Student Spotlight: Mohammad Abdul-Rahim

“The most motivating part of this work is witnessing people change and grow—that’s what keeps me inspired, even through the tough times,” shared Mohammad Abdul-Rahim, a second year student in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology program. “I find that the most growth happens when we are challenged and have the resources and support to navigate those challenges effectively.”

Mohammad was born and raised in Amman, Jordan, where he lived with his parents and older sister. “My family is Palestinian, so we’re part of a large diaspora community,” he explained. “My great grandparents and their children fled their homes during the Nakba, and over four decades later my family fled Kuwait during the Gulf War. Eventually, my family settled in Amman with many of their closest friends.” Mohammad described his upbringing as very peaceful and filled with love, surrounded by a tightknit, intergenerational community of family and friends, many of whom he’s still very close to today. In his early childhood, Mohammad and his immediate family moved around a lot, living in Barcelona and Cairo before returning to Amman when Mohammad was in fourth grade. After graduating from high school, Mohammad decided to move to the United States for his undergraduate studies.

In the fall of 2011, Mohammad enrolled at Claremont McKenna College, a small liberal arts college in Claremont, California, with plans of pursuing a career in medicine or dentistry, but that plan changed rather quickly. “I was studying biochemistry and just couldn’t get engaged with my science classes,” he recalled. “I changed my major eleven times! They used to talk about me on tours because they were proud to offer such a flexible education that someone could change their major so many times and still graduate in four years.” When he first arrived at CMC, Mohammad felt very out of place, but he eventually acclimated. “My first two years were a really beautiful evolution for me as I became more socially integrated, physically active, and began coming out of the closet,” he reflected. “The more I opened up and showed up authentically, the better I was received by other students at school and I was able to tap into a part of myself that was more confident and self-assured.” He became more involved in the community via his roles in student government, planning events that promote connection and recreation, and representing student voices to promote changes they’d like to see at the school. “While I found a lot of acceptance for myself as a gay man, I wasn’t as comfortable expressing myself as an Arab American and ended up hiding parts of myself, consciously and unconsciously, so I could fit in,” he explained. “Fourteen years later, I’m really appreciating the opportunity to have a second go at introducing my full self, this time to fellow Wright Institute classmates who have been incredibly welcoming and respectful.”

After graduating from Claremont McKenna College in 2015 with a BA in economics and a minor in finance, Mohammad began working as an analyst for Mercer, a global HR consultancy, in Los Angeles. Over the five years that he worked there, he spent time at their New York and Dubai offices and eventually progressed to the role of Senior Consultant at their San Francisco office. “I liked working at Mercer because of their emphasis on the human side of business,” he shared. “The teams I worked with cared about the power that people bring to organizations, invested in professional development, and emphasized everyone playing a role in cultivating a healthy and positive team culture.” At Mercer, Mohammad became involved with employee resource groups and eventually led their 2SLGBTQ+ resource group globally. “That was a really big change in my life and allowed me to become comfortable talking about key aspects of my personal life with my co-workers, which subsequently helped me gain the courage to come out to my family,” he explained. “I learned how to advocate for and provide emotional support to others, and how to encourage them to advocate for themselves as well.” Mohammad also discovered that he enjoyed thinking about how to improve systems as he worked to help companies improve their processes, organizational structures, and overall workforce engagement.

In 2021, Mohammad began working for Instacart as an HR strategy & operations manager, designing and implementing company-wide strategies to improve employee experiences and hiring practices. “I got to meet talented and hardworking people from different walks of life, learned about their experiences and challenges at work, and became an advocate for them within the broader organization,” he recalled. Unlike his previous consulting work, Mohammad was now responsible for not only assessing systems and proposing potential solutions, but actually implementing the solutions themselves. He was surprised to see how slow systems can move and realized he needed to better understand the system as a whole to influence sustainable changes. “It was really enlightening and rewarding,” he explained. “I gained a better understanding of the complexities of systems, and became increasingly patient and creative in driving organizational change and impact.”

During his time at Instacart, Mohammad began to think about returning to school to pursue a graduate degree. He considered getting an MBA with the goal of progressing further in his corporate HR career, but he was also thinking about a possible pivot into public policy or psychology. After several years of consideration, he decided to pursue his Master’s degree in counseling psychology. Mohammad was drawn to the Wright Institute because of their mission’s emphasis on social justice, the weekend format, and the close-knit community. “The Wright Institute is really respected in the field and that’s really comforting, especially from a career-switcher’s perspective,” he shared. “I wanted to be part of an institution that had a strong reputation in the field and which also had values that were aligned with mine.”

Mohammad enrolled in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology program in the fall of 2024. In his first year, Mohammad developed close bonds with the members of his student cohort. “I’ve always tried to build community in the organizations I’m a part of, so I quickly suggested that we should go out together after one of our Sunday classes for dinner,” he recalled. “That really helped me bond with everyone and it was a great moment for us to get out of the school environment and socialize.” Mohammad loves learning from his cohortmates who have different perspectives and values, noting that everyone is bringing something different to the classroom, but everyone is respectful, caring, and on this journey to help others. He’s also discovered a lot about himself in the past year and is working to become more comfortable with silence, make more space for himself by not overcommitting, and take time for self-care while working through difficult content in his classes.

One memory that stands out to Mohammad from his first year in the program was when the administration, staff, and affinity group leaders came together to throw a Pride celebration when one of the weekend classes coincided with the San Francisco Pride parade. He was given a budget to organize a small celebration for the weekend students, and was overjoyed to see so many people jumping in to make the building feel more welcoming and make the day’s events a success. “We were playing music and decorating the building while Dr. Richardson was standing on chairs to help Izzy Smith and student volunteers hang decorations,” Mohammad reminisced. “It was really lovely to see our Dean of Students having fun and helping prepare the space for the day’s festivities.” In addition to snacks and decorations, they facilitated sharing circles, created Pride themed posters, led a small march around the neighborhood, and broke out into an impromptu dance party in the parking lot before class. “So many people leaned in, whether they were part of the community or they were allies,” he shared. “I really appreciated my cohort showing up to celebrate the 2SLGBTQ+ community and I’ll never forget dancing to Whitney Houston with my Wright Institute community.”

Mohammad also thoroughly enjoyed his first year of classes at the Wright Institute. One course that really stood out for him was Multicultural Awareness and Sensitivity with Professor Tara Ignont. The content was demanding, but he felt like it pushed his cohort to open up more, challenge dominant social discourses and oppressive dynamics, and the professor did a great job facilitating their conversations. Another class that Mohammad especially enjoyed was Diagnosis and Empirically Supported Treatments with Dr. Sahil Sharma. “The topic of diagnosis has a problematic history, but I think he did a really good job laying that out and giving us a variety of readings so that we could be exposed to different perspectives in the field and come up with our own viewpoints,” he explained. “Also, I really valued the chance to connect with and learn from a fellow immigrant who has found success in the therapy field, both as a clinician and as an educator—which I hope to do someday as well.” The third course that really piqued his interest was Community Mental Health with Professor Amara Benjamin-Bullock, where students had the opportunity to hear from guest speakers from a variety of community health organizations, which expanded Mohammad’s vision for what his career as a mental health clinician could look like, beyond individual therapy to broader societal impact.

Last year, Mohammad served as a co-facilitator of the Multicultural, Mixed Race, and Mixed Ethnicity Affinity Group alongside A.J. Tyler. “I wanted to explore the complexity of identifying with so many groups: Arab and American, queer and Muslim, and someone who believes in systems change but also sees the value in working within the system,” he reflected. “The affinity group was a space for students who identify with multiple communities to share the ways in which their various identities impact their experiences as humans, students, and future clinicians,” he explained. Mohammad had an amazing experience leading the group and was grateful for the ability to connect with students across different cohorts, especially second years like his co-facilitator A.J., who became helpful mentors in navigating classes, cohort dynamics, and the practicum application process.

For the past year, Mohammad has also been running his own consulting business called MAR HR Advisory. “I'm advising organizations in the US, the UK, and other geographic regions on their culture, workforce engagement and wellbeing, leadership development, hiring practices, and how to improve compliance,” he explained. “It's been really nice to be able to continue doing this work, but on my own.” Mohammad formed an extensive network over the decade he spent working in the HR field, so in just a short time, he has been able to secure new clients and lead a variety of projects. “I just led my first set of focus groups since completing my Common Therapeutic Factors class and I found myself listening and reframing a lot more instead of quickly jumping into solutions like I had previously done,” he shared. “I felt I got more out of the participants and it was cool to see how just one class gave me a new skill set that I could use in my consulting work.”

Mohammad was nominated last winter to join the newly-established Counseling Program Advisory Board, which he was very honored by. “It was really interesting to be able to collect feedback from students and learn about their personal experiences, some similar and others very different to mine,” he recalled. “The hardest part was hearing about people’s challenges and not knowing what to do with that information, but it was exciting to work with other students, faculty, and administration to come up with an intentional, data-driven process that helped us prioritize focus areas and identify potential solutions.” This role afforded Mohammad additional opportunities to connect with folks outside of his cohort and expanded his perspective regarding student experiences at the Wright Institute. After doing many employee engagement surveys in his previous career and in his current consulting work, it was an eye-opening experience for Mohammad to conduct similar surveys targeting students and in partnership with fellow psychology students and faculty. Mohammad admitted he had to remind himself to slow down as part of the process after the high-pressure corporate environments in which he’s used to conducting surveys. “I felt like the analysis was more thorough than some of my usual work because no one wanted to leave a stone unturned or a voice unheard,” he explained. “We wanted everyone to feel fully represented and to create a process that felt transparent and thorough.”

Outside of his work and studies, Mohammad has volunteered at several organizations in the San Francisco area. After losing his job as a result of mass layoffs in the tech industry, Mohammad got involved with the Marin Food Bank. “Rather than sit at home and be sad, I would go to the food bank and package fresh and nutritious food, which would be distributed to those in need across the SF community,” he reflected. “It helped put my struggles into perspective when compared to others in the Bay Area who suffer from poverty and homelessness and I was in awe of the staff at the Food Bank who dedicate their life to supporting those in our community with the greatest needs.” He also volunteered at the SF LGBT Center, helping out with their career fair and annual gala. Most recently, Mohammad started his own organization called Sawa (“together” in Arabic), which serves Arab immigrants and asylum seekers who struggle to settle and find community in the broader Bay Area. “It reminds me of how much privilege I have as an English-speaking, college graduate, surrounded by supportive and affirming friends and family,” he shared. “I'd love to find a way to scale the work I’m doing and my experience at the Wright Institute has helped me explore the wide range of possible paths to make an impact in this field.”

Mohammad began taking yoga classes over a decade ago and found that it helped him become better connected with his body and mind, calm his nerves, and improve his wellbeing. Two years ago, he was attending a class with Yvonne Kinglsey at Haum Studio when she mentioned that she was leading a teacher training. “She has this amazing ability to lead a room like an orchestra, but in a very calming way,” he reflected. “She helped me become more present in my body at a time when I was my most anxious, so I really wanted to learn from her.” After completing the three-month course, Mohammad began teaching his own yoga classes, which he calls “Flow with Moe.” Mohammad emphasizes mindfulness, inclusivity, and accessibility in his classes, which he teaches in a variety of locations around the city. He feels that the skills he’s learned as a yoga instructor will be invaluable in his work with clients in the future as well. "One of the greatest lessons I learned is the economy of words, which one of my teachers, Jacqui Rowley, models beautifully. Her clear, simple cues guide students into deeper stretches and more meaningful practices,” he explained. “As a future therapist, I’m learning how the ability to say more with less can be profoundly impactful."

In his limited free time, Mohammad makes sure to engage in some much-needed self-care. He enjoys listening to music and attending concerts, playing tennis, and replicating his family’s recipes. “I also love bringing friends together,” he explained. “I like to plan scavenger hunts and I recently planned a field day with my friend as a fundraiser.” Mohammad is also an avid “Survivor” fan and is very glad that his Wednesday night classes are done so he can rejoin his weekly “Survivor” viewing party with his friends, though he will miss seeing his cohort weekly. He ensures that he walks ten to twenty thousand steps most days for his physical and mental health. “I pick a location in the city and walk there and back,” he shared. “Sometimes I even do my reading or write my essays while I’m walking, which isn’t great for my neck, but it helps me stay healthy physically and mentally, while getting my school work done on time!”

Recently, Mohammad started his practicum at Daly City Youth Health Center, where he is working with youth and young adults aged four to twenty five, as well as their families. He was drawn to this work because of a recent experience he had volunteering as a translator and advocate for a young transgender immigrant from Syria. Mohammad was involved in meetings with case managers, lawyers, and medical providers, and got a glimpse into what it’s like to navigate the system, especially as a non-English speaker. He also saw the value in working with youth as they navigate change, loneliness, and hopelessness. “As someone who didn’t have access to mental health resources as a kid, I think they would have really helped me,” he explained. “I want to explore what it’s like to work with the younger generation through early intervention, and I find the opportunity to engage with their families and contribute to systemic change especially impactful.” Mohammad hopes this experience will allow him to reconnect with his younger self and decide if working with youth or families is something he would enjoy in the future.

After graduating from the Wright Institute next fall, Mohammad has a lot of ideas about what his future may hold. In general, he hopes to work with people in the midst of big life transitions, immigrants, interracial families and couples, and the 2SLGBTQ+ community. He also plans to continue his consulting business and yoga classes, with the goal of offering workshops and events that bring together mental health, personal growth and motivation, and career development. “I was feeling like my vision might not be feasible,” he laughed, “but I became excited when I started seeing many examples of professors and guest speakers at the Wright Institute who go above and beyond the typical role of mental health clinicians to help people in their community.” While his future plans are still in the works, it’s clear that, with his intense drive and determination, Mohammad will have an immeasurable impact on the communities with whom he works.