Ahlam Mussa, MSW, LGSW

Pronouns

She/Her

Education

• Master of Social Work - University of Minnesota, 2025

• Master of Public Policy - University of Minnesota, 2024

• BA in Sociology - Augsburg University,  2021

Services Offered

• Individual Psychotherapy

• Couple's Therapy

Ages I Work With

• 17+

Treatment Approaches

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) 

• Existential Therapy  

• Attachment-based therapy 

• Narrative Therapy  

• Integrative approaches that honor cultural, religious, and spiritual ways of knowing and being

Areas of Interest

I enjoy working with adults 17+ with the following, but not limited to:  - Identity development, self-worth, questions of belonging - Immigrants across generations, refugees, asylum seekers, diaspora groups, and others impacted by geographic resettlement - Racialized/genderized stress, bicultural/multicultural identity stress, experiences of othering, and systemic pressure  - Anxiety & OCD - Trauma and post-traumatic stress, including developmental, relational, religious, & systemic - Family conflict, boundary-setting, enmeshment and role strain - Couples navigating relational conflict shaped by cultural, religious, or identity-based values

My Decolonized/Anti-Oppressive Lens

I approach therapy by being explicit about context and power. I don’t view distress as something that exists in isolation from family, culture, faith, race, class, gender, institutions and systems, and I’m careful not to reduce people to diagnoses and labels. I pay close attention to how dominant psychological frameworks can miss or misinterpret lived experiences, especially for clients from marginalized backgrounds. I’m attentive to how my own positionality as a Black Muslim woman shapes our work but it does not authorize assumption. Shared identities do not produce identical experiences or beliefs, and I’m intentional about not collapsing identity into assumption.

What I Hope Clients Feel After Working With Me

I hope people leave sessions feeling like they weren’t judged or evaluated. I want people to feel they can talk about the parts of themselves they usually mask without being rushed toward a “right” way of thinking or believing. Over time, I hope people feel more connected to themselves and more able to move through life with intention rather than fear or expectation.

Why I Chose This Work

I was drawn to this profession because I believe people are more than their symptoms or worst moments. I’m interested in how people understand distress in context, especially within a culture that prioritizes productivity, output, and constant self-optimatization while leaving little room for rest or humanity. Therapy offers a way to understand symptoms as meaningful responses to lived conditions rather than personal failures.

What I Enjoy Outside of Work

Learning invigorates me the most. I love learning about history, culture, science, religion, and love. I also love running, cooking new recipes, spending time with my two cats, and watching funny reality TV.

My Favorite Quote

“Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls.” — Imam Al-Ghazali