Reema Baniabbasi is a Counseling Psychologist, columnist at Sail E-Magazine, and an expert advisory board member at two UAE-based mental health startups. She has a Bachelor's in Psychology and a Master's in Counseling Psychology both from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She also holds a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Reema Baniabbasi has experience working in the US and UAE with people of diverse cultural and class backgrounds which included refugees, immigrants, UAE ex-pats, UAE nationals, and culturally blended families.

Her work as a therapist uses a combination of approaches in which the client is seen as an expert in their own lives with whom Reema is collaborating with. One approach involves asking questions and reflecting on themes that come up in the sessions to help the person to:

• Look at the problem from a distance and break it down to smaller manageable sizes
• Explore different forces that contribute to the problem, not limiting it to one explanation.
• Reconnect with helpful personal, family, or societal expectations and reassess the unhelpful ones that keep the person stuck
• Get to know themselves better through curiosity instead of paralyzing self-judgment
• To stay connected with the stories of strengths, successes, passions, values, goals, and the relationships that have helped the person but that get lost with the daily grind.

Another approach involves helping the person experiment with different coping activities to build self-care and community-care practices that feel meaningful, teach relaxation strategies, and teach secular adaptations of mindfulness meditation. She is open to using creative writing, journaling, and collage as alternative ways of expression.

Reema Baniabbasi's 1-hour therapy sessions are offered one-on-one for people aged 18 and above in both English and Arabic. While it is recommended to do the sessions on a weekly basis, Reema is open to offering the sessions twice per week, every two weeks, or once per month depending on the person's needs and circumstances.

She is open to helping those struggling with a wide range of problems including:

• Adjustment/transition difficulties
• Stress
• Personal development
• Personal and cultural identity crises
• Lack of direction/meaning
• Self-esteem
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Phobias
• Trauma (including intergenerational trauma)

BSc Psychology Northeastern University

MSc Counseling Psychology Northeastern University

Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Counseling Psychology Lesley University