Afshana Haque, PhD, LMFT-S | Houston Muslim Therapist

I am a Houston based Muslim, therapist and through virtual therapy I serve clients in Florida and Texas including Houston, Austin, Dallas & San Antonio. I am Texas’s only Muslim Family Therapist who has earned a PhD and published in the flagship journal of our field. I’ve had the privilege of receiving the best training and over 15 years of clinical experience. My clients value my ability to break down complicated concepts, quickly cutting to the chase and offering practical solutions. Also, if Islam is an important part of my clients life I incorporate the Islamic perspective into my therapeutic approach. I am also bilingual and conduct therapy sessions in English and conversational Bengali.

My ability to connect with others comes from my own unique upbringing and the privilege of meeting people from every walk of life. My childhood was spent in the public schools of Flushing, NY (yes, like the neighborhood from Eddy Murphy’s movie Coming to America), and my adolescence in a Catholic school in the suburbs of Houston, all while growing up in a Muslim-Bangladeshi household. My early years of marriage landed me in a neighborhood next door to refugees from all over the world. From the North side to the South (and from the ‘hoods to the ‘burbs) my colorful interactions, have exposed me to the complexity and reality of peoples lives which allow me to accept people unconditionally. My clients come from all ethnic backgrounds and cultures including South Asian (Desi), Arab, Black, Persian, Caribbean, African, LatinX, multi-ethnic and more.

With this understanding and acceptance I work with my clients to generate solutions that are best suited for their needs, desires and values no matter what challenges they are facing. If you want to know more about me or my therapy services, book a free 20 min consultation session to see if my style is the right fit for you or your family.

Education and Training

I earned a doctoral degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX and a Master’s degree at the University of Houston Clear Lake in Marriage and Family Therapy. I also served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston, Clear Lake for 7 years before pursuing full time private practice. Please click here for my Curriculum Vitae. License TX #201198; Florida #195

Past Clinical Experiences

• DePelchin Children’s Center with high risk and foster care families. 
• Methodist Hospital on the chemical dependency unit, child and adolescent unit, and intensive out patient units.
• Center for Refugee Services 
• True Results of San Antonio Diagnostics Center   

Additional Training by Notable Experts 

• The Body Keeps the Score Trauma Healing with Bessel van der Kolk, MD
• American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Approved Supervisor
• Brent Atkinson’s Pragmatic/Experiential Method for Improving Relationships 
• Emotional Focused Therapy Externship
• Narrative Therapy and the Scaffolding of Therapeutic Conversations with Special Attention to Addressing the Consequences of Trauma.
• Imago Therapy
• Couples Assessment: Tools for Marital & Premarital Therapy
• Parent/Child Interaction Therapy Training
• Building Resilience in Youth and Families
• Negotiating Boundaries: Therapy in a Transnational Setting 
• Couples Counseling Clinical Internship
• Facilitating Rapid Trauma Recovery and Spiritual Awakening
• Proactive and Preventative Education to Strengthen the Body, Mind and Sprit of At-Risk Families
• Spirituality and the Generative Life
• Strengthening Family Resilience: Rebounding from Crisis, Adversity and Loss
• Purposeful Play: Enhancing Creativity
• Languages Spoken: English, Bangla or Bengali

Presentations and Workshops Conducted:

• Lets Talk: Vaping and Smoking Edition at Masjid Al-Salaam
• Emotional Intelligence Workshop for Mentors with Taiba
• Abuse, Anxiety and Depression in Youth at Masjid Al-Ansaar
• CAIR TX’s Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium (MYLS) 
• Time Management at The Texas Dawah Convention
• Platform presentation at the ISNA: Islam in America Conference
• Poster presentation at the The American Association for the Advancement of Science Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division: Science-The Key to the Past, Present, and Future. 
• Parenting Workshop at the Islamic Society of Greater Houston: North West Zone
• Parenting Workshop at Austin Peace Academy
• Poster Presentations at the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 
• Platform and Poster Presentations at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy  

 Publications

• Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy: Uniting Faith and Professional Practice
• Microaggressions and Islamophobia: Experiences of Muslims Across the United States and Clinical Implications
• A Systematic Research Synthesis of the Various Adaptive Strategies Utilized by Dual-Income Couples
• The Assessment of Marital Adjustment with Muslim Populations: A Reliability Study of the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test
• Body Dissatisfaction and Mental Health across Ethnic/Racial and Immigrant Groups: Implications for marriage and family therapists
• A summative content analysis of stress and coping among parents of children with autism.