The ABC Model of Resilience

Middle Eastern and North African American (MENA) Counselor Educators Building Community

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33043/3c5yy46yd8

Keywords:

Middle Eastern & North African, Resilience, Counselor Education, Professional Identity, Collaborative Autoethnography, Qualitative

Abstract

Counselor educators of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent remain underrepresented in counselor education in the United States. Consequently, there is limited scholarship addressing how these educators maintain their professional identities and wellness and foster resilience amid volatile politics and institutional invisibility. In this collaborative autoethnography, four MENA counselor educators undertook rotating peer interviews, kept reflective journals, and collected identity artifacts, which they then analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis. Findings revealed that resilience occurred as a relational, contextual, and politicized process comprised of (1) adaptive resilience, (2) belonging and community, and (3) cultural accountability and professional responsibility, which countered systemic erasure and silencing and supported persistence. Across the themes that emerged, the results illustrate the MENA counselor educators’ journey of navigating between invisibility and hypervisibility, managing wellness labor, and transforming surveillance and scrutiny into academic clarity, mentorship intentionality, and coalition-building. Implications are presented for resilience-informed supervision, mentorship, and institutional policy to advance equity, identity, and multicultural and social justice counseling competency-aligned training. Suggestions to reinforce cultural responsiveness, broaching and advocacy within the counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs are also offered.

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Author Biographies

Nouna Jalilzadeh, St. John's University

Dr. Jalilzadeh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at St. John’s University, where she teaches master’s-level students in both clinical mental health counseling and school counseling. She holds a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision and maintains an active clinical practice alongside her academic role. Her clinical and scholarly work centers on intersectionality, trauma, reproductive and perinatal mental health, and the lived experiences of marginalized communities in counselor education and practice.  She is committed to advancing culturally responsive and socially just counselor education through advocacy and decolonizing frameworks. A first-generation Iranian American, Dr. Jalilzadeh’s MENA identity informs her dedication to amplifying underrepresented voices. Her lived experience navigating cultural identity and migration shapes her emphasis on broaching intersectionality and fostering inclusive clinical and academic spaces.  

Christine Romano, Pace University

Dr. Romano is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology and Mental Health Counseling Department at Pace University, where she teaches master’s- and doctoral-level students in mental health counseling and sex education. At the time of this study, she has taught in graduate counseling programs for seven years across two private universities in the Northeast, mentoring future clinicians to integrate cultural humility, critical consciousness, and clinical excellence into their professional identities. Dr. Romano is a PhD-level Licensed Mental Health Counselor with Diagnostic Privilege, an EMDR-trained therapist, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist Supervisor. Prior to academia, she built a multidisciplinary background in human resources and law within corporate companies, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses—experience that continues to inform her systems-level understanding of power, policy, and workplace culture. She channels her entrepreneurial spirit into her private group practice and business consulting firm, where she empowers individuals and organizations to challenge cultural barriers, disrupt stigma, and embrace intersectional identities with confidence and authenticity. Born to an Italian American father and a Palestinian refugee mother with Jordanian roots, Dr. Romano’s MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) identity is central to her personal and professional mission. Raised within diasporic narratives of displacement, resilience, and cultural pride, she brings a deeply embodied understanding of intergenerational trauma, collectivist values, migration, and bicultural identity development into her clinical work, scholarship, and teaching. She is particularly committed to amplifying Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African voices within counselor education and sex therapy—fields in which these communities have historically been underrepresented or misunderstood. She is equally devoted to advancing mental health counselor professional development, with a focus on strengthening multicultural counseling competency within graduate training programs.  

Loubna Alkhayat, Wayne State University

Dr. Alkhayat is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Counselor Education program at Wayne State University, where she teaches and mentors master’s and doctoral students. Her work is informed by her background as a practicing counselor and clinical supervisor with trauma-focused training. She is of Syrian descent, spent part of her childhood in the Middle East, and later immigrated to the United States, where she completed her graduate training, established her family and clinical practice, and then transitioned into academia. Her research centers on culturally responsive mental health with refugees and Middle Eastern/AMENA communities, with a focus on applied, community-engaged work. She involves graduate students through independent studies, research assistant roles, and collaborative writing. Before academia, she worked for years with refugees and asylum seekers, including in refugee camps in Jordan, and has trained therapists supporting trauma-exposed and refugee communities. She also helped establish a nonprofit initiative that provides scholarship grants for Syrian refugees in the Middle East and has delivered community psychoeducation on mental health and coping.  

Shadin Atiyeh, Wayne State University

Dr. Atiyeh is an Assistant Professor within the Counselor Education Department at Wayne State University’s College of Education, teaching master’s level students in clinical mental health counseling and clinical rehabilitation counseling programs. At the time of the study, she had taught in a master’s level counseling program for six years. She holds a Ph.D. in Counselor Education & Supervision, a Master’s in Community Counseling, and bachelor’s degrees in both Psychology and Arab Studies. She has worked for thirteen years at a refugee resettlement agency, providing and supervising employment services and counseling for refugees, immigrants, and other clients affected by traumatic experiences. She was raised among immigrant communities in the United States as the daughter of an immigrant from Syria. She is married to an immigrant from Lebanon and has two school-aged children. As a researcher, she focuses on qualitative research highlighting the experiences and perspectives of refugees and immigrants related to mental health counseling, including traditional healing practices, community-based interventions, and culturally competent counseling with Middle Eastern and Arab American communities.   

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Published

2026-09-21

How to Cite

Nouna Jalilzadeh, Christine Romano, Loubna Alkhayat, & Shadin Atiyeh. (2026). The ABC Model of Resilience: Middle Eastern and North African American (MENA) Counselor Educators Building Community. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 18(1), 42–58. https://doi.org/10.33043/3c5yy46yd8

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1

Section

Education and Training

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Copyright (c) 2026 Nouna Jalilzadeh, Christine Romano, Loubna Alkhayat, Shadin Atiyeh

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