Building Harmony- Intercultural Marriages
Building Harmony Session 2: Intercultural Marriages
Date: September 7th, 2024 (Saturday)
Time: 12:00 PM-3:00 PM
Speakers: Sister Alaa Shareef and Dr. Omar Shareef
Married couples, parents of young children, and those looking to getting married are encouraged to attend!
Childcare is available for $10 a child. Please register your child(ren) through the separate childcare registration form on the registration home page before the event.
Join us for this informative session with Sr. Alaa and Dr. Omar (a counselor and psychiatrist, themselves an intercultural couple) to discuss intercultural marriages. The topics they will cover include what is important when considering a spouse of a different culture? How can one overcome cultural issues within your marriage? And how does one raise children in a multicultural home?
Speaker bios
Alaa Shareef received her MA in Clinical Psychology and her M.Ed in Mental Health Counseling from Teachers College at Columbia University. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and additional certifications in Childhood & Adolescence Studies and Cultures & Communities Studies. She is formally trained in Arabic from Al Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. Alaa is also a researcher and community educator with the Family and Youth Institute focusing on Muslim mental health curriculum development, advocacy, and literacy. Her research on the Islamic history of Mental Health has led to her contributions as one of the leading authors for a Springer chapter titled Mental Health in the Islamic Golden Era: The Historical Roots of Modern Psychiatry. In the past she has served on the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s Education Board as well as the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition as a Curriculum Developer. She currently provides mental health counseling in New York to clients of diverse backgrounds and ages dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression, divorce, trauma, family discord, and narcissistic abuse.
Omar Shareef is an MD, MBA dual-degree graduate of St. George's University School of Medicine. He completed psychiatry residency at Nassau University Medical Center, and completed fellowships in Public Psychiatry and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy at Columbia University. He currently practices at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, NY. Omar is a certified Adult Mental Health First Aid Instructor, a community educator with the Family and Youth Institute, and is a member of the HEAL Collective, a NY-based nonprofit dedicated to Muslim mental health.