Event Location
Islamic Society of Orange County
9752 13th Street Garden Grove, CA 92844
Speakers
Deana Helmy
Deana Helmy is a Licensed Marriage and Therapist and is the Director of Counseling Services at ICNA Relief’s Crescent Counseling Center in Fullerton. She also works in Behavioral Health Training Services for the County of Orange Health Care Agency. Deana holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Social Behavior and a teaching credential from UC Irvine, a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Cal State Fullerton, an MBA from UC Irvine at the Paul Merage School Of Business, and is pursing a PHD. Deana was born in Southern California and has been very involved in the Muslim community. Her passion is in positive psychology and personal development, and she uses her skills to not only promote positive mindsets and lifestyles, but to empower her community to create a new narrative for American Muslims – one built on mutual respect, understanding, and connectedness.
Farha Abbasi
Dr. Farha Abbasi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University and core faculty member of the Muslim Studies Program. She is from Pakistan and settled in the United States in the year 2000 with her three daughters. In January of 2009, Dr. Abbasi received the American Psychiatric association SAMSHA Minority fellowship. She used the grant money to create awareness about cultural competency, to redefine it as not just tolerance but acceptance.
Her areas of interest are cultural psychiatry and teaching medical students how to provide culturally appropriate care to Muslim patients. She works directly with Muslim American community to encourage integration rather than isolation from mainstream society. In addition to her efforts to build bridges between the two cultures, Dr. Abbasi work as a psychiatrist has led her to address the barriers that stigmatize and silence mental health.
Sameera Ahmed
Dr Sameera Ahmed is the founder of The Family and Youth Institute and served as its Executive Director from 2006-2025. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Dr. Ahmed is a leading expert on American Muslim youth and has produced numerous groundbreaking publications, including The State of American Muslim Youth, Uplifting Black Muslim Youth, Prevalence of Risk Behaviors of US Muslim College Students, and Alcohol Use Among US Muslim College Students.
Dr. Ahmed is known for her contributions in promoting Muslim mental health through many avenues, including the publication of Counseling Muslims: Handbook of Mental Health Issues and Interventions, the most cited academic book on Muslim Mental health. She has been invited as a subject matter expert to events organized by the White House, Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), and the Department of Education (DOE).
Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi is the imam and religious director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Garden Grove; he also chairs the Fiqh Council of North America and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. Siddiqi has previously led the Religious Affairs Committee of the Muslim Students Association, Department of Religious Affairs at the Muslim World League Office to the UN and the United States, Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., and Islamic Society of North America. He is also a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s Community of West and Islam Dialogue (C-100). Siddiqi is a frequent participant in interfaith events, authors commentary and issues fatwas through the internet hub IslamOnline.net, and lectures widely on Islamic law. Siddiqi was one of the signatories in October 2007 of A Common Word Between Us and You. He is a graduate of the Islamic University of Medina, Birmingham University, and Harvard University.
Ahmed Billoo
Sh. Ahmed Billoo was born and raised in Southern California and by Allah’s grace, memorized the Quran at a young age. He studied in Cairo, Egypt in 2006 and in 2007 was granted a scholarship to study at the Islamic University of Madinah. He completed a degree in the Arabic language and then went on to graduate from the College of Shariah. He is currently a Seminary instructor at the Institute of Knowledge in Diamond Bar, California as well as an instructor at the California Islamic University in Anaheim, California. He also serves as the Religious Director at the Islamic Center of Cypress.
Amber Haque
Dr. Amber Haque is the Director of Muslim Family Services ICNA Relief USA. Formerly, he was a professor and Director of Clinical Psychology Master’s programs at UAE University, UAE, and Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar. He was also the Head of the Psychology Department at International Islamic University Malaysia. He was also a visiting scholar at Cornell University and UPenn, and served as an adjunct faculty at Aligarh Muslim University in India. Before his academic career, he practiced psychology in Michigan and New York for over 12 years. Dr. Haque earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Haque is currently engaged in research activities at the Muslim Mental Health Consortium, Department of Psychiatry, Michigan State University. His literary contributions include nine edited books and more than one hundred publications.
Ustadh Tabari Zahir
“Advocating for the weak facilitates your inner strength; giving your voice to the voiceless guarantees you will be heard in perpetuity!” Tabari Zahir
From 2004-2016, Zahir passionately worked within the federal prison system helping to promote a variety of educational initiatives amongst inmates. This vulnerable population needed life skills services, personal coaching, secular and spiritual curriculums which Zahir helped to operationalize by personally teaching while at the same time working with chaplains and program directors.
He continues similar work today counseling the formerly-incarcerated population and facilitating their societal success by connecting them to the varied reentry services they desperately need. He is also a CA Registered Alcohol and Drug Technician (RADT-CA)
In 2016, Zahir began to mentor inner city youth in several SoCal organizations by helping them to implement their personal action plans toward solving current social justice issues.
Marwa Azab
Marwa Azab, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of psychology and human development at California State University, Long Beach. She is also a Stanford Continuing Studies Instructor. She studied psychology for many years and completed a masters in counseling from Toronto, Canada and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from University of California, Irvine, where she taught in the biology department. She has given five TEDx talks, including “The Logical Vs. The Reflexive Brain: Only One Wins” & “Highly Sensitive? Should you change?”. She is the author of “An Update on Anxiety Disorders.” and has a blog on Psychology Today.
