Our Approach
At Rahma, we believe that people become the best version of themselves when they are treated with compassion. We believe in walking your journey with you, and lending a hand when needed. We trust your voice and we believe in your ability to shape your own life. Our job is to provide the support and tools to help you do that.
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Salima trained at Adler University and, in keeping with Adlerian principles, strongly believes in depth work, finding pragmatic solutions tailored to individual circumstances, and implementing principles of social justice in her work. As such, Salima specializes in providing culturally and spiritually supportive mental health care that takes into consideration social and structural barriers to mental health, in addition to individual ones.
Rahma
Reflecting Loving Compassion
Rahma is an Arabic word that has a number of varied, but related meanings. Like many words in other languages, it does not exactly translate to English, but the notion of loving compassion comes close.
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In particular, Rahma is used in relation to the love and compassion of the divine for creation. Indeed, in Arabic, Rahma shares the same root as rahm, the womb. In this way, we can understand Rahma as the way we are surrounded, protected, and nurtured by the loving compassion of the divine.
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Here at Rahma, we believe in reflecting exactly that kind of loving compassion in our work. Whether you believe in a higher power, or just the divine that exists within us and is nurtured through our shared bonds, the notion of Rahma can serve as an important lens through which we can see ourselves and the world around us.
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We have made that reflection tangible through our logo, which is the Arabic word Rahma, reflected repeatedly, eventually forming a snowflake - beautiful, unique, and sometimes fragile, but powerful when brought together with others like it.
The logo symbolizes the Rahma Counselling & Consulting philosophy - that we are each unique and beautiful, in need of nurturing and care, and that we work best when we are surrounded and supported by others who understand us. It is also the same philosophy articulated in Adler's idea of gemeinshaftsgefühl, or community feeling, which captures the idea that we are most whole and well when we are part of a community that supports and loves us. Our goal is to help create those supportive communities.
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This approach also prioritizes a perspective best articulated by Dr. Cornell West, who says that "justice is what love looks like in public." This means that in striving for loving and supportive communities, we are always conscious of the systems within which we live and the ways in which they impact us. Race, religion, culture, gender, sexuality, and all the other elements of our identities intersect with structures of power at play in the world in a way that impacts our mental health, and Rahma is also about compassionately recognizing those realities.
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Salima's goal as a psychotherapist and educator is to help individuals, couples, families, and communities in their growth toward becoming the best versions of themselves, by providing spiritually and culturally supportive mental health care that is aware of the daily impact of the systems in which we live.