Today's episode is sponsored by NOCD.

NOCD are dedicated to creating a better everyday life for people with OCD

by making care more accessible, more connected and more effective.

NOCD now deliver exposure response prevention sessions with an OCD trained therapist directly inside the

no CD platform done over face-to-face video conferencing.

To connect with one of their OD therapists, schedule a 15 minute free confidential call with

no CD's intake team. To find out more, head to go dot treat my OCD.com

my OCD.com forward slash the OCD stories

or visit our website for a link.

Hey guys and welcome to episode 212 of the OCD stories.com podcast.

Now in this episode, I interview Stephen Smith, who is the founder of no CD.

And Stephen was on the podcast a couple of times in the very early days of it,

and he did briefly share his story there, but in this episode he's far more open he goes into much more depth and we talk about why that is and about how he was kind of dealing with shame and not wanting to open up and share his story more.

So I really appreciate him coming on to go into more depth

and I found it really moving and I've had the privilege of getting to know him

over the last few years it's been a real honor so you know it's a pleasure for me to share him and his story with you.

In it he goes into a lot of detail about his story dealing with shame, hitting rock bottom, contemplating suicide, figuring out that it was

OCD, realizing there was hope, finding treatment for the OCD, getting a diagnosis,

creating an OCD, dealing with a relapse he had.

We talk about general mental well-being, how O. C. D. effects him now,

creating a new relationship with his thoughts, dealing with stigma,

and what Stephen would have liked to

...