Kylie Cloke

OCD-UK Management Committee Trustee
Written: February 2011

I'm Kylie, 34, and I am married with 3 children.

I first started displaying OCD symptoms as a teenager 20 years ago. At first, these symptoms waxed and waned, and I honestly believed that what I was experiencing was a typical teenage faze that everyone went through.

After my GCSE exams, these symptoms appeared to disappear, and didn't return until I was 22 and pregnant with my first child.

Over the course of the next 6 years, these symptoms of OCD got progressively worse, to the stage where I became housebound. By this time, I was 6 months pregnant with my 3rd child and I was spending every waking minute consumed with intrusive thoughts and completing exhausting elaborative rituals in an attempt to quell the ever increasing anxiety. I searched online for the symptoms I was experiencing and found OCD-UK.

The information and advice I received from OCD-UK enabled me contact my GP and ask for a referral for CBT. During my CBT treatment, members of OCD-UK were always there for me- lending a supportive shoulder to lean upon, and offering advice and encouragement on my fight against OCD. After a hugely successful course of CBT, I have been free from OCD for 5 years.

Having received so much support from OCD-UK prior to, and during my treatment for OCD, I felt passionate at helping the charity in any way I could. I have volunteered for OCD-UK in numerous roles in recent years. In 2008, I was asked to join the Management Team, an opportunity I jumped at.

In 2009, I was elected by our members as OCD-UK Chair.

I am passionate about the services that OCD-UK offer, and my involvement in ensuring these not only continue but expand.