I Need Help

Chisara and her siblings were kidnapped from Nigeria and taken to the United States by their mentally ill mother, an act that would take a life-altering toll on her life. Arriving in the United States, she was disoriented and her childhood trauma began. Family and society stigmatized, ignored, cast her mother aside because of her mental illness, when really she needed help. I Need Help crystalizes Chisara’s struggles with being raised by a mother with untreated mental illness, and it highlights the need for an open discussion in the Nigerian and African American communities. The book also details her first-hand experience with being raised in a chaotic environment with instability, neglect, abuse and how she struggled through trauma, with every trial and regained her sanity. It depicts how, with faith in God and help from her ancestors, she overcame the trauma, trials, and took steps to become triumphant. This book lays bear the truth about unspoken and untreated mental illness in families and educates readers on how to seek professional mental health support. It shows how untreated mental illness in a caregiver can lead to innocent children being abused and neglected. Often leaving them grief stricken and in poverty. With simple yet conversational language, I Need Help also provides guidance on how to find mental health and psychological treatments without the stigma.