Meet Alia Azmat | Counseling Psychologist, Muslim Woman, Researcher, Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alia Azmat and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alia, how do you think about risk?
I consider risk-taking as a part of my identity. I am comfortable taking risks and have been intentional in taking calculated risks throughout my professional life. For example, in 2014, I left my full-time job to apply for my Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and last year, I did a fellowship with the Center for Victims of Torture with limited torture rehabilitation experience. For me, risk-taking is a natural part of living a full life — it can be scary, but it can also be exhilarating to learn something new about yourself in a different environment.

Risk also makes me think about survival and privilege. My elders including my great grandparents and grandparents were forced to take risks with their lives during the Partition and their livelihood when they immigrated to the United States. My mother and father have taken risks with their parenting, and I have had to think about both racial and financial privilege and survival when I take personal and professional risks.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’d like people to know that my approach to therapy centers around the quote “We cannot force someone to hear a message they are not ready to receive, but we must never underestimate the power of planting a seed.” When I first started my Ph.D., my supervisors shared that one of hardest parts of being a therapist is that we do not always see the fruits of our labor while working with clients. Sometimes we end treatment before we can see all of a client’s growth, and sometimes what we share doesn’t connect for people years after treatment has ended. Therapy can feel like a dirty word in some communities, something that “shouldn’t”; be talked about, or something that is for “those” people but not marginalized communities. I want readers to know that it is normal to be curious, scared, and overwhelmed when learning about or trying new things – including therapy. As my business grows, I hope that I can plant seeds of comfort with my work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I absolutely love the Atlanta Botanical Gardens so an afternoon spent there after coffee at Hodgepodge would be an ideal start. Dinner would be at Zyka or Leon’s in Decatur.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The non-profits HEART and the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) are the organizations I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to! HEART stands for Health Education Advocacy Research and Training and works to promote sexual health, uproot gendered violence, and advance reproductive justice by establishing choice and access for the most impacted Muslims. They recently released a workbook titled “Sex Talk: A Muslim's Guide to Healthy Sex & “Relationships” which addresses a host of topics including healthy relationships, infertility, abortion, sexual dysfunction, birth control, and sex as an act of worship in the Islamic tradition. CVT is a human rights organization that works to heal the wounds of torture on individuals, their families, and their communities and to end torture worldwide. Their Georgia office is in Clarkston – the most diverse square mile in the United States.

Website: https://aliaazmat.wixsite.com/mysite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapywdr.alia/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliaazmat/