Heather Laird

Ms. Laird is the Director of the Center for Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology at the University of Southern California. She is also Managing Director of HRL Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm dedicated to issues and concerns around mental health care. She is the host of Muslims and Mental Health a show on YouTube. She is graduating this summer with a PsyD MFT and, holds a Master’s in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy and a a MPA and Nonprofit Management Certificate. She was a 2015-2016 AAMFT Doctoral Fellow of the Minority Fellowship Program and a 2016-2017 Albert Schweitzer Fellow. She has been awarded the Global Psychology Award for two consecutive years 2015 and 2016 for her research. She was also awarded a community partnerships award (2016) for her work with the LA county and Orange county DMH. She presents regularly at Academic conferences such as IFTA and AAMFT. Her primary population of patients has included many underserved minorities such as Arabs, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians, South Asians and LGBT clients. Her career includes research, teaching and clinical practice. Ms. Laird was born in the Midwest and currently resides in Southern California. She has served on many boards including recently joining the board of the American Muslim Fund. She previously served on The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Diversity Advisory Board (2016-2017) and the Distinguished Teaching Award Committee (2014). She also served on the AAMFT-CA Outreach Committee in 2014. She was a steering committee member to the first World Congress on Muslim Philanthropy in Istanbul. She is a member of AAMFT, CAMFT American Muslim Health Professionals and the International Family Therapy Association. Sr. Heather conducts research, teaches and has a clinical practice.