News Anchor to Raise Awareness About OCD and Encourage Treatment
Jeff Bell, a veteran radio news anchor in the San Francisco Bay area, and author of Rewind, Replay, Repeat; A Memoir of OCD, has become a National Spokesperson for the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (OCF), a not-for-profit organization that supports people who have OCD and those who care for them. Bell joins Elizabeth McIngvale as an official Spokesperson for the Foundation and its “What Does OCD Look Like? Me.” Campaign that encourages the millions of people in the United States who have OCD to seek treatment for the disorder.
“As someone who has battled severe OCD myself, I know firsthand the challenges of this disorder, and the importance of effective treatment,” said Bell. “I first became aware of the Foundation 15 years ago, after two misdiagnoses; and with the Foundation’s help, I was able to connect with an OCD specialist who helped me turn my life around.”
As an OCF National Spokesperson, Bell will help to spread the message that while the challenges are great, there is real hope for people with OCD. Indeed, since 1986, the OCF has reached out to tens of thousands of people with OCD, their families, service providers, policymakers and others to raise awareness about the disorder, to help connect people with OCD to treatment providers, and to advance research into more effective treatments. While we have touched many lives and made real progress, the challenges remain enormous, especially since up to 10 million Americans will suffer from OCD at some point in their lives. Sadly, most people with OCD are not promptly or properly diagnosed, and therefore miss out on treatment therapies that can markedly improve their condition and the quality of their lives.
The OCF seeks to change that. Through our acclaimed Behavior Therapy Institutes, we are training mental health providers so that more of them are able to offer effective treatment to people with OCD. We offer free information through our website, www.ocfoundation.org, about the disorder, the Foundation's programs and activities, treatment providers, support groups, helpful links, and special sections dedicated to Compulsive Hoarding and teens and young adults. Each summer, OCF sponsors a popular Annual Conference for people with OCD, their families and friends, and the mental health providers who treat them.
Since 2001, the Foundation has given over $1.2 million in support of vital research to help unravel the mysteries of OCD. Furthermore, OCF established the Genetics Collaborative in 2002 which is comprised of researchers from around the world who are working hard to understand the genetics of OCD.