Register here: https://ocdconference.eventbrite.com
On Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8, 2026, the global, Online OCD Conference, hosted by OCD Southern California, will featured nearly 65 presentations and events! Register here: https://ocdconference.eventbrite.com. To kick off the 2-day conference, on Saturday, November 7th, from 9:30am to 11:00am PST, we will feature our Keynote presentation! Learn more below.
Rising Above: Five OCD Journeys and What They Teach Us About Getting Treatment Right
Recently, the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) published a white paper report titled, “America’s OCD Care Crisis: National Findings on the Failure of Effective OCD Treatment to Reach Patients.” An analysis of this study – which is the largest study of people with OCD to date – uncovered “striking findings” about the number of people who do not receive appropriate OCD treatment. These findings included:
Up to 10M Americans likely live with OCD, yet only 1 in 6 receive a diagnosis.
95% of people with OCD in the U.S. do not receive the most effective treatment.
People with OCD are being failed at every step: screening, diagnosis, referral, and treatment.
The white paper goes on to also offer hope and tangible recommendations.
We have selected five members of the OCD community, Mourice Shuurmans, Madison Fankhanel, Dierdre Rae, Gur Yilmaz, and Sammy Gallagher, who will help illustrate the white paper’s findings and recommendations, moving from the struggles people experience in receiving a proper diagnosis to ideas to close the gaps in access to support and how to find appropriate care. Even though shame prevents many from receiving the right care and certain populations are less likely to find treatment, we will show that hope and recovery are still possible. As living proof, despite their challenges, each of our speakers was able to find the right treatment and thrive!
Specifically, the White Paper talked about reasons people with OCD do not recieve proper treatment. These top 5 reasons included the years people spent waiting for the right diagnosis (it’s just anxiety or depression), the years spent in talk therapy before finding ERP, how people who experience taboo thoughts are afraid to share these thoughts and get help, and the underrepresented patient – men, LBGTQ+ people, or people of color. Also, individuals not receiving a diagnosis and treatment until years, if not decades, after they first started showing symptoms of the disorder.
Following the Keynote presentation, the conference sessions will begin. The conference is two days filled with over 65 different panel presentations led by some of the top OCD experts, researchers, psychiatrists, advocates, and people impacted by OCD. To see an agenda of these presentations, including the titles, presenters, and more information, scroll below! All presentations will be recorded, and you will have 60 days to access the recordings.
We also have evening activities, including community discussion groups, an “Ask the Experts” call-in show, an activity for kids as well as a Young Adult event.
We will wrap up the conference with two featured events. First, an “Ask the Experts” Q&A panel that also includes an opportunity drawing for prizes. Finally, the panel is followed by a screening of the film Anxiety Club, which includes a Q&A. More information on these two events are found on the conference page of our website: https://ocdsocal.org/conference/.
We have more information on our registration page: https://ocdconference.eventbrite.com. Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the registration page will provide answers to many of your questions.
Here is more information on our 5, Keynote speakers:
Mourice Schuurmans
Mourice is the Co-Founder and CEO of ObsessLess, creator of Ollie, a care companion for people with OCD. After experiencing severe OCD himself and struggling to access the right support, he wanted to turn that experience into something that could help others. Together with his team and clinical experts, he is working to make effective early intervention for OCD more accessible to those who need it most.
Madison Fankhanel
Maddie (she/her/they) is known by many as Mentalhealthmaddie. Maddie is an IOCDF advocate living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, who shares lived experience across both Instagram and Tiktok. Maddie’s content focuses around informing others about lesser known themes of OCD, combating stigma, and advocating for proper treatment. Maddie has her Bachelors of Science in Honours Psychology, and looks forward to attending graduate school for Clinical/counselling psychology one day, where she hopes to work with neurodivergent youth and adults, specializing in OCD treatment as a psychologist. Maddie is a self-labelled “multipotentialite,” and she feels most fulfilled by holding many roles and pursuing all of her passions. She is an artist, creating her own business Fruit Bat Dog Designs, works for a local mental health non-profit, is a respite worker for neurodivergent youth and adults, and volunteers with a local mental health service provider.
Dierdre Rae
Dierdre Rae is a content creator, coach, and mental health advocate who has shared her lived experience with OCD with a global online community. After struggling with severe OCD for much of her life, including a period of hospitalization, Dierdre found meaningful recovery through evidence-based treatment and learning to approach OCD differently. Today, she no longer meets the diagnostic criteria for OCD and uses her platform to raise awareness, challenge stigma, and speak candidly about the realities of living with and recovering from OCD. Through her content and coaching, Dierdre is passionate about helping others feel less alone and showing that even when OCD feels all consuming, recovery and a full, meaningful life are possible.
Gur Yilmaz
Gur Yilmaz is originally from Izmir, Turkey. He is 41 and currently in recovery from OCD. He states that recovery means he is able to live his life more without the ball and chain called OCD. Gur has dealt with OCD since the age of 12. He has had about every symptom and subcategory of OCD from magical thinking, blurting things out loud to psychosomatic features becoming reality. Recovery to him means being on medication and being consistent with specialized therapy and most importantly the awareness of self. Gur was a kid who couldn’t come out of his room, served 5 years in the military and became a nurse during COVID and eventually transferred over to the Department of Defense wherehe works as a psychiatric nurse for active duty members and dependents. Gur’s OCD was especially difficult during his time in the military. Finding an OCD specific therapist, going to OCD anonymous groups, and spending time at Rogers Behavioral Health IOP/PHP have all been tough work but were invaluable resources that have aided him in his journey. It is Gur’s dream to help others with OCD and show them that anyone can knock down the walls of compulsions and live free.
Sammy Gallagher
Sammy was diagnosed with OCD right before her 13th birthday. The rest of that year her life flipped upside down. She was a normal 13-year-old finishing 7th grade and loving life… to completing 18 hours of physical compulsions a day. Months later, so many hospital trips and psychiatric stays, denied by countless treatment centers, she finally got admitted into an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), where she got to learn all about the disorder and started to live her life again. It took years to get where she is today, and the road was never smooth. She didn’t even think she would make it past middle school, but now she is a 19-year-old heading into her second year of college. She is double majoring in psychology and dance. Even though this disorder is so depleting, she knows she wouldn’t be the person she is without OCD.
We will see you at the global, Online OCD Conference, hosted by OCD SoCal, on Saturday and Sunday, November 7th and 8th! Register here: https://ocdconference.eventbrite.com