AMENA-Psy Advocacy Committee | Layli Khaghani, Psy.D.
Advocacy Committee Co-Chair | Dr. Layli Khaghani is on Clinical Faculty for the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA and in private practice in San Francisco. She specializes in serving adults, children and families from MENA regions, immigrant and refugee backgrounds, and survivors of complex and transgenerational trauma. Dr. Khaghani is thrilled to bridge her clinical work and activism on the Advocacy Committee, as she perceives global and personal transformation as inextricably linked. | | |  |  | Nahaal Binazir, Psy.D.
Advocacy Committee Co-Chair Dr. Nahaal Binazir trained at Pepperdine University and Providence St. John’s Child and Family Development Center, completing her Trauma Psychology postdoctoral fellowship at LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans – the city where she practices as a Clinical Psychologist. Born and raised in South Africa to interfaith Iranian immigrants, cultural learning and advocacy have always been at the core of her work. Dr. Binazir’s primary interests include adolescent health, community empowerment, mental health consultation, violence intervention, and immigrant and refugee health – with a focus on child-parent mental health. She is passionate about adolescent empowerment, as well as increasing accurate visibility for both MENA/SWANA and African communities in clinical work. She also serves as adjunct faculty to Providence St. John’s Child and Family Development Center as well as on the editorial board for the APA Journal of Psychological Trauma. In her free time, she enjoys time with family, reading, creating community through cooking and cultural crafts, as well as basketball and soccer. | | | | | | | Saba Ahmadi Saba Ahmadi is a fifth-year graduate student at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University at San Francisco Bay. Saba is a second generation Iranian-American and was born and raised in California. Saba is dedicated to promoting diversity in the field of psychology and finding new ways to share and build partnerships with both medical/mental health providers and community partners. Saba’s clinical interests focus on implementing trauma-informed and culturally sensitive evidence-based practices that support multigenerational families throughout their lifespan. Currently, Saba is working with youth and families in decreasing the stigma associated with accessing both medical and mental health services for families in a forensic clinical setting. Outside of clinical and academia, you can find Saba at a live music concert, practicing to one day compete in the Invisible Air Guitar Championship, or spending time hiking the great outdoors. |  |  | | Nicole Fleischer, Psy.D. Dr. Nicole Fleischer received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is an early career psychologist in Camden, NJ, focusing on health and pediatric psychology. Dr. Fleischer focuses her work on addressing behavioral, psychosocial, and social determinant barriers that may impact chronic health concerns in children and youth. In addition to her clinical roles, Dr. Fleischer emphasizes advocacy as a key part of her work as a psychologist; addressing systemic and institutional factors that contribute to poor health outcomes and decreased mental health functioning. She is excited to work with the advocacy committee to extend her efforts to MENA populations, given her personal and professional experience in how social determinants of health may adversely impact these communities. | | | | | Katrina Rbeiz Katrina Rbeiz is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Vanderbilt University. Having lived in several Middle Eastern countries before moving to the US for her undergraduate degree, Katrina is passionate about increasing the representation and voices of MENA populations. Her advocacy and research interests broadly include addressing disparities in the measurement and diagnosis of serious mental illnesses in people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. She hopes to a) identify risk (e.g. trauma) and resilience (e.g. ethnic identity) factors for ethnically diverse populations, particularly for MENA populations and b) treat the attenuated symptoms through developing culturally valid assessments and interventions. Her goal is to further explore ethnic identity, resilience, and psychosocial factors of MENA populations. Katrina is excited to work and collaborate with the inspirational members of the Advocacy Committee to continue bringing awareness and fighting against the injustices of systemic oppression that Arab/MENA Americans face. She is grateful that there exists such a platform dedicated to providing support, promoting social justice, and promising change. |  |  | Mohamed Elnakib, Psy. D. Mohamed Elnakib received his Psy.D. at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. He is currently a Psychologist at Innercare, the first federally funded migrant health center in the United States. An avid and passionate activist, Mohamed’s advocacy centers around using a social justice informed lens to educate others about social issues impacting Arab Americans and using a humanitarian approach to serve the most underserved and marginalized MENA community members both nationally and internationally. His research interests include the advancement and development of multiculturally sensitive therapeutic interventions for MENA communities, raising awareness on the impacts of racial discrimination on the lives of Arab and Muslim Americans, and what contributes to collective resilience for Arab and Muslim Americans that are impacted by trauma. Mohamed embodies values of social justice in every aspect of his research scholarship and clinical practice and is a vocal advocate for social justice and equity for BIPOC communities. Mohamed has served as the co-chair of the first inaugural conference planning committee for AMENA-Psy in 2020 in addition to the co-chair of the Advocacy committee from 2018 to 2022. Currently, Mohamed serves as the editor of the AMENA-Psy Newsletter. In addition to his work with AMENA-Psy, Mohamed currently serves on Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis’s APA Presidential “Representation Matters” Task Force. | | Nadia Alsamadi Nadia Alsamadi is a queer Palestinian-American clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Loyola University Maryland. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in Los Angeles, California, and will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at Metropolitan Psychological Services, PLLC in September, 2023. She has a wide variety of clinical experiences and most enjoys working with LGBTQ+, first-generation American, and MENA/SWANA clients, with a focus on identity exploration, resilience, and the ways in which systemic and institutional oppression affect mental health. |  |  | Nuha Alshabani Nuha Alshabani is a Counseling Psychology doctoral candidate at The University of Akron. She received an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from The University of Akron and a B.A. in Psychology from Baldwin Wallace University. Her research interests focus on refugee and immigrant populations, Arab Americans, trauma, oppression, resiliency, community participatory research, and culturally specific interventions. Nuha uses a social justice and multicultural lens in her approach to research and practice. In the future, Nuha hopes to focus on the intersection of psychological research and public policy. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to new countries, running, yoga, and spending time with family and friends! | | | Hadeel Ali, Ph.D. Hadeel Ali (she/her) received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver. Taking experience as a first-generation Palestinian-Pakistani immigrant, Hadeel is passionate about supporting the MENA and South Asian populations. Her professional interests involve serving racially/ethnically marginalized communities, refugees, and immigrants through dismantling systemic racism and promoting healing for those of the global majority. In her free time, Hadeel finds peace through connecting with nature, hiking, dancing, and spending time and laughing with those she loves. | 
|  | Amir Maghsoodi
| For questions related to advocacy initiatives please email the advocacy committee co-chairs: Layli Khaghani, Psy.D. (drlkhaghani[at]gmail.com) Nahaal Binazir, Psy.D. (ntbinazir[at]gmail.com)
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