Bridging the Gap: From Personal Struggle to Systemic Change in Mental Healthcare

An Interview with Dr. Leigh Sheppard

Introduction

Some of the most powerful advocacy emerges from the intersection of personal experience and professional expertise. When a healthcare provider also walks the path of seeking care for themselves, they gain unique insights into the gaps, barriers, and opportunities within our medical systems.

In this conversation, we explore the journey of Dr. Leigh Sheppard, a GP Registrar and OCD advocate whose late diagnoses of OCD and ADHD transformed not only her understanding of neurodiversity but her entire approach to healthcare advocacy. From founding Australia's first dedicated OCD organisation to developing training programs that reshape how clinicians understand obsessive-compulsive disorder, her story demonstrates how lived experience can become a catalyst for meaningful reform.

This is about more than individual resilience—it's about using personal struggle as a foundation for building the support systems, educational resources, and community connections that others desperately need. It's about recognising that when we bridge the empathy gap between patients and providers, we create space for both better care and authentic understanding.

Q1: You received your OCD and ADHD diagnoses as an adult, after already working in medicine. How did this experience shape your approach to advocating for neurodiversity in healthcare?

My late diagnoses revealed how deeply stigma and systemic gaps run through healthcare. As someone who is “twice exceptional,” both gifted and disabled, I spent years misunderstood, mislabelled and struggling to fit into an inflexible system. That experience now fuels my drive for reform. I use both my clinical knowledge and lived experience to challenge outdated assumptions and close the empathy gap between patients and providers, so that others don’t face the same isolation I did.

Q2: After struggling to access treatment and find peer support following your diagnosis, you founded OCD WA. What prompted you to take this step, and what has the journey been like building Western Australia’s first dedicated OCD organisation?

When I couldn’t find the support I needed, I realised I had to build it. OCD WA began as a grassroots initiative and has grown into Australia’s first OCD-specific charity and the nation’s only IOCDF Global Partner. The journey has been challenging, rewarding and deeply meaningful. We’ve created a community grounded in evidence-based care, inclusion and shared hope — transforming isolation into connection and empowerment. Every step reflects the core belief that people with OCD deserve access, support and a true sense of belonging.

Q3: You work as both a GP Registrar and OCD Advocate. How do you use your dual perspective — clinical training and lived experience — to improve understanding of OCD within the medical community?

I act as a bridge, bringing lived experience into clinical spaces and helping peers find care that truly understands OCD. I’ve developed training resources, delivered seminars and led an education series for psychology students that significantly deepened their insight into the disorder. My next goal is to bring that impact into medical schools and specialist colleges, so current and future clinicians are better equipped to recognise and treat OCD. As an IOCDF Advocate and co-lead of international working groups, I also help shape global conversations around early intervention, evidence-based care and systems that see OCD for what it truly is.

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