Thank you for an amazing OCD Awareness Week!
The content below is from the 2022 OCD Awareness Week. Be sure to follow us on social media and check back soon for updated plans for 2023!
The IOCDF and its Advocates invite you to celebrate OCD Awareness Week,
October 8–14, 2023!
#OCDWeek began in 2009 to share knowledge and reduce stigma around OCD and related disorders. Each year in October, individuals, community groups, service organizations, and clinics around the world celebrate with OCD-inspired educational talks, youth events, grassroots fundraisers, yoga, creative advocacy and more!
The Road To Reclaiming Your Life
This OCD Awareness Week, we welcome you to shine spotlight on the journey of those with OCD, along with their family, friends, and caregivers by participating in this year's theme of The Road To Reclaiming Your Life. Each day’s activities will focus on the challenges and progression of the journey. We hope you will join us and tell your story “on the road”!
Please note that the events listed below are only events hosted by IOCDF advocates. For a more complete listing of OCD Awareness Week events please visit our Full Calendar of Events. If you are running an event of your own, please submit your OCD Awareness Week Event via this form.
Quick Links
Get #OCDweek updates!
Reoccurring Events
Each day during OCD Awareness Week, IOCDF Advocate Kimberley Quinlan will share a daily self-compassion tool that aligns with our daily focuses for people to practice over on her Instagram @youranxietytoolkit.
This OCD Awareness Week we are asking our community to join Lead Advocate Valerie Andrews in painting their nails teal to fight stigma! Teal is the universal color used and recognized to bring awareness to OCD. You can find more information on our social media platforms (@IOCDF).
There are so many mental health benefits to going outside and enjoying nature. Throughout the week, Advocate Kim Vincenty is asking our online community to share photos on social media about their outdoor activities—showcasing people with OCD out living their lives, and enjoying life. #OutsideWithOCD
Liv and Melanie both have OCD. They will be hosting a yoga challenge called #OCDAwarenessAsanas from October 10 to 14, during OCD Awareness Week. Each day will feature an asana (yoga pose) and information that coincides with the @IOCDF’s theme of the day.
Daily Events
Read on below for OCD Awareness Week activities being lead by our advocates. Be sure to check out the YouTube description for the daily focus introduction videos to learn more about the thumbnail artwork creators and the advocates featured in each video! For more events happening during the week be sure to check the full calendar of events.
Sunday,
October 9
Sunday's focus:
Struggling in Silence
Children’s Story Time Live
3pm-4pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Join IOCDF Lead Advocate, Reverend Katie O'Dunne as she is accompanied by several authors of OCD & related disorders children's books for this LIVE Sunday afternoon Read-A-Long! This is the perfect event for the whole family— books read aloud will include:
- "Anxious Annie" by Cali Werner, LCSW
- "Meven" by Toby Kinberg
- "Traveling Rose" by Brian Wray (download the worksheet here)
- "Practice Being Brave" by Molly Gambrel
Fight your Monster with Yoga
4pm-5pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Krista is a certified kids yoga teacher and OCD therapist. Let's learn ways to battle and fight OCD with activities and yoga! This will be an hour of dancing, creativity, fun, and most importantly- telling OCD who's boss!
All day! (click the thumbnail below to watch)
Watch UNSTUCK for free all day on Monday, October 10 as part of OCD Awareness Week.
UNSTUCK is a family-friendly short film that lets kids and teens speak truthfully about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and explain how they learned to face their fears and regain control of their lives.
Watch UNSTUCK at ocdkidsmovie.com
Monday,
October 10
Monday's focus:
Diagnosis
Community Conversations: OCD Awareness Week
7pm-8pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Join National Advocate Ethan Smith as he kicks off the start of OCD Awareness Week with this special edition Community Conversations! Leaning into on his own lived experience navigating OCD, Ethan will create a candid space for everyone to discuss the OCD and related disorders issues most important to them, as well as provide more insight into the #OCDweek programming that will be taking place throughout the week of October 9-15. Whether you want to talk about how current events are impacting your life, support others in the chat, or simply listen in, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
Tuesday,
October 11
Tuesday's focus:
Treatment
OCD Experts Fireside Chat: OCD Awareness Week
8pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Join this lively discussion about treatments for OCD and lived experiences with clinicians, authors, and researchers in the OCD realm! This livestream will be moderated by Radhika Shah of the Stanford University Class of 2024, who will be joined around the ‘fireside’ by National & Lead Advocates Dr. Liz McIngvale and Chris Trondsen, AMFT, APCC; alongside Scott Granet, LCSW, Director of The OCD-BDD Clinic of Northern California; Lorrin Koran, MD, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Stanford OCD Clinic, and Carolyn Rodriguez, MD, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Translational Therapeutics Lab, both at Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Wednesday,
October 12
Wednesday's focus:
Life After Treatment
Ask The Experts: #OCDweek with Kevin Anderson!
12pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Tune in for a very special OCD Awareness Week ‘Ask The Experts’ live stream hosted by Dr. Liz McIngvale & Chris Trondsen, AMFT, APCC. Our hosts will be joined by Professional Tennis Player, Kevin Anderson and Lead Advocate Tom Smalley of Anxiety in Athletes, to discuss the stigma and shame around mental health in athletics, resources for athletes with OCD and related disorders, and share their individual experiences with advocacy and mental health in the athletic realm! Visit anxietyinathletes.org for more resources on this very important topic!
Young Adult Meet Up: Special Edition
8pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Life as a young adult is hard – relationships, jobs, and school all present their own unique challenges. And if all this weren’t enough on its own, living with OCD can make navigating young adulthood absolutely exhausting!
This special edition meet-up, includes guests with lived experience and therapists discussing OCD and School, OCD and Negative Reactions From Others, OCD and Sharing with Family in addition to a conversation with Jesse M. Crosby, PhD, Assistant Psychologist, Department of Psychology, and clinical consultant at The Pavilion at McLean Hospital, and an instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Thursday,
October 13
Thursday's focus:
Education and Support for Loved Ones
Advocate Instagram with Katie
7pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
We have grown our Advocate Program exponentially over this past year— which is why we are so excited to introduce all of the wonderful individuals in this program who have been empowering, raising awareness, and educating the community on OCD & related disorders through their advocacy efforts! Join Lead Advocate Katie O'Dunne and several of our IOCDF advocates over on our Instagram (@IOCDF) for an Instagram Live in honor of #OCDWeek. Meet the advocates, hear about their passion projects, and feel free to ask questions.
Friday,
October 14
Friday's focus:
Building a New Identity
How to Start and OCD Support Group on Your Campus
7pm ET (click the thumbnail below then to join!)
Have you ever wanted to begin an OCD support group on your campus but just didn’t know where to begin? Join co-founders of the OCD Support Group at UNC-CH, Maya Tadross and Abigail Earley, on Friday, October 14 at 7 pm ET on Zoom to learn exactly how you can start the process of forming your own OCD support group! They will use their experience to detail the important steps in forming a support group and then take your questions. All are welcome!
Saturday,
October 15
Saturday's focus:
Advocacy
The Imagination CREW (Creative Routes to Explore Writing)
2pm ET (click the thumbnail below to sign up!)
Come join The Imagination CREW for our creative writing group held this month during OCD Awareness Week! In light of OCD Awareness Week, we feel that redefining and discovering your identity outside of OCD is so important and hope that you will join us for a fun time just getting creative and spending time with the community. If you are interested in participating, please sign up here. Once you sign-up, you will receive more information. The Imagination CREW hosts our creative writing groups once a month! We would love to have you join the CREW and hope to see you at our other monthly events as well!
Help spread the word!
Social media is a great way to spread awareness about OCD and related disorders. During OCD Awareness Week, there are a number of ways you can get involved online. In addition to participating in this year's #UnTEALnoStigma social media challenge, we invite you to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, share our posts, and help us spread awareness in other ways:
