Supporting individuals and families in understanding and self-advocacy.
Hi, I’m Cheryl Quimba, founder of WhatHelps, a place for individuals and families navigating OCD, Scrupulosity, and PDA.
In addition to sharing about research-based approaches, I am able to offer an integration of faith for those who desire Christian support.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Pastoral Counseling, training certifications in Pathological Demand Avoidance (Level 1, PDA North America; Level 3, NEST UK), and have decades of study and personal experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Scrupulosity.
Cheryl Quimba
My Journey With OCD
My heart for helping others understand and advocate for themselves is in every way personal. Although my OCD symptoms began when I was a toddler, proper diagnosis and treatment didn’t come until almost a decade later. In those years compassionate and well-meaning psychologists told my parents that I was attention-seeking due to their divorce. It was painful and I wondered if I was crazy. At times I held my breath and wished I could die.
It wasn’t until I was 10 years old that I saw a commercial for OCD treatment. I memorized the phone number and ran to my mom, “There are people on TV who have what I have!” This step of self-advocacy led to the treatment that completely changed my life.
This path of self-advocacy continued into college. I came to understand Scrupulosity (religious OCD) and its intersection with genuine faith. My personal faith was not a symptom to be extinguished, the treatment I received for OCD was not a lack of faith, and the blasphemous intrusive thoughts and obsessive worries over sin were not simply a spiritual attack. Over time I would grow in my understanding of integrating therapy and faith, as well as discovering a wealth of history about how Scrupulosity had been handled in the church for centuries.
In the decades that followed I have seen how OCD ebbs and flows through seasons of life. And I have learned to live with hope and joy, utilizing the tools I’ve acquired in the journey.
You Are Not Alone
No matter where you are in your journey, it would be my privilege to support you as you and your family move forward in understanding and self-advocacy!
Our Journey With PDA
My husband and I are the parents of two amazing children through adoption. When we brought our first baby home at 2 days old we were entranced by every breath and wiggle. She was an unbelievable delight! Yet early on I could sense differences in how she engaged with the world.
My work before staying home with our daughter included tutoring children with special needs, leading psychoeducational groups in a school setting, leading developmental play classes, and working in support roles for both a children’s ministry and a psychiatrist specializing in children with trauma. I had seen children who were developmentally on track, diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, labeled at risk, and victims of extreme trauma. Still, I couldn’t understand what was happening with our daughter.
Through years of conventional approaches and professional reassurances by truly kind doctors, we were no closer to help. Often professionals can’t help us not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t know what they don’t know. This is why specialists exist! We refused to give up and kept advocating for our daughter, eventually being granted an assessment where she received an autism diagnosis. That piece of the puzzle was helpful, but far from the end.
Autism was right, but only partly right. What helped most kids with autism seemed to make things worse for our daughter. The more books we read, therapies we tried, and support groups we joined, the more we felt that we were still outliers. We persisted, knowing we couldn’t possibly be alone.
Eventually, a casual mention of PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) in a Facebook group unleashed us into a flood of research. This was it! This is what we needed to understand to help our girl!
In the years that have followed, our ongoing learning and application of PDA accommodations have transformed our family. Our daughter’s joy and self-understanding have grown. And our enjoyment of her for exactly who she is has brought so much closeness and peace.