Why Religious Leader Training in Suicide Response?
Support the Suicide Response Training of 500 Religious Leaders
Muslim Community
Suicide Response
“Many Muslims view mental illness as tests from God, seeking counseling from religious leaders. Many religious leaders do not feel prepared to handle mental health crises”
“Racial and ethnic discrimination, Islamophobia, anti Muslim assaults, psychological distress, sense of belonging, and social isolation are challenges Muslims in the US face that create concern for suicide risk”
Want a full copy of the Suicide Prevention Khutbah?
Fill out the form below to access.
By filling out the form you are agreeing to receive the full Suicide Prevention Khutbah as well as receiving email communication from Maristan.
Want a copy of the Suicide Postvention Khutbah?
Fill out the form below to access.
By filling out the form you are agreeing to receive the full Suicide Prevention Khutbah as well as receiving email communication from Maristan.
The Muslim Community Suicide Response Manual
Meet the Authors and Contributors
Authors
Rania Awaad, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Osama El-Gabalawy, MS
Stanford University School of Medicine
Osama El-Gabalawy is a medical student at Stanford University who intends to pursue a Psychiatry residency. He has a Bachelor’s in Biology and a Master’s in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is particularly interested in mental health and its intersections with race & religion. At the lab, he completes research and community projects related to suicide within the Muslim community. Osama likes to spend his spare time with family, eating, running, playing basketball, reading, and learning new things.
Taimur Kouser, BA
Duke University, Science & Society
Taimur Kouser is a Master's student at Duke University in the Bioethics & Science Policy program. Taimur is also a Fulbright scholar at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, where he completes research at the Center for Neurophilosophy. His project will build upon his undergraduate thesis work, exploring the philosophical implications of emerging neuroscience technologies and data, specifically focusing on the Human Connectome Project. He is interested in how neuroscience, medicine, philosophy, bioethics, applied ethics, policy, and the humanities all intersect.
Belal Zia, MA
University of Manitoba, Department of Psychology
Belal Zia is a Canada Vanier scholar at the University of Manitoba, where he is currently a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program. He received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Manitoba and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario. Belal's dissertation research focuses on developing an intervention to improve Canadian Muslim's utilization of mental health services. His broader research interests include cross-cultural psychology, suicide prevention, and intervention.
Contributors
Kamal Suleiman
University of Pennsylvania
Kamal Suleiman is an undergraduate student at The University of Pennsylvania studying Psychology, intending to pursue a career in research and clinical/counseling work. His research interests include the continued development of Islamically Integrated psychotherapy and community and identity among young American Muslims. He is currently working on the lab's ISPU COVID-19 study and the Suicide Toolkit project.
Aneeqa Abid
Stanford University
Aneeqa Abid is an undergraduate student at Stanford studying Human Biology. She helped write the historical chapter of Applying Islamic Principles to Clinical Mental Health Care (Routledge, 2020) and reported cultural & religious competency in the clinical setting. She is currently working on the suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention toolkit project, an adaptation of the HEARD Alliance toolkit for Muslim community leaders. Aneeqa is also co-leading a research project on Stanford Muslim student mental health needs, in collaboration with the Stanford Markaz Resource Center. The project’s goal is for the data to guide the direction of the lab’s initiative, including programming and Islamically integrated psychological services.
Fairuziana Humam
Fairuziana Humam Hamid received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Universitas Syiah Kuala. She obtained her M.A. in Community Psychology and Social Change at Penn State Harrisburg. Her research interests include community mental health, refugee wellbeing, mental health literacy, youth-peer health education, trauma, depression, and Islam and Gender Studies. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Community Psychology and Health. Fairuziana is a qualitative researcher and currently part of the manuscript writing team for the Community Based Participatory Research study at the lab. In her free time, she enjoys connecting with her friends and family, journaling and writing, traveling, photography, and cooking.
Emine Karakas Kurt, BA
Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
Emine Karakas Kurt received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. She worked as a research assistant at the Queen Mary University of London School of Medicine’s Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry on psychotic disorders projects. She is currently a research assistant at Harvard University’s Nock Lab, working on a project monitoring real-time suicidal tendencies. Emine’s research interests include mood disorders, depression, suicide, and women’s mental health, and she brings her expertise to the lab by working on the suicide toolkit project.
Shaan Kamal
University of Connecticut School of Medicine