About Me
Hi,
Welcome to my page. It is great to have you here <3
I am a second-generation cis-gender Pakistan-Muslim woman. I grew up middle-class in the suburbs of Illinois. My parents and family history has centered the importance of education and in 2021 by the grace of God I completed my doctorate in Counseling Psychology.
As a psychologist, I am committed to un-learning and re-learning thoughts, behaviors, and feelings I have towards myself and others which get in the way of meaningful, authentic, and supportive interpersonal relationships.
As a psychologist who also happens to be Muslim, I try to incorporate healing traditions such as dhkir and affirmations, movement and prayer, and explore concerns of power, control, and existentialism into sessions if my clients would like. I understand many individuals have complicated relationships with faith and I hope to honor the spiritual journey you are on regardless of your faith background. I enjoy learning from my clients and want my clients to bring their whole self into the therapy room with me. This includes parts of yourself you may find shameful, you may hate, or wish could change.
As an educator, I respect the lived experiences of my students and try to create classroom spaces in which knowledge about the world can be co-created and shared. Pedagogically, I aim to cultivate curiosity and connection between students and honor my students internal wisdom and values. I try to incorporate scholars and activists of color in my curricular choices as much as possible.
As a researcher, I am interested in telling stories via qualitative research methods such as narrative inquiry, auto- and duo-ethnography, and phenomenology. My research interests are broadly in identity development, Muslim women, reproductive health, and multicultural and decolonial education. My Ph.D. dissertation examined Muslim women's experiences in therapy at college counseling centers.
More on my research, clinical work, and education experiences can be viewed on the tabs above.
