NOCD is dedicated to building a product and treatment experience that you can completely trust. We are committed to protecting all your information, so you can receive the best care possible—regardless of who you are, where you’re from, and what you might be dealing with.
In today’s ultra-online world, it’s getting difficult to completely trust companies with your information. But, feeling safe and secure is crucial for seeking treatment for a mental health condition, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here at NOCD, we understand these concerns, and are deeply committed to making sure we provide an environment where you feel fully protected and understood.
Like any healthcare provider, NOCD complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which ensures that we can’t share your information with outside parties. But, we’re invested in your privacy, beyond just being HIPAA-compliant. Our company—from our development and product teams to our editorial staff—have experienced OCD firsthand, or have loved ones who have—so we know how important it is to fully trust the people you’re reaching out to for help. We’ve built our own secure platform that accounts for all your needs—from data encryption, to therapists who are trained to understand the sensitivities of your experience.
“Because many of our employees (such as myself) have personal experience with OCD, we can deeply relate to what you’re going through,” says Kerry Osborn, Director of Product Member Experience at NOCD. “At NOCD, this shared understanding allows us to create a space free of judgment or privacy concerns, so you can focus entirely on what truly matters: reducing distress and reclaiming your life.”
We know total trust is critical for sharing your innermost thoughts, feelings, and experiences. So, know that information about your symptoms, diagnoses, documentation status, gender, sexuality, and more won’t ever be shared externally; we only use this information to understand you better, so our treatment approaches can be as successful as possible.
“NOCD is a Member-first organization,” says Dr. Patrick McGrath, Chief Clinical Officer at NOCD. “Many people with OCD have already been through bad therapy experiences that didn’t meet their needs. We’re always going to make sure this is a safe place to express any concerns.”
Read on to learn more about the steps NOCD takes to protect your privacy, build trust, and ensure that our platform can help you get the best treatment possible.
How does NOCD protect Members’ privacy?
“Every single thing about every Member is private—from their name, their phone number, their sexual orientation, to whether or not they’re documented or undocumented,” explains Tracie Ibrahim, Chief Compliance Officer at NOCD. Ibrahim’s job is to make sure everyone on our team—from our therapists to our marketing team, development team, and writers—is fully up-to-date on these rules and regulations.
This means all data is encrypted, both when it is stored and transmitted—so no unauthorized parties can access it—and all communications and personal data are securely handled and protected. NOCD also engages in regular audits and security assessments to make sure our systems remain up-to-date. “Nothing escapes without our knowledge,” says Larry Trusky, President at NOCD. “We’re safeguarding this information, taking all industry best practices.”
Our team is made up of a group of healthcare experts that have spent their careers working under United States healthcare law, and understand the importance of regulations like HIPAA. But, we’re also people with personal connections to OCD—so, we get why it’s so vital that the information you share with your therapist remain under lock and key.
“In exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, people are revealing really personal information that, in the wrong hands, could be wildly misinterpreted,” says April Kilduff, MA, LCPC, LPCC, LPC, LMHC. “So, that’s why it’s especially important that we maintain those high security standards.”
For example, during ERP therapy, Kilduff sometimes has Members write out worst case scenarios as a way of facing their fears. This might look like envisioning a scenario in which you accidentally hurt someone, if you’re dealing with persistent intrusive thoughts about causing harm. While these exercises are incredibly helpful for regaining control over your intrusive thoughts, they might be confusing to an uninformed stranger. It’s important that this information remains confidential.
“We know that people with OCD already come in with a lot of concerns around privacy,” says Dr. McGrath. “We don’t want to contribute to any fears that they may already have.”
Does NOCD ever release Members’ information?
If you’re a NOCD Member who wants access to your records, you can fill out what’s called a release of information, or ROI. This can be helpful in situations in which you need other healthcare providers or family Members to access important, personal health information. Trusky says Members request these releases all the time, but records are never shared without consent. In fact, our legal team works to defend our Members’ privacy in the face of any challenge.
You may also have heard that therapists are sometimes required to break confidentiality if they fear you are a danger to yourself or others. It’s important to understand that these situations are unusual, and still don’t result in a Member’s full records being revealed. “Even when we’re authorized to share certain types of information, HIPAA has something called the minimum necessary rule,” Ibrahim says. This means that even in the rare instance where a therapist may be forced to call 911 or an emergency contact, the only information released would be what’s absolutely necessary to ensure safety—not your symptoms, diagnoses, sexuality, documentation status, or anything else. Even police or lawyers would not be able to access further information.
These situations don’t often occur, because people with OCD don’t often pose an acute danger to themselves or others. Having intrusive thoughts related to harm or suicide is not the same as intending to harm yourself or others—and our therapists are trained to understand this difference. “A harm-related intrusive thought is a pure hypothetical,” says Kilduff. She goes on to explain that OCD obsessions typically go against someone’s core morals and values. “People who have harm OCD could be some of the safest people to be around,” Kilduff says. “I haven’t met anybody with harm OCD that actually wants to harm someone. They’re terrified of that.”
If you’re someone with OCD who’s been penalized in the past for your intrusive thoughts, know that we understand your experience—and we won’t let it happen while you’re under our care. As Dr. McGrath puts it, we specialize in the “what if” here, because we know that’s what OCD focuses on. “Whatever it is that you tell us you’re afraid of, we’re going to understand that, help you, and know the difference between that and actually wanting to go out and do something,” he says.
Find the right OCD therapist for you
All our therapists are licensed and trained in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD.
Building trust and understanding
With OCD, taboo themes often come up in intrusive thoughts. It’s crucial to feel safe talking about these experiences, in order to be able to engage in effective treatment. That being said, we know sharing your more stigmatized obsessions may feel easier said than done—especially if you’ve encountered people who have misunderstood you in the past. “There’s a lot of bias and confusion about what OCD is and how it works,” Dr. McGrath says. “We want to make sure we are not going to be contributing to that in any way.”
NOCD is heavily focused on making sure our therapists won’t bring their own biases or judgments to your treatment sessions. We do this through rigorous interview processes, and intensive and ongoing trainings, in which therapists are given the opportunity to respond to taboo intrusive thoughts—such as fears about harming a child, or suicide. “Most therapists will tell you that they’ve never had such intensive training,” says Chris Novak, MS, LCPC, FACHE, Chief Network Operating Officer at NOCD.
We know that the relationship between a Member and their therapist is one of the most important building blocks to recovery. This requires therapists to be able to fully understand Members, and build trust. So, our goal is to build a team that is both deeply empathetic, and adept at understanding all kinds of people. We’ve trained a diverse group of over 650 therapists who excel at these skills, and can identify with a variety of Members—so they can best serve you.
“You need to show understanding and empathy,” says Kilduff. “That’s how we help people share these really intense thoughts or images that they may never have told anybody about.”
You are not your OCD, but we know it can feel this way sometimes. This is why it’s so important that the therapists you’re working with completely understand both how the condition works, and are invested in completely understanding you—no matter who you are, or what you believe. “Part of our clinical training is to think about how we can help people open up to our therapists,” says Ilyas Patanam, Chief Growth Officer at NOCD. “Our goal is to find people who have no judgment. That’s the minimum criteria to be employed at NOCD.”
Bottom line
You have the right to seek treatment for OCD in a trustworthy environment. That means knowing you can access your own records, control how your information is shared, and feel assured that any and all clinicians you interact with will be compassionate and understanding.
Like any HIPAA-compliant health provider, we will never share your data without your permission unless required to do so under the law. But, we also take a more personal approach to this work, because we know firsthand how vital it is that people with OCD feel understood by their providers, now and always. That’s why this company exists, after all. Putting your safety and security first is a mission that guides our work every day. If you are a person with OCD who needs help, we are a home for you—no matter who you are.
Key takeaways
- NOCD takes a personal approach to creating a safe space for people with OCD; we know the condition is often misunderstood, and we want to make sure you feel comfortable and secure seeking treatment.
- We’re legally required to protect your private health information, but we also go a step further—making sure our systems are regularly audited for security risks, and utilizing the full strength of our legal team to protect you.
- At NOCD, we understand your privacy concerns, and are deeply committed to making sure we provide an environment where you feel fully protected and understood.