Ibiyemi “Shindara” Oyindamola is a mental health advocate, educator, and public speaker who also writes and creates content to further her passion. In speaking on the podcast, Keep Calm and Mental Health On, she mentioned mental health workshops she has initiated and the project she leads, Our Minds Our Community.
Oyindamola lives in Nigeria and is a psychology graduate, who believes in “creating the change [she] desires to see.” She strives to create safe spaces for people with mental health struggles and likes to call herself a “one-stop for everything mental health.” Stemming from her own mental health experience she recalls that she felt like “people [did] not see her” and knows that it is a common experience.
She has been interested in mental health, especially when she read about different mental health disorders and “the state of mental health in Nigeria.” But her mental health journey was sparked by the stories of a university student, a relative, and even herself. When she heard the news of a student who died by suicide, she created a group chat to speak about mental health.
From seeing her brother’s experience, she recalls that the stigma in the mental health space, especially in Nigeria, causes people to “assume that [people strugging] did something wrong” or “had a role to play in it.” She also recalled that her mental health advocacy journey really kickstarted in 2019, when she experienced “her fair share of mental health struggles.”
She currently leads an initiative, Our Minds Our Community (OMOC,) that reaches over 600 children and teenagers through mental health education. During the podcast she states that a year ago she didn’t believe she could “see herself” leading an initiative like this. Oyindamola, turning 20 in April, almost thinks it’s “crazy” that she could be leading an initiative that is so wide-reaching, this young.
She even stated that she previously “didn’t like kids.” But leading this mental health initiative for children proved she is an impactful advocate. She was inspired to start OMOC because of “an instruction from God.” Even with initial fears and preferring the comfort of “behind-the-scenes” work, Oyindamola posted content online and educated children.
Oyindamola stated that throughout her mental health advocacy journey, she learned that “passion without the right knowledge and the right skills” … “can only take you so far.” While starting OMOC has been a “learning curve” she has been able to create safe spaces for children, explore the intersection between faith and mental health, provide education of the gospel, and create free mental health affirmation cards.
During the fifth edition of OMOC’s mental health outreach, Oyindamola recalls going to an underserved community in Abuja. But she left with a burden and a goal to make her advocacy reach children with not only mental health resources but quality of education and “mirrors of possibilities” as opposed to what is currently there.
Learning a lot from working directly with youth in Nigerian communities, Oyindamola feels like most people misunderstand how similar experiences can not be applied easily when working with individuals. She believes that every individual is unique due to their upbringing and environment. Oyindamola stated “your personal experience, is not their experience.” She believes advocates and educators need to be “a clean slate” despite similar experiences. It is not possible to understand everything that these youth are going through.
During her mental health internship where she practices as a psychologist in-training, she stated that she learned not to “provide solutions,” but “[walk individuals] to realize those solutions themselves.”
As a content creator and writer, Oyindamola wants to use storytelling to end stigma and drive awareness. She likes to emphasize her own story to bridge the gap between mental health “knowledge and assumptions” individuals have. Since many people believe that mental health is something “abstract,” she believes in expressing things that are “real” like emotions and experiences. By sharing her story, she has created the idea of mental health as a reality.
While she is gaining significant mental health experience by studying psychology and undergoing an internship, she does not want to approach people as an “expert” with “abstract terms” and “psychology jargon.” She wants to talk to these people directly because “mental health affects all of us.”
Oyindamola also approaches the sensitive subject of suicide prevention with compassion and cultural awareness. With suicide being considered a crime in Nigeria, she tries to carefully draw the line between “no-judgement’ and “encouragement.” She wants to care for others by giving people compassion and care, while creating safe spaces.
Believing that safe spaces can be created even before programs and community outreach, Oyindamola thinks that individuals should be kind and loving in their daily lives. She highlights how safe spaces start on an individual level by being open to talk about sensitive subjects.
One message that she wants to share with the world about mental health is that mental health affects “every single person” and that we need to collaborate to “create the change we truly desire to see.”
She believes that everyone should be a “mental health advocate,” by “advocating for yourself, your voice, and decisions that affect you.”
This piece is part of Project Awaaz (founded by Aditi Ediga), a teen-led series on mental health and culture.
Related