OCD recovery is hard work, and it can often feel outside of your control.  You can’t choose not to have OCD, right?  You certainly can’t just choose to turn off intrusive thoughts.  But here’s the thing: You CAN choose not to act on the compulsions stemming from those obsessions. That, in fact, is the whole concept of exposure and response-prevention therapy.  So how can someone with OCD find the motivation to make these tough choices?  It’s a question author and mental health advocate Jeff Bell asked himself repeatedly during his own journey to wellness, and the answer he found was to put “greater good” (purpose- and service-driven) goals ahead of short-term comfort. As Jeff will share in this talk, that simple discovery has allowed him to do the hard work of OCD recovery and reclaim his life, choice by choice.

Jeff Bell is an author, mental health advocate, and longtime journalist. His two books, Rewind, Replay, Repeat and When in Doubt, Make Belief, have established Bell as a leading voice for mental health awareness and “Greater Good” motivation. Bell served for eight years as a national spokesperson and board member for the International OCD Foundation; and in 2011, he co-­founded the nonprofit A2A Alliance, aiming to showcase and foster the power of turning adversity into advocacy.  Before retiring from radio, Bell spent nearly 18 years co-anchoring the KCBS Afternoon News in San Francisco.