Areeb Kidwai, Intern

Areeb is a graduate student in the Masters to Doctorate program in the counseling program at the University of Saint Thomas. He has a background in conducting research on adults with psychosis disorder such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, where he applied brain stimulation to the research participants.

Additionally, coming from an Pakistani-Muslim background, he has done extensive work with the Muslim population, such as holding mental workshops in the community, leading outreach projects, and managing crisis lines geared towards the Muslim population. He believes in incorporating faith-based components of therapy if possible as research has shown to accelerate treatment timelines.

Areeb comes from a cognitive-behavioral lens where he believes thoughts drive both emotions and actions and in order to live a healthier and more functional lifestyle, clients must restructure their belief systems and thoughts to realistic and positive ones. He applies this specifically with population dealing with PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety-related disorders.

Areeb tries to create an empathetic and welcoming environment where he believes that clients are individuals who can drive true change. Areeb believes that his job is to teach his clients the tools that will help them improve their overall functioning, but it is the clients job to practice and apply the tools in their day to day lives. He meets clients where they are at, but also encourages his clients to step out of their comfort zone to achieve growth.

Areeb enjoys playing basketball, weightlifting, and volunteering at his local Mosque. He is a big Marvel/DC fan and also watches MMA in his spare time. He tries to remain balanced in all aspects of his life as “Islam is a religion of moderation” and maintains that he should never be extreme in any aspect of his life.