Illustrated portrait of Laura with blonde hair, wearing denim dungarees and a striped top, shown inside a hand-drawn yellow picture frame. A pastel rainbow and soft toys appear in the background.

Simple hand-drawn yellow star with an uneven black outline on a white background.

My Story

Hi, I’m Laura, a scientist, mum of two, lived-experience advocate, and the creator of OCD Doodles.

For most of my life, I had no idea I had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Not because my OCD was mild (it wasn’t), but because society had taught me the wrong definition of it. I didn’t see myself in the stereotypes. I didn’t recognise the repetitive horrors happening inside my mind. And I definitely didn’t realise that OCD could look like intrusive thoughts, fear, shame, and relentless doubt.

Illustrated circular hanging frame with blue and white panels, showing the Laura character from OCD Doodles dressed as a scientist in a white lab coat, holding a pipette and a flask of green liquid.

Polaroid-style image of adult Laura holding and hugging her three-year-old self, both smiling at the camera, symbolising comfort, self-compassion, and embracing her inner child.

Growing Up With Invisible OCD

My OCD began in childhood, long before I had language for what I was experiencing. My mind was full of disturbing thoughts about harm, morality, danger, things I couldn’t bear to think about but couldn’t escape either.

There were rituals, mental gymnastics, hours of trying to undo or neutralise thoughts I didn’t want. But because pop culture had convinced me OCD was about enjoying cleaning and colour coding, OCD wasn’t on my radar at all. I thought I was the problem… not my brain…not a disorder… just me.

And so, like so many people with OCD, I suffered in silence.

A Diagnosis That Changed Everything

At 29, when I was pregnant with my first child, I finally heard the words “This is OCD.”
It was both a relief and a heartbreak.

Relief, because I finally understood what was happening to me and that I wasn’t strange or dangerous or broken.
Heartbreak, because I realised how many years I had lived in fear without help.

But even after diagnosis, it took me another five years to access the right treatment (exposure and response prevention therapy, ERP). OCD is often misunderstood even in healthcare settings, and navigating that was confusing, isolating, and discouraging.

This was one of the hardest chapters of my life but also one that eventually led to a new relationship with my mind and long-term relief.

Hand-drawn circular picture frame with turquoise and white sections, featuring the Laura character from OCD Doodles drawing a doodle on paper, surrounded by small pink hearts.

Simple hand-drawn yellow star with an uneven black outline on a light background.

Finding the Tools That Helped Me Recover

When I finally began a structured course of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy, things changed. Not overnight, not easily but slowly and steadily.

Along the way, I had some setbacks (hello unqualified expert-by-experience) and I learned things that I wish I’d been told on day one:

Intrusive thoughts are normal.
Meaning attached to the thought is the issue, not the thought itself.
Compulsions keep OCD alive.
Doubt and uncertainty can be painful, but survivable.
Recovery isn’t perfect but it is possible.
You didn’t ask for this, this isn’t your fault.

The other thing I learned was that visuals helped me understand and process my disorder in a way words alone never had. Seeing the OCD cycle drawn out made it “click.” Illustrating my intrusive thoughts turned shame into shared humanity. Doodles made the complex things simple, and the scary things less lonely.

Turning My Experience Into OCD Doodles

I started drawing doodles for myself. It happened organically as a way to make sense of what I’d been through and to process my therapy notes. I had no intention of sharing them.

Then one day, back in 2019, when I was pregnant with my second child, I did.

I was suprised when I started getting messages from people across the world who felt seen for the first time, from therapists who used my doodles with clients, from families finally understanding what their loved one was going through.

It was the first time my lived experience felt meaningful. The first time my story helped someone else feel less alone.

So I kept going and shared what I could, when I could, as and when life allowed.

Hand-drawn OCD Doodles character with a round turquoise body, small fangs, and raised arms, displayed inside a blue hanging picture frame.

What OCD Doodles Is Today

Today, OCD Doodles is more than a collection of drawings, it’s a growing body of work shaped by lived experience, shared to help people understand OCD more clearly.

It’s a place where people with OCD, their loved ones, and therapists can find clarity, compassion, and trustworthy signposting. A space grounded in lived experience, guided by science, and held together by a shared commitment to understanding OCD accurately and ethically.

My mission is simple:

To give people with OCD the understanding I wish I’d had sooner
To challenge stereotypes and correct misinformation
To help people communicate what OCD feels like on the inside
To guide people toward qualified, evidence-based help and safe support
To create visuals that bring comfort, clarity, and connection

I’m not a therapist, and that’s important.
My work is not treatment or clinical guidance. But lived experience does have value when it’s shared responsibly.

Today, that work takes a few different forms. OCD Doodles includes educational content, licensed visual resources, and physical products designed to help bring these conversations into everyday life, therapy spaces, and wider awareness.

That’s also why I’m creating the OCD Doodles Visual Resource Library: a carefully organised collection of my infodoodles for therapists to use ethically and effectively with their clients. It’s a way of bringing lived experience into the therapy room without crossing professional boundaries, something that matters deeply to me after my own negative experience with an unqualified, self-appointed “expert by experience.”

My role is to create honest, relatable, visual tools. Therapists bring the clinical expertise. Together, we can support people with OCD from both sides: lived experience and evidence-based care.

Hand-drawn blonde Laura character smiling inside a pink hanging picture frame, shown in the simple doodle style of OCD Doodles.

Thank You for Being Here

Whether you're a person with OCD, a therapist, a family member, or simply curious, I’m so grateful you're here.

Together, we can shift the narrative around OCD, reduce shame, and make sure fewer people spend years feeling confused, misunderstood, or alone.

Black handwritten signature reading Laura on a plain background.