Join the Network to Advance Abolitionist Social Work (NAASW), Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA), and USA Palestine Mental Health Network (USA PMHN) on Monday, December 11 for a virtual panel conversation with mental health providers creating opportunities for solidarity with Palestinian liberation through their roles.
Beyond clinical approaches for supporting clients directly impacted by the ongoing genocide and addressing historical, collective, and racialized trauma, we will invite panelists to share their own strategies and skills for politicizing the therapeutic relationship in the context of this repressive moment. Further inquiries into knowledge and praxis will aim to connect the dots between psychoeducation and political education, mental health and collective care, and Palestinian and global liberation.
This event is particularly geared towards mental health workers, clinicians, counselors, and students interested in deepening solidarity with Palestinian freedom struggles. Researchers, educators, activists, survivors, peers, current and prior service users, writers, artists, and other advocates are also welcome to join us.
Register in advance via Eventbrite to join. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join.
Donations
NAASW, IDHA, and USA PMHN are small organizations that strive to meet the accessibility needs of our community to the best of our ability. This event is by tiered suggested donation to cover the cost of ASL interpretation and panelist honoraria, though no one will be turned away due to a lack of funds. Any further proceeds generated from the event will be donated to organizations that support Palestinian liberation efforts.
Access
ASL interpretation and automated captioning will be provided. Recording to be announced.
If you have any questions about access or otherwise, please email contact@idha-nyc.org or abolitionistsw@gmail.com.
Panelists
Vivian AbouAllol, Ms.Ed, LMHC, LCPC (she/her) is a Palestinian American Psychotherapist practices in Florida and Illinois. She received her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Northern Illinois University and currently is working on her Doctoral degree. Vivian is on the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network Steering Committee. She is a qualified supervisor providing supervision in Florida state. She has extensive training in Trauma, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART). Vivian has widespread experience with PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, adjustment issues and Substance abuse. She helped individuals and families of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Vivian currently works in her private practice and is a provider for a Group practice.
Gina Ali (they/she) is a queer North African & Muslim therapist living on the occupied territory of Tongva land (also known as Los Angeles, California). They are currently a Ph.D. candidate developing research within the field of decolonial psychology. Gina has spent many years divesting from western individualistic mental health models and moving towards a framework that centers healing within relationships. Through their educational content on social media, Gina focuses on how processing collective trauma requires a shift from “me” to we to truly identify the root of what pains us. Their therapeutic practice has become a way to create room for marginalized people to imagine life past survival, despite the dominant narrative of exile and erasure under oppressive systems. Within this space, Gina invites the transformative potential of embracing neurodivergence, tapping into ancestral wisdom, and contributing to the creation of a world rooted in community care.
Roula Hajjar (she/her) is a postgraduate psychotherapist at the Greene Clinic in Brooklyn, where she works with adults, couples and groups across the life course. She received her MSW from Silberman School of Social Work in 2022. Prior to beginning her MSW, Roula worked in policy. She received and B.A. from the American University of Beirut in Political Studies and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Public Policy. Having been trained in the social work discipline, Roula endeavors to bring in an awareness to the material realities of the individuals she works with, recognizing structural violence and systematic oppression in the contextualization of their pain. Roula is a first-generation Arab immigrant from Lebanon. She is a native Arabic and English speaker.
Melody Li, LMFT (they/佢) is the founder of Inclusive Therapists: a mental health directory, resource hub & community centering marginalized communities. They also founded Mental Health Liberation, a non-profit bridging Black, Indigenous and People of Color with free, quality therapy, and empowering Students & Clinicians of Color. Their activism focuses on decolonizing mental health care and dismantling the industrial complex. The colony-born migrant and settler on Turtle Island advocates for Landback, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Black Liberation as priority.
Christine Schmidt, LCSW, CGP (she/her) is a clinical social worker and group psychotherapist in private practice in Brooklyn, New York. She is on the Steering Committee of the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, the Co-President of Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, and the co-founder of Racial Literacy Groups collective. Christine has published about the psychological dynamics of racism with particular focus on the impact of whiteness.
Lara Sheehi, PsyD (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology and founding faculty director of the Psychoanalysis and the Arab World Lab. Lara’s work takes up decolonial and anti-oppressive approaches to psychoanalysis, with a focus on liberation struggles in the Global South. She is co-author with Stephen Sheehi of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022) which won the Middle East Monitor's 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is currently under contract with Pluto Press for her new book project, From the Clinic to the Street: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures.
Moderator
Brianna Suslovic is an abolitionist social worker and doctoral student based in Chicago on unceded Potawatomi land. She is affiliated with the Network to Advance Abolitionist Social Work.