Dr. Olivia West

Bio

Dr. Bertrina Olivia West Al-Mahdi, affectionately known as Dr. O, is a U. S. Navy veteran, International Psychologist, Licensed Professional Counselor, Coach, Trauma, Diversity & Inclusion consultant, and a Human, Social, and Civil Rights Advocate and Activist. She specializes in the area of trauma recovery and has traveled the world working with individuals, families, couples, children, and organizations helping them to identify and overcome trauma, while also educating and advocating for the equal rights of marginalized groups. Dr. West has dedicated her career to social justice, human rights activism, racial and cultural equality, and advocacy and by helping individuals overcome challenges, including but not limited to family or individual crisis, trauma, death, loss, or divorce, depression, anxiety, abuse, ADHD, behavioral issues, addiction, or complex mental health disorders.
She received her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Argosy University with a concentration in Diversity and Human Rights. Followed by completing her doctoral degree in International Psychology with a concentration in trauma from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Since a young child, Dr. West has always been passionate about human rights equality and social justice. She started several initiative and organization to promote human rights equality and social justice throughout secondary school. She has performed spoken word to bring awareness to social justice and human rights equality, and even had a piece published at the age of 15 years. After high school Dr. West joined the U.S. Navy to travel the world and expand her knowledge on human rights disparities world-wide. After completing her enlistment with the U.S. Navy, Dr. West became a law enforcement officer with Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department with a goal of making a change against racial inequality from within the system. Following her career in law enforcement, Dr. West returned to school to receive her degree in Criminal Justice. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice, Dr. West was introduced to psychology. Dr. West feel in love with understand how the mind works and how our thoughts shape our behaviors. With her newfound love of psychology, Dr. West decided to combine her criminal justice background with psychology and become a forensic psychologist. Ultimately, she desired to work with underserved children by conducting psychological evaluations for the court system. With the guidance of her mentor, Dr. West determined that she did not want to be a forensic psychologist, but a clinical psychologist, who conducts forensic evaluations. This revelation prompted Dr. West to pursue her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology.
During her Clinical Psychology program, Dr. West begin to witness microaggressions and other disparities that impacted people of color. Thus, Dr. West placed her social justice and advocacy hat back on and created programs to help support people of color within the graduate program at her university. During this process, Dr. West determined that the clinical psychology program did not align with her personal mission and values. Following her master’s degree, she participated in the Diplomacy Fellows Program with the U. S. Department of State and ultimately completed her doctorate degree in International Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, with a concentration in Trauma. She graduated with research honors and specialized training in diplomatic affairs. Dr. West felt obtaining her degree in International Psychology would incorporate her passion for human and civil rights equality with her love of psychology, ultimately bridging the gap between western and international philosophies on mental health treatment.
For the past 10 years Dr. West has provided trauma, diversity and inclusion (D& I) consultation to various government and nonprofit organizations nationwide. Her duties included providing educational seminars, workshops, and training on trauma, diversity, and inclusion related issues to include understanding and coping with trauma as a trauma worker: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout; coping with and understanding traumatic experiences including: posttraumatic stress, sexual abuse, physical/domestic abuse, natural disaster, international trauma and war and conflict; as well as conduct diversity workshops, seminars, and presentations on how to address diversity, inclusion, and discrimination issues and resolve D&I related problems in the workplace, cultural competency, raising awareness and understanding of diversity, inclusion, and discrimination, colorism, religion, and effective communication with diverse populations.
Dr. West has traveled the world studying international populations and the impact of trauma, with the objective of gaining an understanding of how cultural values and beliefs impact the treatment of diverse populations. Dr. West believed in the immersion into various cultures in order to unequivocally learn about how values and beliefs shape thoughts and behaviors.
In addition, Dr. West is the Clinical Director and Founder of Out of the Box, Coaching, Counseling (OOTB), and Consulting, where their mission is to provide quality mental healthcare to clients regards of race, creed, color, ability/disability, socio-economic statis, language, sexual identity, or orientation. As the Founder and Clinical Director of OOTB, Dr. West wears many hats. She is responsible for hiring and training, budgeting and training, and ultimately making sure that the vision and mission of OOTB is met.
Prior to creating OOTB, Dr. West had the pleasure of working with the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and the Office of Global Women’s Issues, the LemonAide fund, and Operation Bobbi Bear. Her duties included providing aid and sustainable solutions for refugees, women, victims of torture, trauma, conflict and stateless people around the world, by ensuring that the issues of marginalized populations were integrated in the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy, promoting stability, peace, and development by empowering women politically, socially, and economically, and through government funded resettlement programs in the United States. Her areas of expertise include trauma, female genital mutation, colorism, vicarious traumatization and diversity-related trauma, sexual abuse, discrimination, diversity and inclusion, torture, war, issues of acculturation, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, invisible disability related issues, and conflict resolution.

Dr. West continues to provide individual, group, family, and organizational counseling, as well as advocate for the equality across nations and provide consultation to national and international organizations (including the U. S. Department of State, United Nations, and USAID) on issues of trauma, diversity and inclusion, as well as conducts cultural sensitivity training. Dr. West has partnered with several organizations for social justice and equality to include Sankofa and Amenity International and has also been a speaker and presenter of research at conferences world-wide including the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, Stronger Together NC Equality Conference, World Conferences on Women, U.S. Africa Leaders’ Summit, International Conference on Community Psychology, The California Conference For Equality And Justice, Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference, American Psychological Association (APA) Conference, the Cultural Impact Conference, World Conferences in the Fight for Women’s Rights, International Convention of Psychological Science, the University and College Union Equality Conference, the Winter Round Table at Columbia University, the International Gender Equality Conference In Haiti, the Edward Bouchet Honor Society at Yale University, the Summit on Race & Inclusion, and the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity.

Dr. West is passionate about education, equality, justice, peace, and healing. She enjoys supporting individuals, organizations, and communities throughout all of life’s transitions and challenges. Her compassionate demeanor is, undoubtedly, impacted by her own multicultural background, traumatic experiences and exposures. In her free time Dr. Wesrt enjoys spending time with her husband, playing with her two children, traveling, writing poetry, and working out.
Dr. West takes a Global approach to treatment because she believes in the importance of incorporating a persons' culture, belief system, and values into providing treatment and therapy.
With over 10 years of experience in the field, she has shared her expertise in psychology, trauma, and diversity-related issues by proving supervision, educational seminars, workshops, and training, content expert, and motivational speaker. Some topics include: Understanding and Coping with Trauma as a Trauma Worker: Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout; Coping with and Understanding Traumatic Experiences Including: Posttraumatic Stress, Sexual Abuse, Physical/Domestic Abuse, Death and Divorce, Natural Disaster, International Trauma and War and Conflict; as well as conducting diversity workshops, seminars, and presentations on how to address diversity, inclusion, and discrimination issues and resolve D&I related problems in the workplace, cultural competency, raising awareness and understanding of diversity, inclusion, and discrimination, colorism, religion, and effective communication with diverse populations.
Dr. West is very passionate about supporting individuals, couples, families, children, adolescents, organizations, and communities throughout all of life’s transitions and challenges, as well as advocating for equality across nations. Her compassionate demeanor is, undoubtedly, impacted by her own multicultural background, traumatic experiences and exposures. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, traveling, writing poetry, dancing, and working out.