SE3/EP21: Conversation with Dr. Latifat Cabirou on addressing Mental Health needs in African Immigrant Community

When the idea of launching the Pansa Pansa Podcast was being formulated, one of the missions was to engage in conversation with African immigrant children who grew up in America with a variety of professions and to lend their expertise to our community. Dr. Kelechi Ibe Lamberts introduced me to Dr. Latifat Cabirou as one of his childhood friends and his prior guest on his podcast, a mental health provider, and a professor of psychology. Dr. Latifat Cabirou is a Nigerian American, and she migrated to America with her parents at the age of 10 years old.  I appreciate her coming on this platform to provide her expertise on mental health awareness.  Dr. Latifat Cabirou is a counseling psychologist who holds clinical practice and academic positions. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Benedictine University, and a doctorate in counseling psychology from Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Cabirou has served as a mental health professional in many Chicagoland both in outpatient and inpatient mental health settings, university counseling centers, and medical hospitals. Dr. Cabirou currently works with adolescent and adult clients in private practice, and she is a faculty member in the counseling psychology program at Auburn University. Her clinical and research expertise are in racial/ethnic minority and immigrant mental health, Black immigrant cultural experiences, and mental health help-seeking behaviors. In this conversation, we talked about Dr. Cabirou's experiences growing up in an immigrant home and her understanding of the dynamics of navigating the environment she found herself. We talked about how her upbringing influenced her navigating college life both socially and academically. We further discussed what inspires her to go into clinical research in psychology to a Ph.D. level. Especially her interest in the immigrant community, Dr. Cabirou talked about why she focused her work on racial/ethnic minority and immigrant mental health, Black immigrant cultural experiences, and mental health help-seeking behaviors.  We discussed the stigma attached to mental illness and seeking mental health in the African immigrant community.  Dr. Cabirou further talked about other challenges in the African immigrants’ community when seeking mental health care for adults and their children who may be experiencing mental health care needs or illnesses.  She additional talked about the benefits of seeking mental health care and following up with advice prescribed by the professional, including compliance with therapy and, in some cases, medication prescribed by the treatment provider. Dr. Latifat Cabirou and I will continue to work collaboratively in the future to enhance the emotional welfare of our community.