What the body is telling us: Dr Olayiwola Ajileye

NPUK member Dr Olayiwola Ajileye was at the UNIWA Seniors Gathering.

There is a particular kind of medicine that does not happen in clinics. It happens in church halls, at gatherings of elders, in the unhurried company of people who have lived long enough to know that health is rarely just a matter of the body.

On 24th May 2026, the United Nigeria Welfare Association (UNIWA) hosted its Over 60s Get-Together at Kingstanding Methodist Church Hall in Birmingham. The afternoon brought together elders, community leaders, and members of the wider Nigerian community from across Birmingham, Solihull, and the Black Country. It was, by design, intergenerational and multilingual, with Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa seniors warmly welcomed into the same room.

Dr Olayiwola Ajileye, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, delivered the keynote. His topic was deceptively simple: My Health and My Wellbeing: What is my body telling me? It is a question that carries particular weight in older adults from immigrant communities, where physical symptoms often arrive long before the language of emotional distress is given room to surface.

Ola's address met that reality with care. He spoke about healthy living, emotional wellbeing, the importance of staying socially engaged, and the quiet wisdom of paying attention to what the body is already saying. Attendees responded warmly. Many spoke afterwards of the practical knowledge and encouragement they would carry home with them.

The afternoon was a reminder that diaspora impact does not always require a stage or a microphone. Sometimes it looks like a senior psychiatrist sitting among elders, translating a lifetime of clinical learning into something useful, accessible, and kind. It is, in its own way, exactly what NPUK exists to support.

Ola is also Interim General Secretary of NPUK.

For more information, please see npuk.org.uk