What is OCD Awareness Week?
OCD Awareness Week is an international effort taking place during the second week in October each year to raise awareness and understanding about obsessive compulsive disorder and related disorders, with the goal of helping more people to get timely access to appropriate and effective treatment. Launched in 2009 by the IOCDF, OCD Awareness Week is now celebrated by a number of organizations across the US and around the world, with events such as OCD screening days, lectures, conferences, fundraisers, online Q&As, and more. Learn more about OCD here.
How Can I Become Involved with OCD Awareness Week?
#OCDweek includes programs and events hosted by the IOCDF as well as others hosted by affiliates and members of the OCD Community. You can view the full calendar of #OCDWeek events below as well as get more information about special programs and events!
Click here to view the OCD Awareness Week Calendar and find an event near you!
#OCDweek Programs & Events
- Inaugural 2017 #OCDWeek Capital Walk!
- Vote on the 2017 #OCDweek YouTube Challenge Finalists
- Join IOCDF executive director, Jeff Szymanski, PhD, for our first Reddit “Ask Me Anything”!
- Promote OCD Awareness Week October 8-14th, 2017, on Social Media
- Other Ways That You Can Participate in OCD Awareness Week
- Other Ways to Support the IOCDF
Inaugural OCD Capital Walk!
On Saturday October 14th, 2017, OCD and related disorders community members from around the US — and across the globe — will gather together in Washington D.C. for the inaugural OCD Capital Walk. Co-hosted by the IOCDF and our affiliate, OCD Mid-Atlantic, the event will aim to:
1) Increase the public’s awareness about OCD and its impact on all those affected,
2) Provide information on available resources for OCD and related disorders, and
3) Help individuals learn to advocate — not only for the OCD community in their local and larger governments, but also for themselves, as they seek out treatment and additional support in their communities.
Please join us as we walk in our nation’s capital to ensure that all those living with OCD and related disorders have the opportunity to lead full and productive lives. To learn more, register, or donate, click here.
#OCDweek YouTube Challenge
Each year, we host a creative contest as part of OCD Awareness Week, inviting members of the OCD Community to help spread awareness and understanding through storytelling or art. In 2014, we began hosting a video contest with the same theme. It has been a great success, and so we are doing it again for 2017!
Click here to vote on your favorite
Find an OCD Awareness Week Activity Near You
Check the International OCD Awareness Week Calendar for up-to-the-minute information about activities and events taking place in communities across the globe. You can submit an event for the 2017 calendar by clicking here.
Don’t see an event near you?
Start one! Host an open mic night, organize a pizza fundraiser, arrange to speak at a local school or university, or just make it your mission to be a social media advocate for the week. We want you to be part of this!
- Host a local viewing party to watch OCD-related films, TV shows, or videos.
- Host your own house party to raise awareness and funds for the OCD community.
- Host an event or fundraiser at a local community center or library, such as a lecture with local OCD expert, a storytelling/open mic night, an art exhibit, support groups, etc.
- Be a mentor and friend to someone with OCD.
Join us for our first Reddit AMA with Dr. Jeff Szymanski
Join IOCDF Executive Director, Jeff Szymanski, PhD, for our first @reddit_AMA, taking place on Monday, 10/9 as we kick off #OCDWeek! If you aren’t familiar with Reddit, AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything” and is an open social media platform where anyone can join and post live questions. Beginning at 11am EST on Monday, October 9th you can access the live Q&A with Dr. Szymanski by using the link below. Dr. Szymanski will be on the feed to answer questions from 11am – 12pm EST every day this week.
Promote OCD Awareness Week October 8-14th, 2017, on Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media networks are a great way to spread awareness about OCD and related disorders. By telling your story to your friends and family, you can help dispel myths about mental health disorders, eliminate stigma, and most importantly, raise awareness about OCD symptoms and available treatments. During OCD Awareness Week, there are a number of ways you can get involved online:
- Join the THUNDERCLAP! We are using Thunderclap to flood Facebook and Twitter with our message of OCD Awareness to kick off #OCDweek. Sign up NOW and on Monday, October 9th we will all share this message at the same time. Click the link below to have your message automatically sent at the exact same time. Visit Thunderclap.
What is a Thunderclap you ask? It’s a website that allows people to pledge to Tweet or Facebook a message all at the same time in order to achieve the maximum effect. Think of it as an online flash mob. Let’s get #OCDweek trending!!!!
- Use the #OCDweek hashtag all week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to help get OCD Awareness Week trending!
Show you support for Awareness Week by tweeting or sharing a photo of yourself with one of the two 2017 #OCDweek signs. Just download the PDF and print at home, then snap a picture using your phone or digital camera and upload to social media to show your support. Make sure that any tweets and Instagram posts include the hashtag #OCDweek. Let’s see if we can get #OCDweek trending!
- Change your Facebook or Twitter profile picture to show your support for OCD Awareness by using our exclusive #OCDweek “Twibbon.“ All you need to do is visit our Twibbon page and click ‘add to Twitter’ or ‘add to Facebook’. See example below
- Donate your Facebook status October 8-14th, 2017. Feel free to copy and paste the following if you’re not sure what to say:
For OCD Awareness Week, I donate my status in support of anyone who has ever battled this disorder. May they find treatment, comfort, and hope. Together we can end the stigma around mental illness. Please copy and paste this as your status to promote the International OCD Foundation’s OCD Awareness Week efforts. Learn more at www.iocdf.org. #OCDweek
- Become a fan of the International OCD Foundation on Facebook.
- Follow the International OCD Foundation on Twitter.
- Find the International OCD Foundation on Instagram.
Other Ways That You Can Participate in OCD Awareness Week
Don’t see an event near you? Start one! Host an open mic night, organize a pizza fundraiser, arrange to speak at a local school or university, or just make it your mission to be a social media advocate for the week. We want you to be part of this!
- Host a local viewing party to watch OCD-related films, TV shows, or videos.
- Host your own house party to raise awareness and funds for the OCD community.
- Host an event or fundraiser at a local community center or library, such as a lecture with local OCD expert, a storytelling/open mic night, an art exhibit, support groups, etc.
- Be a mentor and friend to someone with OCD.
Send a letter
Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about OCD Awareness Week. Please feel free to use this letter to the editor template.
Start an email campaign
Consider pasting the invitation below into an email and sending it to your friends, relatives, and colleagues. You never know whose life you may change forever!
Dear friends,
Please forgive the form-letter nature of this note, but I would like to call your attention to the fact that October 8-14, 2017, is OCD Awareness Week. The International OCD Foundation has asked me to help spread the word about this important outreach effort. I’d like to personally invite you to visit the IOCDF web site for more information about this often-debilitating disorder that affects up to 4 million people in the United States. An overview of OCD, along with a variety of OCD resources, can be found at http://www.iocdf.org/ocdweek. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help make a difference!