meet heba
background
I am a cultural hybrid Arab Egyptian Filipina therapist, second-generation cis woman (she/her/هي). I moved to Maryland in my adult years, and was raised in culturally and racially diverse communities in New York City. Growing up with a multicultural, multifaith, and multiracial family, I have often found myself in the in-betweens, creating spaces to exist as someone who never felt like I fully belonged. This lived experience intensified my passion to create a collective space for those who share similar stories. As both a cancer survivor and someone who has experienced the wounding that comes with disrupting inter/intragenerational trauma, my own healing has included reconnecting to my body through traditional music, dance, cuisine, and reclaiming my ancestral legacy of cultural and collective healing.
therapy with me
My social justice values are deeply embedded in who I am as a human being and inextricable from the work I do as a therapist. I am a queer and trans affirming ally who centers the needs of BIPOC communities locally and globally. I take a culturally integrative, trauma-informed approach, while supporting clients in returning to their cultural and ancestral roots, their embodied wisdom, centering their stories and their voice, in an environment that invites warmth, compassion, safety, and radical acceptance. The therapeutic work we do together leans away from what is wrong with you and leans into understanding what has impacted you or continues to impact you internally and externally, steeped in a critical consciousness of existing systems of oppression, power, and privilege, and how these collective pieces impact your sense of alignment, your felt safety, trust, and emotional wellness.
experience
My journey with learning has come through different mediums including academia, lived experience, cultural wisdom, tradition, embodied knowing, and through making mistakes. Prior to my work as a private practice therapist, I spent over ten years working in various mental health roles and healing capacities in critical care hospital settings where I facilitated end-of-life-conversations and provided support to families experiencing traumatic grief. Early on in my career I worked as chaplain providing spiritual support to patients, families and staff in hospitals, and as a University chaplain providing mentorship to Muslim college students. I am a sex positive therapist and one of the joys of my career has been developing and facilitating a support group for trans and cis women to talk about sex, sexuality, and pleasure, and I invite this same type of engagement and discourse in the therapy space.
credentials
Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor (LGPC)
State of Maryland, License #LGP14383 | District of Columbia, License # LGPC200001644 | Supervised by Maryam Elbalghiti-Williams, LCSW-C License #21931
Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Johns Hopkins University, Summa Cum Laude | Recipient of Chi Sigma Iota Outstanding Emerging Practitioner Award
Master of Arts in Interfaith Relations & Graduate Certificate in Chaplaincy
Hartford International University for Peace, Magna Cum Laude | Thesis Defense, A Pastoral Approach to Grief and Bereavement in the Islamic Tradition
Bachelor of Arts in English & Journalism
University at Albany