Author Erin Ramachandran opens up about loving and supporting her husband Keith, an individual suffering with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The book maps out ways marriages can thrive even if one of the spouses is diagnosed with a mental illness. The book blends resources and personal experience beautifully and is a must-have for a spouse married to someone with OCD. Keith and Erin are both members of OCD Southern California and have attended and volunteered at numerous OCD So Cal events. Below are details and a description of the book.
As Mental Health Month comes to a close, we want to remind you that everyone struggling with OCD and other mental health difficulties is stronger than you give yourself credit for! Just because the month is over doesn’t mean mental health awareness concludes—for those with OCD, it is year-round. Give yourself some self-compassion and remember to always choose #StrengthOverFear!
Feel free to use this image created by the International OCD Foundation to post on your personal social media, with the hashtag #StrengthOverFear, to spread OCD and mental health awareness!
Conference Attendees During Jeffrey Sparr of PeaceLove’s Keynote Presentation
Thank you to everyone who attended our 4th annual OCD conference on Saturday, March 30, 2019! We had 380 attendees, making this our largest attended conference. The conference could not have been this successful without the support from the OCD community, both in southern California and the attendees who came from outside our local area!
Conference attendees gave us nothing but positive feedback about our keynote presenter, Jeffrey Sparr, from PeaceLove. As seen in the picture below, Jeffrey shared his struggles with OCD and incorporated expressive arts, an activity that has helped him throughout his battle with the disorder. He even participated in expressive arts during the presentation by painting on stage! His presentation concluded with the audience members doing their own expressive arts activities!
Jeffrey Sparr of PeaceLove
During lunch, attendees were able to be part of regional support groups and meet other individuals with OCD and their loved one’s in their local areas. Following lunch, attendees were then able to attend two of the eight offered breakout sessions with presenters discussing OCD topics including treatment, stigma, personal stories, and more!
The event concluded with a clinician Q&A segment involving speakers from each of the break-out sessions. An opportunity drawing concluded our event, with attendees walking away with prizes that included hotel stays, wallets and purses, and gift cards.
We appreciate everyone who made the event successful. We hope to have everyone return for our next conference, including new attendees! It will be held in March of 2020. See you next year!
Dagtype Films, LLC, is proud to announce that filming is complete on the feature-length version of Oh Crappy Day, their romantic comedy about a young man looking for love while dealing with OCD.
OCD Southern California, an official affiliate of the International OCD Foundation, screened the original short at our OCD Awareness Week event in 2017 to positive responses and rave reviews!
Jordan Estes and Jess Barbour have reprised the roles they played in the original short, which screened at the 2017 IOCDF Conference in San Francisco and at IOCDF chapters around the country, including OCD Southern California!
Now that the feature has moved into post-production, they are launching a regular email update through their website. The update will include stories and behind-the-scenes photos from the film-shoot, along with news about editing, music scoring, digital wizardry, and future screenings.
They invite you to visit the film’s website — www.ohcrappydayfilm.com — and sign up for this free update. Please invite your friends and colleagues in the OCD community to do the same, so we can all spread the word about their positive, authentic portrayal of someone with OCD.
By the way, they are attending the IOCDF Conference in Austin this July. They hope to see you there!
