Yara is a first-generation, QTBIPOC-identifying Palestinian with over fifteen years of pre-licensed experience in Chicago as an educator and case manager. Her background has deepened her insight into how intersecting identities and structural barriers impact mental health, often disconnecting individuals from their authentic selves and the relationships they seek.

Clients can expect a collaborative, compassionate environment rooted in curiosity, healing, and mutual respect. Yara approaches therapy through a trauma-informed, anti-Zionist lens, with a focus on how systems of power shape both personal and collective narratives. She works to understand each client within the context of their inner psyche and the external systems they navigate, focusing on deepening self-awareness, processing difficult experiences, and fostering adaptive coping strategies.

Her therapeutic practice integrates Psychodynamic Therapy, CBT, DBT, Trauma-Focused Therapy, and intersectional-feminist, decolonized approaches. Yara is dedicated to creating a safe, affirming space for clients of diverse racial, ethnic, sexual, cultural, and gender identities.

She specializes in working with individuals from marginalized backgrounds—particularly young adults and adults navigating career transitions, family and cultural expectations, identity exploration, and relationships. Her work is attuned to the needs of SWANA communities, first- and second-generation immigrants, Black and Indigenous peoples, religious minorities, people-pleasers, and individuals practicing nontraditional relationship structures, with a focus on addressing trauma responses, grief, power dynamics, and relational patterns.

Beyond her professional practice, Yara is committed to imagining a more inclusive world built with marginalized communities in mind. Her personal interests include political reading, somatic learning, connecting with land and nature—and she welcomes clients to ask about her puppy, her love of birdwatching, and her growing passion for plant identification.