Training Overview
Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health (MACMH) is presenting a training with Dr. Richard Oni and Dr. Toulope Ola.
People from sub-Saharan Africa throughout the world experience certain universal mental health disorders. What differs is the nature of their symptoms and the way these disorders are expressed. Providers need to see mental health disorders through the eyes of African cultural perspective. This training is for any professionals.
Learning Objectives
- Be able to identify three sources of stress that many African immigrants and refugees experience that affect their mental health.
- Identify five components of culturally responsive assessment strategies of African migrants and refugees’ mental health disorders.
- Identify three ways in which immigration processes affect the mental health of African immigrants and refugees in the United States of America.
About our Presenters
Dr. Richard Oni, Director of Training & Services, Progressive Individual Resources Inc, received his Ph.D. in Mental Health Management from the Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1994. He is currently a private consultant, and the Clinical Director and Co-founder of Progressive Individual Resources providing multicultural mental health services to families of new immigrants in the State of Minnesota. His areas of proficiencies include training, evaluation, assessment and public policy. Dr. Oni has developed and given numerous workshops and lectures nationally and internationally on mental health and special education. He has worked extensively to support Behavioral Aide services in Minnesota and has developed a leading training curriculum in the field. He has held numerous appointments. He was appointed by the Governor Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities from 1995 to 2001, Member of the State of Minnesota Children’s Subcommittee, Member of the Cultural Advisory Council on State Special Education, Member of Minnesota Task Force on Refugees and Immigrants Issues, and Member of the Quality Peer Review of the State of Minnesota Day Treatment Programs. Finally, Dr. Oni has developed and presented many trainings to new African immigrant parents on Social Services/Welfare issues and corrections. Dr. Oni has been an active member of the American Correctional Association since April 1996 till date.
Tolulope Monisola Ola, PhD, MPH; Founder & Executive Director, Restoration for All (REFA) Inc., MN, is the Founder and Executive Director of Restoration for All Inc, a nonprofit organization with the mission to nurture and empower individuals, organizations, and communities to renew, discover and restore their culture of well-being. She is a Mental Health Practitioner, African Storyteller, and an advocate for cultural healing through mind, body, and spirit practices. She is a Co-chair for the Mental Health and Wellness Action Team of Ramsey County Public Health. She is an entrepreneur and a social researcher with several journal articles, book chapters, and two books to her credit and has presented extensively on the role of culture in improving mental health and well-being at local, state, national, and international conferences. She has expertise in public health and rights-based responses to chronic diseases and their psychosocial impacts on immigrants and refugees from Africa. She is a public health expert with experience in empowering and mobilizing communities to bring about social change through health education, sensitization, and advocacy to create an environment that is physically, socially, and culturally inclusive.
Register through MACMH
This training is approved for 2 hours of Cultural Competence, 2 hours of Ethics, and is anticipated to be approved for 2 hours of Clinical Content