Mona Shahab

A Clinical Psychologist by profession and an adventurer by birth. If not on a mountain, I am either training for one, immersed behind a computer analyzing data as I climb a rather challenging mountain…my PhD, teaching Clinical Psychology master students at Alfaisal University, or under a tree in an IDP or refugee camp/in a clinic working with clients who are climbing mountains triple the height of Mt. Everest, and through their climb, continue to teach me what no textbook, classroom, or professor ever will. After spending much of my free time in IDP and refugee camps, I found myself gravitated to delve a little deeper into complex trauma, trauma therapy, and personality disorders. I obtained my training in Narrative Exposure Therapy from two of the three founders (Drs. Maggie Schauer and Thomas Elbert), and my EMDR training from Barbara Lerch, Director and Senior Training Instructor of EMDR Centre London. I worked at i-Psy (Parnassia Group) in the Netherlands for 3.5 years mainly with refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented people.

Rewinding the tape somewhat, I majored in Psychology while completing my pre-med requirements at Boston University and earned a Master’s in Child Development with a concentration in Clinical Developmental Psychology from Tufts University. I worked at the Developmental Medicine Center at Children’s Hospital Boston for 2.5 years under the supervision of Drs. Ellen Hanson and Rachel Hundley where I conducted psychometric and cognitive testing in clinic and on two large ASD research projects (Simons Simplex Collection and Autism Consortium). In total, I spent nine years in Boston.

Throughout my clinical placements and career, I worked at Germaine Lawrence, a treatment center for adolescents with behavioral problems and eating disorders, and The Walker Home and School, a residential school for children with severe behavioral problems both in Massachusetts. Prior to embarking on my PhD journey at Leiden University in the Netherlands, I joined King Salman Center for Disability Research (KSCDR) as the program manager of the Mental Health Program. Along with my esteemed colleagues, we rolled out the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS), a community based representative study on the prevalence, comorbidity, risk factors, and evidence-based treatment of mental health disorders in the Kingdom. I have conducted extensive work and research in complex trauma, Autism, Adoption, Childhood Maltreatment.

Our therapeutic journey together may not be easy but I promise you this, no matter what life throws at us or how high the waves are, we will work through those high waves together.