Guidance

Civil Service OCD Network

Updated 3 August 2026

Background/Who Are We?

The Civil Service OCD Network is a cross‑Civil Service staff network that supports:

• Civil servants with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Civil servants who care for, or support, someone with OCD

The network is led by civil servants, for civil servants, and operates on a voluntary basis.

• OCD affects approximately 1–2% of the population^{[footnote 1]} and often presents as a hidden disability
• Staff with OCD may face:
  • Stigma or misunderstanding of symptoms
  • Barriers to reasonable adjustments
  • Increased anxiety in high‑pressure, uncertain or change‑heavy environments
• Staff supporting someone with OCD may also face mental health strain and flexibility challenges

Despite overlap with wider mental health provision, OCD has specific characteristics that are not always well understood within generic mental health frameworks.

This network exists to address that gap.

Purpose/Vision

Our purpose is to improve inclusion, wellbeing and retention of staff affected by OCD by providing peer support, raising awareness, and helping remove workplace barriers related to a frequently misunderstood mental health condition.

Aims/Objectives

The network’s objectives are to:

1. Improve inclusion and wellbeing for staff with OCD and those that support them

2. Reduce stigma and misunderstanding of OCD across the Civil Service

3. Support delivery of Civil Service EDI priorities, particularly:

• Health and wellbeing
• Disability inclusion
• Retention of experienced staff

4. Inform better workplace practice by sharing lived experience and evidence‑based insight

5. Create safe peer support spaces that complement, not replace, formal support routes

Key Activities

Current and planned activities include:

• Peer support
  • Safe, confidential spaces for connection and shared experience
  • We have guidelines for our peer support calls – to obtain a copy, please ask one of the network co-chairs   .
• Awareness and education
  • Talks, panels and lived‑experience contributions
  • Participation in events such as the Charity for Civil Servants’ Wellbeing Conference
• Engagement and collaboration
  • Working alongside mental health, disability and other networks
  • We have collaborated with the Eating Disorders Network and the Neurodivergence Community.

Get Involved

• We are open to:
  • Civil servants with OCD
  • Civil servants who care for or support someone with OCD
  • Allies who support the network’s objectives
• Membership is voluntary and inclusive

We meet for monthly peer support check-ins and host a series of events from colleagues, as well as an aim to include external speakers to promote our goal of raising awareness of OCD.

We also aim to provide a safe forum for anyone to share personal experiences or advice, whether they are directly affected by the condition or not.

Please contact one of the co-chairs to join the network and attend our monthly peer support calls.

If you would like to arrange for the OCD network to speak to your team/department, please contact us.

Key Achievements

• Sustained   cross-government community for a previously underserved group
• Ongoing peer support calls with accompanying guidelines
• Creation of written materials and resources
  • Our ‘OCD in the Workplace Toolkit’ provides practical guidance for staff, line managers and peers
• Delivery of awareness and educating across government
  • Presenting at Mental Health Awareness Week
  • Plan to discuss experiences of OCD with Mental Health First Aiders
• Built cross-network and organisational relationships
  • Collaboration with Eating Disorders Network
  • Participating in the Charity for Civil Servants’ wellbeing conference

Further Information or Contact Us   

You can sign up to our mailing list here: OCD Network Mailing List Signup – Fill in form.

1. Occurrences of OCD - OCD-UK ↩