SE2/EP17 Conversation with Oludara Adeeyo a Psychiatric Social Worker and an author of Self-Care for Black Women.

I was looking for a book that would soon be published on the internet when the search took me to Simon and Schuster, and it listed all the books that would be published next year. I browsed through the list, and I saw your book titled Self Care for Black Women, authored by Oludara Adeeyo. The name, which I recognized as a Nigerian origin and a first-generation Nigerian American, moved me to invite Oludara to my platform.  I asked Oludara to share her experience about growing up in America as a daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, to talk about her book, and as a mental health provider to educate our community about mental health awareness. In this conversation, Oludara and I talked about the challenges/struggles of generation African immigrant child and the benefits of growing up in an immigrant’s home with dual identity (African Identity and Black experience). We talked about Oludara’s navigating through social life in college and the struggle of fitting into the predominant culture on her college campus especially coming from an African immigrant home. Before Oludara became a clinical social worker, she worked as a writer and editor at Cosmopolitan and managing editor at XXL. She talked about her experience working at Cosmopolitan and the discrimination and biases she experienced, and how her personal experience motivated her to change her career to become a social worker. We talked about her profession as a mental health provider, the negative stigma attached to mental health and mental illness within our community, and the Africans in the diaspora dealing with mental illness and drug addiction or having family members diagnosed with mental illness. We discuss the benefit of tackling mental illness early so people can live an everyday life if ongoing treatment is in place. Oludara Adeeyo is a psychotherapist. Based in Los Angeles, California, she works as a psychiatric social worker, where she assists individuals experiencing homelessness and severe and persistent mental illnesses. Oludara is passionate about helping people improve their overall well-being; especially, Black women. Before becoming a clinical social worker, Oludara spent seven-plus years working as a writer and editor. She has been an associate web editor at Cosmopolitan and the managing editor at XXL. Oludara grew up in Edison, New Jersey. She loves Beyoncé, hot yoga, cooking, and watching telenovelas. Oludara book is ready to be released titled Self Care for Black Women is dated to be released on January 11th, 2022. As Oludara said during our discussion, the book provides 150 helpful tips for black women in prioritizing their wellbeing with an outlook on life, improving mental health, eliminating stress, advocating for yourself, and most importantly, practicing self-compassion. For contact: www.oludaraadeeyo.com, instagram @ Oludara Adeeyo and her book could be purchased at anywhere books are sold such as amazon, barnes & noble etc.