Dr. Zahra Murtaza is a Clinical and Community Psychologist and a Bay Area native, who provides mental health services to diverse children, teens, and young adults. She currently works part-time with Maristan through their Stanford Muslim Mental Health Initiative (MMHI), where she provides individual therapy and support groups to Stanford Muslim college students. She also works full-time at Children’s Health Council (CHC) in Palo Alto, CA as a Licensed Psychologist and Program Manager of the CHC Ravenswood program. Dr. Zahra received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She obtained her MA and PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology at Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta, GA. Her PhD dissertation was entitled: The Impact of Concurrent Racial and Religious Discrimination on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Muslim Young Adults. Dr. Zahra completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) with an emphasis in trauma psychology. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Health Council (CHC), where she received specialized training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Dr. Zahra is passionate about working with diverse communities, including immigrant, refugee, and Muslim communities. She has over a decade of experience serving the Bay Area and Atlanta Muslim community as a youth leader and mental health advocate. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, baking, advocating for social justice, and spending quality time with her family, friends and cat.
Client Demographic
Primarily children, teens, and young adults
Area(s) of Interest
Depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, spiritual/cultural coping, and identity development (especially relating to family of origin challenges or relating to systemic oppression)
Specific Experience
Individual therapy, parent coaching, family therapy, group therapy, and consultation/program development in a variety of settings (outpatient clinics, intensive outpatient program, college counseling center, and hospital settings)
Clinical Training
Trauma-Focused CBT, Cue-Centered Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Languages
English, Urdu/Hindi, intermediate Spanish, introductory Arabic
Payments Accepted
N/A – through the Stanford MMHI program
Virtual individual therapy sessions and in-person group sessions at Stanford
Accepting new clients through the Stanford MMHI program
