Title Page & Abstract

An Interview with Oluwatamilore Odimayo

Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project

Interview # T20-A-L-2022-17

Oluwatamilore Odimayo, a counselor and author, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.

Interview dates & location:

Session 1: April 6, 2022          Location: Killian and Associates Mental Health Group, Springfield, Illinois

Session 2: April 13, 2022        Location: Killian and Associates Mental Health Group, Springfield, Illinois                        

Interview Format: Digital audio

Interviewer: Amanda Riggenbach, Tumultuous 2020 project manager

Total Time: 1:22 / 1.36 + 1:33 / 1.55 = 2:55 / 2.91 hrs.

                        Session 1: early life in Nigeria, schooling, start of the pandemic

                        Session 2: impacts of the pandemic

Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on August 8, 2022.

The interviews are archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.

© 2022 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Abstract

Oluwatamilore Odimayo, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2022-17

Biographical Information/Overview of Interview: Oluwatamilore Odimayo was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He attended boarding school for six years, graduating high school when he was sixteen years old. After his high school graduation, he moved with his family to Orlando, Florida, where he began attending Florida International University. From a young age Odimayo knew he wanted to help people work through their trauma in a clinical capacity. When he began at Florida International University, he was a pre-med student, intending to eventually become a psychiatrist. He found his passion in psychology, however, and soon switched his major upon receiving his father’s blessing. He graduated and later earned his masters in counseling at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Upon his graduation from UIS, he worked for a variety of counseling offices to earn his license, including inpatient, outpatient, and rehabilitation. In 2020, he was working for a rehabilitation center. When the Illinois stay-at-home order went into effect in March 2020, he saw the immediate impact on the progress of the individuals he served at the rehabilitation center. He eventually left that job and focused on his private practice at Killian and Associates Mental Health Group in Springfield, Illinois. There he was able to experience much greater flexibility. However, the pandemic continued to have an impact on his experiences as a counselor. Throughout his interview he discusses the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on his patients’ mental health as well as his own.

Subject Headings/Key Words: Tumultuous 2020; Tumultuous 2020 oral history; mental health; counselor; addiction; COVID-19 pandemic; the pandemic’s impact on mental health; Killian and Associates Mental Health Group; Springfield, Illinois; Oluwatamilore Odimayo; Tamilore Odimayo

Notes to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.

COPYRIGHT

 The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without authorization from the ALPLM.