In 2012, Denis Asselin walked from his home in Cheyney, PA, to Boston, MA in memory of his son, Nathaniel, who took his own life at the age of just 24, after a long struggle with severe body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and OCD. Dennis walked almost 500 miles (or roughly one million steps!) to honor his son and raise awareness about the disease that stole his life. Each year in June, inspired by Denis’ journey, we walk together to further this mission of awareness-building and stigma-reduction.
One of the main focuses of this spring’s 1 Million Steps 4 OCD Walk will be storytelling and experience-sharing with the goal to further help foster a supportive community for everyone affected by OCD and related disorders. We encourage you to watch Denis’s video to learn more about why he continues to Walk each year, and then visit your Walk fundraising page to share your story!
Denis Shares His Story
This year, Denis has created a video to educate others about the importance of the Walk and to share what inspires him to continue walking for OCD awareness.
Share What Inspires You to Walk
As Denis proved — whether you are living with OCD or a related disorder or know or love someone affected by OCD — sharing your story can have an important impact. That’s why this year, in addition to asking community members to walk with us and fundraise, we want to encourage those who feel comfortable to tell their story. By sharing your story, you help to put a face to OCD and related disorders, leading to even greater awareness and stigma reduction.
Everyone who registers online is given a personal fundraising page, where you can add photos, share your story, and post updates to keep followers engaged throughout the fundraising period. In addition, you can now access our fundraising toolkit, which provides facts, sample content, and media to make sharing your story even easier!
Ideas for sharing your story:
- Add text to your fundraising page to tell others about why you are walking.
- Create a video to share your story and upload it to your fundraising page and social media accounts.
- Download and print our Why I Walk signs to write your own personal message and share it on social media.
- Customize our sample email by adding your story to the text and sharing it with your network
- Tell your story to whoever you can. Talk to others openly and honestly about why you walk and why the need for awareness is so important.
Don’t forget to use #OCDWalk when posting your content online so that everyone knows you are supporting the 1 Million Steps 4 OCD Walk. We can’t wait to see all that we accomplish together this year!
Register Now to Get Started!
Start raising funds and increasing awareness for OCD and related disorders! Register today at IOCDF.org/Walk and raise $25 on your personal fundraising page to receive an official Walk T-shirt the day of the Walk!
Community Walk participants who raise a minimum of $25 by end of day Monday, May 7th will receive a commemorative Walk T-shirt shipped to them by June 2nd!
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