Our Story

Battle Back Beads was created by Olivia, a seventeen year old who saw a need for encouragement and celebration of victories for kids and teens with OCD and related disorders. 

A word from Olivia:

Hi everyone, 

My name is Olivia and I am the founder of Battle Back Beads.

I was diagnosed with OCD at the age of four years old, and have struggled with it on and off for the past thirteen years. 

About five years ago, it got really bad and took over my life. I couldn’t read, write, type, and it seemed like every waking moment was dedicated to something my OCD was ordering me to do. School was all but impossible, and my parents and I were at our whits end. 

It was then that my mom found a partial hospitalization program for OCD at Bradley Children’s hospital in Rhode Island. There, I learned how to fight back against my OCD by using ERP (Exposure, Response, Prevention Therapy). 

While I eventually reached recovery, one thing I struggled with greatly along the way was motivation to keep going. On bad days, I had nothing tangible to remind me of how far I had come. 

I created Battle Back Beads for this reason. I want to encourage others to take charge of their recovery from OCD and to provide them with a way to look back on their journey with pride at what they have overcome and accomplished, rather than the shame that most of society demands we feel over our mental health struggles. I want to give them what I didn’t have: a reminder of how far they have come, how strong they are and something tangible they can use to inspire confidence that they can do hard things.