"My name is Clint and I work with the OCDCentre.

I have had OCD since I was 5.  I remember suffering from it when I was at school and my teenage years were tough.

At 19 my OCD became increasingly worse and by March 2005, at 24, I had not worked for 12 months. My family were worried sick and I just felt angry and hopeless. I was checking everything, filled with intrusive, sometimes violent images and all the things I used to enjoy were no longer enjoyable. Even going out on my bike was a nightmare of checking and re-checking. Very quickly I was housebound and self-harming.

After being hospitalised for a few days in a psychiatric hospital I decided I had to do something.  I needed to take back everything that OCD had taken away – and I knew the only person who could do that was me.

Thanks to my Wife's research, I found and attended the OCDCentre's Intensive Course in early 2005 and by May I had applied for a new job as a Community Policeman.  

Two years on and that is what I do for a living and I use my experience to reach other young people on the streets.  I have set up work and sports schemes to show young people how to recognise their own talents and put them to good use – just as I did.  

I have finished a Counselling qualification and am studying for my degree in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In addition to my Police work I am now training with the OCDCentre and specialise in behaviour work, an area I really enjoy. I am heavily involved in the intensive courses in London and the follow-up care.

I would like to think that my approach to OCD is both empathetic and inspirational. 

I know the only person who can do anything about my OCD is me.  So I made the decision – I didn’t want to lay down and let it consume me, I wanted to live and experience life - to stop missing out.

Today, knowing how to manage it, my OCD is actually helping me live life to the full and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I want to show others with OCD that they too have the power to achieve whatever they want to.”