Obi Onyegesi, LCSW, LCDC

Obi Onyegesi (he/him) is a therapist and researcher who approaches mental health with a deep focus on how story, body, culture, and environment intersect. Obi works with preteens, adolescents, and young adults navigating depression, anxiety, trauma, identity exploration, self-image concerns, and substance use. Many of the individuals he supports are carrying multiple layers at once such as academic or professional pressure, family expectations, cultural or religious messaging, grief, identity confusion, or the sense that they must hold everything together for others. His therapeutic stance emphasizes honesty and humanity, creating a space where clients do not need to perform or minimize their experiences.

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His approach is grounded in Narrative Therapy, with a focus on understanding how personal stories are shaped over time and within context. From there, he integrates elements of CBT, DBT, TF-CBT, and the Socratic method to help clients identify patterns, challenge beliefs that no longer serve them, and develop skills for emotional regulation and intentional choice. As a dual-licensed clinician (LCSW, LCDC), Obi also works with individuals navigating substance use, harm reduction, and the shame that often accompanies it. His style is collaborative, direct, and curious—balancing validation with thoughtful challenge.

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Obi’s multicultural and multinational identity informs his clinical work in an intentional, lived way. He is particularly passionate about working with BIPOC and LGBTQIA clients navigating identity, family dynamics, culture, and queerness within systems that may not fully understand or affirm them. In his work, context is not something clients need to explain away; culture, community, and intersectionality are treated as central, not peripheral.

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In addition to clinical practice, Obi is a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Austin and a recipient of the NIH T32 Research Training Award. His research focuses on health disparities, lung and cardiovascular health, smoking behaviors in Black communities, and the cultural adaptation of evidence-based treatments to ensure they are responsive to real-world contexts. He has academic training in Cognitive Neuroscience and Social Work, and his work consistently bridges brain science, systems-level factors, and lived experience.
 

At the core of Obi’s work is a commitment to taking people’s stories seriously, honoring their identities, and supporting meaningful movement toward healing, clarity, and a stronger sense of self.