Articles by Jennie Kuckertz

Registration is now open for the San Diego OCD Walk! We will meet at the beautiful La Jolla Shores Hotel and walk down the ocean boardwalk to the Scripps Pier. Join us in raising awareness, fighting stigma, and supporting those affected by OCD. We welcome EVERYONE including individuals with OCD, family, friends, clinicians, researchers, and trainees – it takes a village!

Date: Saturday, June 7, 2025
Time: 9:00am to 12:00pm PT
Location: La Jolla Shores Hotel Garden Patio
La Jolla, CA

This is an amazing event and we don’t want to miss you – sign up today! Registration is FREE, but walkers who raise at least $25 will get a t-shirt!

OCD SoCal would like to thank everyone who made our 2025 San Diego Speaker Series a success! Nearly 50 people attended this speaker series at the Mira Mesa Public Library on April 26, including people with lived experience of OCD, loved ones, and clinicians. Consistent with our values of making sure that everyone can access resources for OCD, we were able to make this event free of cost due to the generosity of individual donors and our sponsors – Rogers Behavioral Health and Newport Healthcare – and thanks to our many volunteers and speakers who donated their time to this event. In particular, Anna Morgan LCSW, Spenser Gabin LMFT, and Jennie Kuckertz PhD provided an overview of how to get and do effective treatment for OCD. Our family, loved ones, and lived experience panel was facilitated by Katherine Pica LCSW and featured five panelists who spoke movingly about their journeys navigating OCD and recovery paths as a family, offering hope to others (Cathy, Shannon, Patty, Jonathan, and Adriana). We are grateful to each of you for your advocacy and leadership!

OCD SoCal is looking forward to seeing everyone at our San Diego One Million Steps for OCD Walk, to be held Saturday, June 7 at the La Jolla Shores Hotel! If you haven’t already, register today!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out for San Diego One Million Steps for OCD Walk! Thanks to your overwhelming support, this was our most successful walk ever, with over 130 registered walkers helping us build community and raise awareness for OCD. We also raised nearly $5,000 to support OCD awareness and resources, with almost 150 individual donors! We had many clinicians attend and make themselves available to answer questions, and 11 wonderful volunteers who ensured that the event went smoothly. Special thank you to the La Jolla Shores Hotel, who generously donated the use of their beautiful Garden Patio to host us. Walkers completed a 2 mile walk along the ocean, engaging with people on the boardwalk who asked questions, and stopping to take photos at the iconic Scripps Pier. 

If you haven’t had the chance, you can still donate on our San Diego Walk page! We also look forward to seeing people at our Orange County Walk on June 29 and the International OCD Foundation Annual Conference in Orlando, FL July 25-28. 

OCD SoCal would like to thank everyone who made our 2024 San Diego speaker series a success! Nearly 60 people attended this speaker series at the Mira Mesa Library on April 20, including people with lived experience of OCD, loved ones, and clinicians. Consistent with our values of making sure that everyone can access resources for OCD, we were able to make this event free of cost due to the generosity of individual donors and our sponsors – Rogers Behavioral Health and Newport Healthcare – and thanks to our many volunteers and speakers who donated their time to this event. In particular, Dr. Sanjaya Saxena provided an important overview of OC Related Disorders and their comorbidities and complexities, including treatment options and typical effectiveness rates based on the current research evidence. Our lived experience panel was facilitated by Katherine Pica LCSW and featured four panelists who spoke movingly about their journeys with OCD and recovery paths, offering hope to others (Summer Contreras, Pat Dugan, Kyra Merryman, Ayden Widmer). We are grateful to each of you for your advocacy and leadership!

OCD SoCal is looking forward to seeing everyone at our San Diego One Million Steps for OCD Walk, to be held Saturday, June 1 at the La Jolla Shores Hotel! If you haven’t already, register today!