Morgan: All About "Not Alone Notes" (OCD)
- Sally J. Pla
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hi, Morgan! Would you like to introduce yourself, and tell us a little about your background?
Hello! My name is Morgan, and I have had OCD for as long as I can remember, but I wasn’t diagnosed until college. A few years later, I started Not Alone Notes, with the goal of mailing encouraging, hopeful snail mail to others with OCD. While I’ll always have OCD, I consider myself to be in recovery now. Beyond that, I am a librarian, writer, and dance teacher. I also am heavily involved with my local community theater.
Explain to us how Not Alone Notes work.
It is as simple as it sounds. You request a note (for yourself, loved one, friend, caregiver, or anyone else in the OCD community who could use some love), and we will mail you a handmade, handwritten card full of encouragement and resources.
This is done free of charge to you! Since 2017, we have mailed thousands of notes around the world, spreading hope and building community, so others with OCD feel less alone.
You can request a note on our website, NotAloneNotes.org.
How did you first detect the need for this -- How did the idea for Not Alone Notes first come about? Do you have future plans for it?
After several years of OCD treatment myself and forming connections within the OCD community, I felt so grateful for the people I had met with similar lived experiences. Yes, therapy and medication were important parts of treatment, but meeting others who understood what I was going through was just as important. With this gratitude, and an existing love for all things snail mail, I had the idea to start sending letters to others with OCD. I already had my mental health blog at the time (MyOCDVoice.com), so I posted a link to request a note. People started submitting, and we have only grown since there. Now, we are a nonprofit with a team of writers that send hundreds of notes a year.
As for future plans, I’m not really sure. Honestly, Not Alone Notes was started as such a simple idea, and I didn’t expect it to become this big or last this long. I’m so grateful it has, but so far we’ve just allowed it to expand and evolve organically. That’s the plan!
And it sounds like a great plan! What other projects do you work on -- as we know you have a few! :-)
One of our most recent Not Alone Notes additions is a mental health book club, called Shelf Help. About quarterly, we meet online to discuss a book, sometimes centered around OCD, but other times more generally about mental health. Our next meeting is in January, if you want to join! As a librarian, I love reading, so it’s great to have this space to then discuss the books with others in the OCD community too.
More info about our book club: https://notalonenotes.org/bookclub/
What is your ultimate mission in terms of helping people (especially young people) with their mental health/OCD issues?
I truly want to help others feel less alone in having OCD. Especially as a young person, OCD can make you feel like you are the only one with these experiences, or to feel shame like you can’t tell anyone about your thoughts and compulsions. I hid mine for over a decade, which contributed to such a late diagnosis. Once I finally found out these thoughts and behaviors had a name, that in itself was a huge sigh of relief. That meant there was a treatment and there was a community of others. Hearing “me too,” isn’t a cure, but it does make a difference.
We are a site about how children's books can positively impact children's mental health -- help young readers see themselves, sometimes for the first time. Tell us, what were your favorite books when you were growing up? What stories had an impact on you?
I read constantly as a child, so it’s hard to pick just a few favorites. Honestly though, in terms of mental health, more books have had an impact as an adult than as a child. This is especially true post-diagnosis, as I was learning so much more about myself and my brain. A few favorites include OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu; It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini; Turtles All the Way Down by John Green; and anything by Jenny Lawson.
