If you're a BIPOC Christian woman struggling with chronic illness, medical trauma, or a crisis of faith, and you're exhausted from being dismissed, gaslit, or told to just pray harder, you're in the right place.

 

Cheerful Heart Mental Health Counseling provides trauma-informed therapy that honors both your physical and emotional pain and your faith. Here, your whole truth is welcome.

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You Deserve Care That Sees Your Whole Story

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Living with chronic illness, medical trauma, or a crisis of faith can feel isolating—especially when your pain has been dismissed, spiritualized away, or misunderstood. Here, you don’t have to explain or prove your suffering.

 

At Cheerful Heart Mental Health Counseling, BIPOC Christian women are supported with trauma-informed therapy that honors the body, the mind, and the spiritual journey. Your full truth is welcome. Your questions, grief, anger, and hope all have room here.

 

What It’s Like to Work Together

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Therapy at Cheerful Heart is gentle, collaborative, and deeply validating.

 

Clients often share that this space feels different—less rushed, less performative, and more human. Sessions are rooted in safety and compassion, where you can speak honestly without fear of being minimized, corrected, or told to “just pray harder.”

 

You can expect:

✅A trauma-informed environment that understands chronic pain and medical trauma

✅Respect for your faith without bypassing emotional reality

✅Care that moves at your pace, not a checklist

✅Therapists who see you as more than a diagnosis

 

Healing here isn’t about fixing you. It’s about helping you reconnect with yourself, your body, and your relationship with God in a way that feels authentic and sustaining.

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Why This Practice Exists

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Cheerful Heart was created to offer the kind of care many women need but struggle to find—care that takes women’s pain seriously, especially Black women’s pain.

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The practice was founded by Shakira K. O’Garro, LMHC-D, whose lived experience with severe stage IV endometriosis, adenomyosis, and medical trauma informs every layer of this work. Like many clients, she navigated years of dismissal within medical systems and discovered how deeply those experiences can impact mental health and faith.

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Cheerful Heart exists so women no longer have to choose between clinical excellence and cultural or spiritual understanding. This is a space where faith questions are allowed, anger at God is met with compassion, and healing is supported with genuine loving kindness.

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Clinical Expertise You Can Trust

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Cheerful Heart is led by Shakira who is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with Diagnostic Privilege (LMHC-D) and over a decade of clinical experience at the intersection of trauma, chronic illness, and women’s mental health.

 

Our therapeutic approaches include:

✅EMDR for trauma and medical trauma processing

✅Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for chronic pain and illness

✅Motivational Interviewing (MI) for values-based, collaborative goals

✅Prolonged Exposure (PE) for PTSD and anxiety

 

All clinicians are trained to use evidence-based care while honoring cultural humility, faith, identity, and the reality of chronic illness. Healing is never one-size-fits-all and your care shouldn’t be either.

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Advocacy Rooted in Lived Experience and Clinical Expertise

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Advocacy is a central part of Shakira’s work as a trauma-informed therapist specializing in chronic illness, medical trauma, and women’s mental health. Her leadership is shaped by both lived experience and professional training, particularly in supporting Black women and BIPOC Christian women navigating endometriosis, chronic pain, and faith-related distress.

Because of this intersectional expertise, Shakira has been featured on national and community platforms focused on endometriosis, medical trauma, and trauma-informed mental health care, including:

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✅Endometriosis Foundation of America – Patient Day 2024, where she spoke on the psychological impact of endometriosis and the importance of trauma-informed therapy for women living with chronic illness

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✅Endo Black, Inc., where she was recognized as Endo Sister of the Month and served as a panelist discussing Black women’s experiences with endometriosis, medical gaslighting, and mental health

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✅Brave Providers, contributing to a national network of clinicians committed to equity-centered, culturally responsive, trauma-informed care

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This advocacy work directly informs the foundation of Cheerful Heart, influencing the practice’s commitment to evidence-based therapy, cultural humility, and faith-sensitive care. While each clinician brings their own background and training, the practice is guided by Shakira’s leadership, advocacy, and dedication to creating spaces where women’s pain is taken seriously.

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A Sanctuary for Healing, Not Just Therapy

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Cheerful Heart is more than a counseling practice; it’s a sanctuary for women who are tired of carrying pain alone.

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This is a place where:

• “I’m exhausted” doesn’t need justification

• Doubt and lament are encouraged and met with gentleness

• Faith and trauma are held together with care

• Your pain is never minimized

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You deserve therapy that honors all of you.