Twelve Steps originated from the teachings of a Christian group called the Oxford Group; however, Wilson reworked them in such a way that they were accessible to all people, regardless of their religious experiences, allowing anyone to benefit from them. What Bill Wilson and countless others have come to discover is that the addict’s main problem was principally spiritual, not psychological or moral, and therefore required a spiritual solution.

“The craving for alcohol is the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: union with God,” wrote Carl Jung. This sentiment of the spiritual solution is echoed once more through the words of John Ortberg, who writes, “We have a spiritual thirst for transcendence. If we cannot satisfy it through the real thing, we will look for substitutes. Addictions are, in essence, a shortcut back to Eden...."

Check out "The Think Tank" on the Center for Healing website for more blogs like this

Perhaps you have heard of the Twelve Steps but are unsure what they entail. The coauthor of the Twelve Steps was an alcoholic named Bill Wilson, who found recovery as a result of this “Damascus Road-like” spiritual experience in a hospital room where he lay dying of alcoholism. The Twelve Steps ...

09/21/2025

What important role can the church play in s*xual addiction recovery?

The church plays a vital role in four key areas: Community, Connection, Confession, and Confrontation.

Community within churches can promote healthy environments where individuals feel seen, safe, and secure, allowing them to overcome the shame and silence surrounding s*xual struggles. This open discussion can foster a cultural shift within the church.

Connection emphasizes the vital role in personal growth. Healing doesn't happen in isolation; connection is the catalyst for growth and change, helping to foster healthy attachments. The post makes a powerful statement that "the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but connection."

Regular confession within a healthy community creates a safe and normalized space for discussing "slip-ups" and "relapses." This practice of rigorous honesty and trust, inspired by the Bible verse James 5:16, deepens relationships within the church.

Confrontation, when approached with a gentle spirit and a trusted person, helps identify sins or incongruities that someone may not be aware of. When done with care and trust, it deepens relationships.

09/14/2025

Podcast recommendation: Become New with John Ortberg 🎧

The 12 Steps Aren't Just For Alcoholics

In this episode, John discusses that as we walk and live out the 12 steps, we see they become a mirror of the Christian journey: repentance and Lordship under Jesus. These practices—honest self-examination, confession, making amends, and persistent prayer—ignite a spiritual awakening that replaces reliance on external “solutions” with intimate dependence on Christ, the Higher Power who renews the heart and refreshes the soul. As believers progress—embracing vulnerability, seeking reconciliation, and ultimately carrying the message to others—they experience sanctification in action: disordered attachments give way to grace-filled freedom, fellowship fosters accountability, and daily surrender molds their lives ever more into the likeness of Christ.

Become New with John Ortberg · Episode

09/07/2025

Recommended Resource: Steps by John Ortberg 📖

Admiration, comfort, love, power, success, pleasure, escape, control: we’re all addicted to something, whether we realize it or not.

In this deeply heartfelt book, author John Ortberg offers a guide for transformation when we know something needs to change, but we can’t do it on our own. Rooted in the teachings of Jesus and using the framework of AA's 12 steps as a guide, Ortberg offers all of us a freeing roadmap for:

Giving up our exhausting and fruitless efforts to fix, manage, and control our own lives

Distinguishing between when willpower is essential and when it is futile

Discovering how God can do for us what we can’t do for ourselves, and

Living authentically, joyfully, and in communion with God and other people.

Ortberg shows us how to discover:

Our spiritual attachment styles

Our core doubts

The benefits of practices like prayer, meditation, and mindfulness
God’s sufficiency in our inadequacy

In Steps, find what’s needed to experience a new freedom, a new fellowship, and a new happiness, no matter our circumstances.
📚

09/01/2025

When betrayal, abuse, or deep loss shakes your life, everything changes. Some days you feel ready to face the world, while others it takes everything you have just to breathe. You may wonder, “Why can’t I just get over this?”

The truth is, healing isn't about “getting over” anything. It’s about reclaiming what was taken, learning to trust yourself again, and knowing that your pace is the right pace. The road forward asks for patience and kindness toward yourself. You were never meant to do this alone.

Here are six truths to keep close as you heal:

Your body is part of your healing, not separate from it.

Curiosity is more powerful than judgment.

Healthy love sees you as an equal, not as property.

It’s okay to move slowly—slow is still progress.

Your values can guide you to healthy s*xuality.

You don’t have to do this alone—help is a strength.

You are not behind. You are not failing. You are healing, one brave step at a time.

6 truths to remember while you heal

When betrayal, abuse, or deep loss shakes your life, everything changes.
The way you see yourself.
The way you trust others.
Even the way your body feels in the world.

Some mornings you wake up ready to face the day. Other times, it takes all your energy just to breathe. You may wonder, “Why can’t I just get over this?”

Here’s the thing — healing isn’t about “getting over” anything. It’s about reclaiming what was taken. It’s about slowly learning to trust your own body and instincts again. It’s about knowing that your pace is the right pace.

The road forward will ask for patience. It will ask for kindness toward yourself. And it will remind you that you were never meant to do this alone.

Here are 6 truths to keep close as you move forward:
1️⃣ Your body is part of your healing, not separate from it.
2️⃣ Curiosity is more powerful than judgment.
3️⃣ Healthy love sees you as an equal, not as property.
4️⃣ It’s okay to move slowly — slow is still progress.
5️⃣ Your values can guide you to healthy s*xuality.
6️⃣ You don’t have to do this alone — help is a strength.

You’re not behind. You’re not failing.
You’re healing — one brave step at a time.

🎧 Listen to this episode of Betrayal Recovery Radio “Understanding the Body's Role in Healing” and start hearing what your body’s been trying to tell you!

08/24/2025

In a world often divided by ideology, belief, and experience, Christ calls us to a deeper way of seeing—one rooted in empathy, humility, and love. When we take the time to understand another’s perspective, even when it challenges our own, we reflect the heart of Jesus, who saw beyond differences and met people in their humanity. Perspective-taking is not about agreement; it’s about honoring the Imago Dei in each person, recognizing that beneath every worldview is a story, a longing, and a soul beloved by God. Love grounded in Christ is not passive—it’s active, sacrificial, and radically inclusive. And when we lean into that love, we begin to see that we share more than we differ: the ache for belonging, the hope for redemption, and the need for grace. In that shared space, reconciliation becomes possible, and the body of Christ becomes whole.

08/17/2025

Check out this week's highlighted article, "How To Stop OnlyFans: A Response To Matt Walsh," by Rachael Killackey.

Shame doesn’t heal wounds—it deepens them. The women in the po*******hy and s*x work industries aren’t “the disease” to be eradicated; they are people, each carrying stories of pain, loss, and survival. Treating them with ridicule or contempt only confirms the lies they already believe about themselves. We must name po*******hy for what it is—a harmful, dehumanizing industry—without stripping the dignity from those caught within it. Many stay because they feel there’s no way out, their worth is bound to the work itself. The antidote is not shame, but mercy, truth, and the unwavering reminder that they are worth infinitely more than the roles they’ve been pushed into. Real change comes when we see their humanity before we see their choices. This is not compromise—it’s the Gospel in action. Jesus didn’t shame the broken; He sat with them, saw them, and restored them. May we have the courage to do the same.

You can’t fight shame with shame.

08/10/2025

Check out our blog, written by our Clinical Therapist, Chris Ellman, MSW, LCSW, SATP, CSAT 💻📝

"One of the first steps and most important steps in healing is believing your own story. Gaslighting and other abusive tactics work by making you doubt your experiences. Journaling, talking with safe people, or working with a trauma-informed therapist can help affirm what you went through—and that it wasn’t your fault.

Dr. Ramani, in her book, It’s Not You, says that radical acceptance is a gateway to healing. She describes radical acceptance this way: “See the narcissistic relationship and the behavior clearly, and not being surprised by the gaslighting and invalidation, and being resolute even as the narcissistic abuse continues but with realistic expectations and the benefit of knowing this is not going to change allow you to slowly cut the trauma bond, ease up on the self-blame, and clarify the muddy waters of confusion.” This piece of healing involves heavy grief work. When my clients enter into the work of radical acceptance, they begin to mourn the countless losses of broken promises, future-faking, the years lost to abuse, and what could have been. It’s also common for survivors of narcissistic abuse to struggle with feelings of guilt for naming their loved one’s behavior as abusive. This guilt usually begins to subside when they begin to shift their focus from what their loved one did to focusing on how that behavior harmed them. They begin sharing their story, which allows them to radically accept and grieve some of the most painful parts of their experience..."

Check out "The Think Tank" on the Center for Healing website for more blogs like this

In my second article I focused on one of the narcissist’s main weapons, which is gaslighting. Now I would like to discuss what healing from this type of abuse can look like. Healing from narcissistic abuse is not linear and is often messy, but it is absolutely possible. After surviving gaslighting...