1st December 2020 is Giving Tuesday, an international day where people come together to give back to charities.

As many of our supporters will know, this year has been a very difficult one for the OCD community. The COVID-19 pandemic has made many people's symptoms worse, and the lockdown has left many (already vulnerable) people isolated and cut off from their support networks. It has hugely increased the painful waiting times for treatment, in many cases even stopping treatment entirely. We expect the effects to be long-term, and to linger long after the lockdown.

Throughout this time, OCD Action's Helpline has been here for the community. Our wonderful volunteers have tirelessly provided support, information and a listening ear to people struggling with the condition. Our Helpline team know how lonely and isolating OCD can be, and our Helpline team are committed to ensuring people do not feel alone.

The connection our Helpline provides can be transformative. Our Helpline team deeply understand the isolation that OCD can bring and the whole team are committed to ensuring people do not feel alone. Many of our volunteers have personal experience of OCD and they are expertly trained to provide the understanding and care we know can make some of the more difficult times more manageable. They have worked hard since March to help people through this difficult time, making the difficult adjustment to working from home, and have continued to provide this point of stability and support.

For this year's Giving Tuesday, OCD Action needs your donations to ensure we have the core costs which allow the charity to continue running the Helpline.

You can do this either through:

1. Donating to this page and sharing it with your friends and family

2. Setting up your own fundraiser (such as a sponsored run, a sponsored silence, or any other creative idea you can think of! )

What your donations could do

£10 could pay for information to be sent out to help 20 people with OCD.

£50 could pay for one volunteer to be recruited and trained.

£100 could pay for the Helpline to be kept open for an entire evening.

Together, we can continue to be there for people with OCD at this difficult time.

Thank you so much!

Gia's story

When Gia contacted our Helpline in July, her OCD had been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gia had lived with OCD for years. Like many, she felt she was managing it while she struggled in silence. But when the pandemic struck, her feelings of responsibility and contamination fears spiked. Her safety-seeking behaviours became so strong that she had to stop working.

Gia contacted the Helpline in July. She had recently started a course of text-based low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Her goal by the end of it was to be able to manage her symptoms enough to get back to work and family life, and therefore be in a better place while on the waiting list for high-intensity therapy.

Gia therefore signed up for our Next Steps service, which provides encouragement and information through regular calls to people who are going through CBT treatment for OCD. She started her calls in August, a couple of months into her therapy. Gia spoke to our volunteer almost every week about her treatment and recovery, reflecting on how far she had gone.

During the months Gia spoke to our volunteer, she gained more understanding of her own patterns and motivations. She committed fully to her exposure tasks, even using them as an opportunity to enjoy activities with her daughter and husband. At a time when anxiety about contamination was at a global high, victories that might have seemed small were an important thing to celebrate, and the volunteer reminded Gia of the value of her hard work and determination.

Our volunteer supported Gia through her return to work, which involved facing varied and near-constant triggers for hours at a time. Gia and the volunteer reflected on the needed balance between exposure and self-care while working, and on the importance of being kind with oneself during recovery.

As both her CBT and Next Steps sessions are about to come to an end, Gia plans on referring herself for more intensive therapy, meanwhile continuing with what she has learned so far. She can see that she has come a long way since the spring, and that there is even more to be regained with time and practice.

The OCD Action Helpline is there for Gia, and many, many people like her. Supporting this campaign will change the lives of so many people with their own stories of struggles with OCD.