Covid19 Fireside Chat with Jon Hershfield, MFT

Chrissie Hodges is a mental health advocate and public speaker on obsessive-compulsive disorder, mental illness, and stigma reduction surrounding mental health. She is the author of 'Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder'. Chrissie works with individuals providing peer support and consultations for referrals and resources for OCD treatment. She provides Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) therapy coaching for individuals in treatment at Effective OCD Treatment.

Chrissie is the co-founder of ‘Peer Recovery Services’ managing the Colorado State Government contract placing and supervising Peer Support Specialists in the civilian and forensic State Institutions of mental health. She is the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit OCD Gamechangers. Chrissie was the recipient of the 2017 'Advocacy Hero Award' by the International OCD Foundation. 

It's estimated that 1 in 5 people have a mental health condition. In 2020, that's over 1.9 billion people. But despite the high rates of mental illness, accessing reliable, quality care remains a luxury in most countries. Barriers to treatment — including complicated insurance plans, high costs and a shortage of mental health care workers — keep the vast majority of sufferers from receiving the advice and support they deserve.

We believe that the internet can help us chip away at these barriers. No, we won't fix the system overnight, but we can start using technological tools to our advantage. And in doing so, make valuable opinions more accessible to those in need.

Ask the Experts is an ongoing Q&A series featuring leading psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, family physicians, social workers and other mental heath care leaders. It was created to bring trustworthy information and recommendations to the community for free. Before each Q&A, spend some time looking into that week's guest and come prepared with questions that are relevant to your experiences and their expertise.