Chika Ofodu, Ph.D.
Credentials & Education
B.A. in Psychology, San Jose State University
About
At the core of our work in the therapy room is the practice of asking meaningful, transformative questions. It’s through these questions that new identities, new lives, and fresh possibilities emerge.
Chika Ofodu, Ph.D. (she/her) is a staff psychologist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Palo Alto University, specializing in community mental health and LGBTQ+ psychology. Prior to completing her postdoctoral fellowship through The Family Institute, Dr. Ofodu trained across various community mental health settings in Chicagoland and Bay Area, California. Dr. Ofodu has an array of clinical experience, working with people from diverse racial, gender, and sexual backgrounds experiencing a variety of emotional, behavioral, and relational problems. Additionally, she is a scholar – writing and presenting on topics related to Black and LGBTQ+ mental health, racial equity, and critical consciousness.
Clinically, Dr. Ofodu specializes in working with families with adult children, with a particular focus on multigenerational processes, attachment, and family estrangement. She is especially interested in how patterns of connection, disconnection, and repair are carried across generations, and how family members can reimagine their relationships with one another in the face of difference, distance, or conflict. Using an integrated narrative and feminist therapy approach, Dr. Ofodu helps individuals, couples, and families understand their experiences more deeply and consciously, creating new meanings about the stories of their lives.
One of her favorite quotes by the esteemed Toni Morrison reads: “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” As this quote suggests, Dr. Ofodu believes therapy to be a space where people, families, and couples can learn to liberate themselves from the problems keeping them stuck or disconnected. Further, she aims to help clients navigate other possibilities and directions in life with curiosity, intentionality, compassion, and authenticity.
Aside from work, Dr. Ofodu spends much of her time exercising, reading, either solo or in community through virtual and in-person book clubs, or unwinding with the most popular shows and movies on Netflix, Hulu, or Peacock.
Area of Focus
Publications & Presentations
Tormala, T. T., Arastu, S. F., & Ofodu, S. C. (2024). Cultivating cultural consciousness: Identity-based affinity groups among clinical trainees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000492
Ofodu, S.C., Habte Michael, D. (2024, April 18-20). Black womxn's help-seeking processes: Preliminary findings. [Paper presentation]. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois, Unites States.
Ofodu, S. C., Habte Michael, D. (2023, July 19-22). What’s love got to do with it?: Guidelines for conducting intersectional qualitative research with Black womxn. [Poster presentation]. Association of Black Psychologists' 54th Annual International Convention, Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Ofodu, S. C., Tormala, T.T., Arastu, S.F. (2023, April 27-30). Affinity and beyond: Integrating affinity groups into pedagogical practice. [Paper presentation]. Western Psychological Association Conference, Riverside, California, United States.
Tormala, T.T., Arastu, S. F., & Ofodu, S. C. (2022, October 20-22). Cultivating cultural consciousness: The use of affinity groups as pedagogical practice. [Paper presentation]. The Society for the Teaching of Psychology Annual Conference on Teaching, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, United States.
Ofodu, S. C. (2022, August 26). Feminist therapy, research, and pedagogy: Principles for centering Black voices [Workshop presentation]. Racism and Mental Health Symposium, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Armas, A., Ofodu, S. C., Hernandez, M. (2022, August 4-6). Traversing systems in couples tele-therapy amidst COVID-19 with an anti-oppressive framework [Roundtable presentation]. American Psychological Association Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
Ofodu, S. C. (2022, May 26-29). A narrative examination of the mental health help-seeking processes of Black womxn to inform outreach programs [Poster presentation]. American Psychological Science Convention, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Ofodu, S. C., Saddy, S. (2022, April 27-1). Clinical considerations for working with Black/African American LGBTQ+ individuals [Conference presentation]. Western Psychological Association Conference, Portland, Oregon, United States.
Ofodu, S. C. (2022, February 24-26). Theory and practice of feminist therapy with Black men [Conference presentation]. 39th Annual Winter Roundtable, Teachers College, New York, United States.
