Areas of focused healing

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Grief

Society pushes us to grieve alone yet grief is not something to “fix” or “stop”. Grief is not a linear process. I want to remove the expectation that loss means we need to “feel better” and “move on”.  Certainly, grief can amplify our already existing difficulties and make us feel isolated from those around us. While often painful, grief is also a process of honoring your loved one. I hope to be able to help you integrate the reality of your loss into your life.  I believe that the relationship with your loved one can remain strong and can inform your living.

Systemic Oppression, Race, Trauma

As an immigrant and a member of the APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) community, I have felt the unique strain of acculturative stress, systemic injustice and feeling “othered”.  I believe that our connection to our community and to ourselves should determine our well-being and happiness. Yet, we are told that our health is contingent upon our conformity, or how well we can “fit in”.  I hope to be able to liberate your suffering by helping you to feel authentic and safe (rather than deficient, alone, wrong).

Intersecting Identities

We all hold multiple identities (e.g. a working professional and a partner; a student and a friend).  Some of us feel we have to hide one part of ourselves in order to feel safe in another identity (e.g. religious identity and sexual identity).  Intersecting identities can add invisible layers to the oppression felt in racialized communities in particular.  I believe that no one deserves to live in the shadows because of who they are.  My practice is dedicated to helping those of us who feel they have to hide some or all of who they are just to survive. You are are not alone. There is community and healing ahead.   

Relationships

Human beings are social and meant to be in community with one another.  Unfortunately, society tells us that we  need to rely on ourselves in order to “succeed” and find happiness. Relationships are central to healing. Relationships can lift some of our pain by allowing us to share what harms us.  I believe that we are capable of finding healing within our relationships (with family, chosen and not, friendships, members of a shared lived experience). I want to help you feel more connected, safe, loved and seen in your relationships. 

Expanding the binary of Muslim mental health.

In the the west, racialized communities are overlooked when it comes to nuance, intersectionality and difference. I have found that some of the most suffering comes from the invisibility of these differences and the pressure to “blend in” and not be seen as different in a post-9/11 world. My work is focused on addressing these gaps in the Muslim, SWANA and Desi community mental health industry so that those who do not fit the “mold” can be affirmed in all of their differences and all of their beauty.