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An Affiliate of the International OCD Foundation

Posts Tagged with mental health

Published August 9, 2021

Thank You To Everyone Who Made OCD Southern California’s 5th Annual Conference a Huge Success!

The OCD SoCal board members would like to extend a thank you to everyone who made our recent virtual OCD conference a huge success!

We want to first thank all of the 900 attendees that either joined us live during the event on July 31st or are enjoying the recorded presentations currently offered on our site for viewing. Without the OCD community showing such an overwhelming interest in our virtual conference, this event would not have been as much of a success as it ended up being!

We next want to thank each of our conference speakers. We had 75 psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, individuals with OCD–and their loved one’s, present in 37 different presentations. Since this year’s conference was virtual, it allowed us to expand our reach when looking for speakers and we had some of the nation’s top OCD experts present at our conference. Without this amazing line-up, we would not have had such an amazing program, that was filled with incredible educational talks, at our event. We also thank each of our conference speakers for promoting our event to their clients and colleagues.

Our conference was able to be a huge success with the support of our sponsors. A big thank you to The International OCD Foundation, The Gateway Institute, NOCD, The OCD Anxiety Program of Southern California, the OCD Center of Los Angeles, Recovery International, the Renewed Freedom Center, Rogers Behavioral Health, Spectrum CBT, Andrew Cohen Therapy, and Melissa Mose, LMFT for sponsoring our virtual event! Their generous support allowed the conference to offer additional presentations and activities.

We want to also thank everyone who generously included a donation to our affiliate during their registration for the conference. Those donations allowed us to offer nearly 100 scholarship tickets to our event to those who needed complimentary registration!

Our volunteers were also an essential part of this conference. Thank you to those who donated their time and hard work on the day of the event. They helped with the CE talks and in other various roles, and we could not be more grateful.

Additionally, we would like to thank Keck School of Medicine of USC. Keck Department of Psychiatry is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Keck Department of Psychiatry maintained responsibility for this program and its content. Their sponsorship of CEs allowed us to offer training and continuing education units for LMFT, LPCC, LCSW, and psychologists who attended our event. This is in-line with the mission of OCD SoCal: to educate mental health providers in the assessment and treatment of OCD and related disorders.

Finally, we would like to thank Ahmed Mohamed, CEO of SCAV Events, Inc. and his team for all of the work they put in on the backend. They created the conference website that hosted our event, as well as ran the live-streamed orientation, keynote, and “Ask The Experts: Summary Q&A Panel” during the conference wrap-up. We appreciate their hard work in ensuring that our conference ran smoothly.

OCD SoCal appreciates everyone’s support and we look forward to our upcoming events, including our participation in the “1 Million Steps For OCD” walk. We are currently brainstorming the event(s) we will be holding during OCD Awareness Week 2021, during the second week of October. Additionally, we are planning our 6th annual OCD conference to be held next year.

Thank you again for allowing our virtual conference to be such a success!

Published July 30, 2021

Friday, July 30th at 5PM PST Is Your LAST Chance To Purchase Tickets For Our Sat. 7/31 Virtual OCD Conference!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ocd-southern-california-fifth-annual-conference-tickets-156368529481

We thank the many people who have already registered for OCD Southern California’s 5th annual (virtual) conference, happening Saturday, July 31, 2021 from 9am to 5:30pm PST.

If you have NOT registered yet, there is still time! Registration is open until Friday, July 30, 2021 at 5pm PST. After that, we are no longer able to register anyone for our conference. If you are interested in attending OCD SoCal’s virtual OCD conference, head over to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ocd-southern-california-fifth-annual-conference-tickets-156368529481

You have until Friday, 7/30 at 5pm PST to register! Go register now, and join us for one of the largest OCD (and related disorders) conferences in the world!

For more information, scroll down and see our previous posts that include the official conference agenda, program, description of talks, and more!

Published July 30, 2021

“Five Voices of Hope: IOCDF Lead Advocates Personal Journey with OCD!” OCD SoCal’s Keynote Presentation!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ocd-southern-california-fifth-annual-conference-tickets-156368529481

We are thrilled to present the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)’s National and Lead Advocates as our keynote speakers, Ethan S. Smith, Elizabeth McIngvale, Valerie Andrews, Tom Smalley, and Chris Trondsen.  Each of these advocates is a person with OCD who devotes time to support others with the disorder and to advocate for better mental health services.

During the conference keynote, the presenters will share their experiences while suffering through their lowest moments with OCD. The speakers will then detail how they fought back to regain control of their lives using the tools of treatment.  Additionally, they will highlight the ways their lives have vastly improved now that they are managing the disorder.  Finally, attendees will have a chance to ask questions to be answered by our keynote presenters!

Ethan S. Smith was born with OCD and struggled the majority of his life until receiving life-changing treatment in 2010. Ethan was the keynote speaker at the 2014 Annual OCD Conference in Los Angeles. He serves as an IOCDF National Advocate. He has devoted his life to reducing stigma around OCD and mental health, to education, and to supporting the OCD community. 

Elizabeth McIngvale, PhD is the director of the McLean Houston OCD Program. Elizabeth is a National Advocate for the IOCDF and serves as a board member. She was diagnosed with OCD at age 12 and underwent both inpatient and outpatient therapy. Elizabeth engages in clinical work, research, and advocacy with the goal of improving access to care and OCD treatment. 

Valerie Andrews received an OCD diagnosis in 2011 and, following treatment, began advocating in hopes of bringing awareness and inclusion within her own community and communities of faith. Her goal is to continue working as an IOCDF Lead Advocate and promoting change for women of age, color, and faith.

Tom Smalley, MS, CSCS  was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 16 and shortly after became passionate about spreading awareness about OCD. Tom was the recipient of the 2019 IOCDF Hero Award. He speaks at the Annual OCD Conferences and has appeared on a variety of blogs and podcasts. Tom is particularly passionate about athletes and OCD and the stigma of mental health in sports.

Chris Trondsen, MS, AMFT, APCC, suffered from undiagnosed, severe OCD and BDD from childhood. Following treatment, Chris began advocating for mental health and shared his story on TV, newspapers and podcasts. Chris began speaking at Annual OCD Conferences, including giving the keynote with his mom at the 2011 conference. He also helped start the Young Adult Track at the annual conference.

To watch our keynote presentation, and to join the rest of the events happening at OCD SoCal’s 5th annual OCD (virtual) conference, register today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ocd-southern-california-fifth-annual-conference-tickets-156368529481

Published July 30, 2021

OCD SoCal’s Saturday, July 31st Virtual Conference Website Is Now LIVE! Check It Out!

If you purchased a ticket to our 5th annual OCD conference – a virtual event, happening Saturday, July 31st at 9am PST, you may now enter our website and roam around to try out the conference website’s features!

Go to: https://socalocdconference2021.com, and log in using the instructions sent to your email address (the one in which you registered on Eventbrite)!

For those who have not registered yet, you still have time! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ocd-southern-california-fifth-annual-conference-tickets-156368529481!

See you there!

Here are more images from the virtual conference platform:

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