Decolonized Therapy, To The Root.
Trauma-responsive, anti-oppressive online therapy that centers your dignity and identities.
Culturally responsive therapy for the BIPOC experiences without diminishing our identities.
SERVICES
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![Scenic landscape with mountains, a lake, and grassy fields]()
Individual Therapy
Our individual therapy offers collaborative, uniquely tailored, one-on-one process focused on exploring emotions, addressing challenges, and fostering personal growth and healing.
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Couples Therapy
Our couples therapy offers a supportive space for partners to enhance communication, deepen their connection, and address challenges guided by an experienced therapist.
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![Family]()
Family Therapy
Our group therapy offers a safe, inclusive space to process collectively, build healing connections, explore shared challenges; all with the guidance of our experienced and attuned therapists.
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Supervision
Our supervision services provide a supportive, reflective space for emerging clinicians to deepen their clinical insight, navigate complex cases, and grow in confidence and competence.
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Consultation
At Olive Branch Wellness, our professional consultation and clinical supervision services are rooted in a decolonized, anti-oppressive framework. We partner with clinicians, community leaders, and organizations who are committed to dismantling rigid, pathologizing clinical norms. Whether you are seeking specialized case consultation, licensure supervision, or culturally attuned psychoeducational training, we provide a collaborative, non-hierarchical space to deepen your practice. By integrating trauma-responsive care with profound systemic awareness, we empower practitioners to better support historically marginalized communities, repair harm, and actively weave social justice into the fabric of their clinical work.
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Community
Olive Branch Wellness centers decolonized, trauma-informed care that honors historically marginalized voices. By partnering with grassroots, cultural, and faith-based organizations, we co-create accessible programming that redefines wellness beyond traditional clinical norms. Our ongoing commitments include expanding sliding-scale therapy, supporting mutual-aid networks, and hosting culturally attuned restorative justice circles. To actively invest in movement-building, we also offer pro bono clinical consultation and training led by practitioners with lived experience. Ultimately, we seek to repair systemic harm, redistribute power, and grow resilient communities grounded in dignity, reciprocity, and collective care.
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![Workshops]()
Workshops
Description
Coming Soon! We will be offering workshops to non-clinical audiences to deepen insight, teach practical skills, and foster connections. Led by licensed clinicians, they combine evidence-based methods with tailored experiential exercises for groups small and large. Sessions target emotional regulation, communication skills, mindfulness practices, relational building and patterns, and fostering resilience within groups. Participants gain personalized tools, compassionate feedback, and a supportive community. Available in-person and virtually; inquire for topics and schedules.
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![Trainings]()
Trainings
Coming Soon! We will be offering advanced psychotherapy training for clinicians seeking clinical depth and confidence working with BIPOC clients and communities. Our evidence-based curriculum weaves trauma-responsive care, decolonized and anti-oppressive values, psychodynamic and attachment-focused modalities, live demos, supervised case consultation, and reflective practice. Led by senior clinician Saba Aqel, trainings stress cultural and trauma responsiveness, relational attunement, decolonizing mental healthcare, and integrative treatment planning. Tailored in-house programs where clinicians gain practical skills, sharper clinical judgment, tools to improve outcomes and sustain resilience.
MEET THE TEAM
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![Saba Aqel LCPC]()
Saba Aqel
FOUNDER
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![Emily Iseini]()
Emily Iseini
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
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![Yara Shadid LSW]()
Yara Shadid
PSYCHOTHERAPIST
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![Ibrahim Shalabi LPC]()
Ibrahim Shalabi
PSYCHOTHERAPIST
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![Kaitlyn Orear]()
Kaitlyn Orear
PSYCHOTHERAPIST
OUR VALUES
Welcome to Olive Branch Wellness in Chicago, Illinois. We recognize that true emotional well-being cannot be separated from the environments and systems we live within. As therapists, we do not view ourselves as the 'experts' of your life; rather, we are collaborative partners dedicated to holding space for your healing, resilience, and liberation.
As a Palestinian immigrant, female-owned psychotherapy practice, our mission is to cultivate a healing environment that is decolonized, anti-oppressive, and deeply grounded in intersectionality. We believe therapy must honor the wholeness of your story and identities, actively challenge systemic structures that perpetuate harm, and center safety, agency, and community empowerment. Our practice is trauma-informed, identity-affirming, and proudly inclusive of QTBIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and first- and second-generation communities.
We approach our work through a liberatory and culturally sustaining lens. Drawing upon trauma-focused care, psychodynamic exploration, and intersectional feminism, we actively decenter the traditional, pathologizing medical model. Every session is rooted in collaboration, ongoing consent, and transparency, allowing us to explore your emotions, relationships, and identities within the context of the broader social and cultural systems you navigate. At Olive Branch Wellness, healing is not about 'fixing' or 'symptom management'; it is about reclaiming your narrative, reconnecting with your roots, and nurturing your inherent capacity to thrive.
Testimonials