Nguty Stella Etoh-Nombo is a follower of Jesus Christ, a Mental and Behavioral Health Therapist, and Founder of DIBA Holistic Wellness Care in Cameroon. Her greatest passion is seeing people encounter the healing love of Christ—not only spiritually but emotionally, mentally, and relationally. She believes that Jesus is still in the business of restoring broken hearts, renewing minds, and bringing people into the fullness of life He promised.

Having walked through seasons of profound personal loss and transformation, Stella has experienced God's faithfulness in ways that reshaped her purpose and calling. Today, she integrates evidence-based mental health care with biblical truth, helping individuals, families, churches, and communities find hope, healing, and wholeness.

Recognized as Cameroon's Best Mental Health Advocate of 2023, she has trained thousands of Mental Health First Responders, co-organized the Just Breathe Mental Health Conference, and continues to serve with the conviction that mental health care is a ministry of compassion and restoration.

Stella holds an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is committed to pointing people to the One who heals both hearts and minds—Jesus Christ.

Website: https://www.dibaholisticwellness.com

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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That's one, two, M-I-N-C-O-N-V-E-R-S.com.

God chose us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

That's very cool that we are able to switch it in between that.

So how did you come to meet Jesus?

Oh, that's a very interesting tale.

I came to meet Jesus 2015 properly because it had been on and off.

But 2015 is the year I want to acknowledge as meeting Jesus.

I was at that point in my life where I had lost my sense of identity and belonging.

I had experienced very, shall I say, hurtful things.

I had so deep of a father wound.

My dad was there.

He was home, present, but emotionally absent.

So I had a deep longing for a father who would see me and love me and care for me.

And it was at that point where I was pointed to Jesus properly, where I decided to utterly surrender in the best way possible.

After on and off games, I decided to surrender to him.

And that was very life transformative for me because I got a renewed sense of direction, renewed sense of hope, a renewed definition of what love actually is, not what I thought it was.

And I felt safe again.

And I felt how the intimacy with Jesus was able to restore my sense of belonging.

So yeah, 2015.

The words that you're using expresses that you've done work.

Where you looked back, reflected, and put things in their correct places.

So where did that come from, that ability to do that?

I would say the ability came from me being someone who is deeply, shall I say a deep thinker.

The environment I grew up in is one where you could literally just be okay with things being so-so.

Like, okay, this is what I got.

I might as well just stay with this.

But I knew for a fact that I wanted more.

And I knew that the power of transformation, I tried for a few times and I realized I couldn't transform people or transform a system when I was broken inside.

I know for a fact what hurt can do to a person, what grief can do, what loss can do.

Because I've lost a lot of things.

I've lost myself.

I've lost kids, pregnancies.

I have lost lots.

My dad, I have really lost a lot.

So being able to sit with it and let Jesus show up in the pain and you ask the right questions or even the questions that do not make sense and have him just give you this settling in your spirit, in your heart, and then give yourself to the cause of inner healing and emotional healing.

This brings a lot of clarity.

Plus it turned out to be the work that I chose after leaving journalism and mass communication, which was my initial practice.

And now I run Diba Holistic Wellness Care, which is a mental and behavioral health center for holistic wellness.

When you look at your journey, even from inception, do you see signs, or are you reminded by God that that was for this?

I love that question.

Yeah.

Without question, yes.

I would say that all of that was for this because the level of empathy, the level of grace, the level of love I have, the level of respect and honor that I give to others, and the sense of community belonging and safety that we have been able to create, not just me, but our team, for people around us.

This experience was leading me up on today's to enlarge my heart.

Like Jabe said, Lord, I pray that you might enlarge my heart.

Those experiences were my close enlargement practices or wilderness experience.

So yes, I feel like that was it for me.

You're our eyes and ears and hands on the ground camera.

We have the opportunity to listen and feel what's going on.

So paint a picture of what it's like there for us, please.

Oh, well, that's a huge ask, but I'm going to put on my creative pants right now.

So Cameroon is, think about it as safe, safe in the sense of the feeling you have when you are close someone you love.

It is full of beautiful rivers and trees and the people are so hospitable.

Yes, we have different languages and all, but the sense of community is second to none.

Think of when you go into a strange land and you are met with care, understanding, you are met with support.

Of course, there will always be a few exceptions, but the majority speak the language of community, the language of family.

Cameroon is the place where you could be home away from home.

It has beautiful sunrises, great sunsets.

The moon views are perfect.

You could always almost feel like you could see angels dancing in the moon.

So that's Cameroon for me.

Feels like a tourism advertisement right there.

How challenging has it been to incorporate what you're doing because of the fact that it could be considered counterculture, the healing aspect of what you're bringing from a scientific perspective?

Oh, that question strikes a chord because I remember in 2019, when we started, we faced a lot of challenges.

I wanted to use the word backlash from people in the church who said Jesus was enough and we are preaching or bringing on new age practices.

Just thinking about this now makes me laugh, but it wasn't fun back then.

Then I used a simple scenario.

If doctors are meant to solve physical issues, it means inner healers, people who do social, people who do mental health therapy are also there to partner with Jesus to heal the wound of your soul.

So we use a popular adage that says Jesus and therapy.

If you go to counseling to your pastor, if you go for counseling to your pastor, or you seek a piece of advice or counsel from people you care about, it's because you trust their knowledge.

It's because you trust how aligned they are with Christ to give you counsel that can propel you forward.

But this is just us doing it, balancing it with Jesus, psycho-spiritual, and the science of it, which is psychology.

So that was how we have been able to overcome a lot of the challenges.

And also, I think in the Christian world, most importantly, partnering with Christ and using the Bible, using scriptures like 2 Corinthians 3, 18, that says we all behold in the glass are being transformed from glory to glory by the help of the Holy Spirit.

That's in our work.

Romans 12, 2, that says that be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

So if we are renewing your mind, giving you healthy coping strategies, helping you reframe, helping you understand healthy boundaries, emotional intelligence, this is what Christ will want you to do to foster a good relationship with yourself, anchor to your sense of identity, so that it overflows from you to others, just like the Bible says, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.

So that's what we've been able to do in the cultural context of it, especially in church.

Giving as much as you are, how do you keep your cup filled?

How do I keep my cup filled?

One of the first way is I am able to rest and sing and have people feel me.

I had the terrible problem receiving based upon history and experiences, but to keep my cup filled, I have been able to let people serve me in their own capacities.

I have learned to prioritize rest and go for my own therapy as well, because of course, a doctor needs a doctor, a therapist needs a therapist.

So when I'm able to deal with my backlog of things, that's when I can serve people through clear lenses, healthy lenses, without bias or allowing tinted stereotypes rub into me.

So that's what I do.

I do take out a lot of time to retreat and study and just rest, dance, sing, hang out with friends, and let other people feel my cup as well.

You talked about losing children.

Were you able to have a child at a point in time?

No.

2019, I did lost twins, a few months to birth.

And 2022, I did give birth to my daughter, but she passed in 2023.

So no, I did not have kids.

What is the reflection you've done on that that has brought you healing?

I would say that the reflection I've done so far is in 2019, when I lost the twins pregnancy, it was hard.

I dissociated.

I lost sense of identity.

I was off.

I was bitter, very bitter.

Then the healing journey began.

Now in 2022, when I was pregnant with my daughter, it was different.

I felt leading at every stage, the things that Jesus would tell me, the things he would see that I wrote down, the things he would drive me to watch and all of that.

Then when she passed, the message was clearer.

It is not the things you have.

It is your trust in me.

And in her short experience being on earth for the few months, the lives she was able to change by being here, the way she was able to broaden my heart, I think that that made healing a lot easier.

It was not like 2019.

2023, losing her gave me joy.

It's like saying I had joy in the midst of chaos.

So I just let Jesus hold me and trust that even in her absence, he is walking and embracing me through that.

And it was easier as compared to 2019.

Would you say that you have more children now than you could even expect?

Yes.

Yes.

I have a ton.

I have a ton.

Five years from today, listening to this conversation, what's a message you would leave for the future and would be?

My message would be trust the Lord, anchor on him, lean not on your own understanding and watch how marvellous his works for you would show throughout everything you do.

It would be a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What is Inspired by Torrey Connor-Connors.