Solidifying the Model, Expanding the Care

Fulfilling a Broad, Unmet Need

• Muslim Americans report being LESS HAPPY than average Americans (Pew, 2007) 
• Many Muslims DO NOT seek mental health care from others due to cultural and trust issues (Inayat, 2007)
• Many Muslims attribute their emotional and psychological distress to spiritual or metaphysical causes (ISPU, 2013) 
• Muslim physicians for whom religion was most important had greater odds of experiencing religious discrimination at their current workplace (Padela et. al., 2015).

     Khalil Center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit spiritual wellness center advancing the practice of professional psychology rooted in Islamic principles founded in 2010 to provide a space to explore collaborative care to meet the specific needs of American Muslims by integrating religious understanding and practices with the professional and clinical techniques of modern psychology. We do this through psychological services by licensed counselors and clinicians who are also trained in components of Islamic sciences relevant to the field, reducing the stigma by meeting the community in its places of worship and gathering through education and awareness campaigns and building capacity for this empirically supported model of care through graduate, imam and community leader training and mental health research.

Breaking Barriers & Increasing Access

     Our ability to reach the community, collaborate with both academics and religious leaders and to navigate between these two traditionally separated worlds remains a key to our success. Since opening our doors in 2010 with one small office in the suburbs of Chicago with one clinician, Khalil Center has expanded to six offices across the Chicago and Bay Area with over 16 clinicians, as well as offering WebTherapy nationwide for less serious issues, to become the largest sole provider of mental health services to American Muslims. Last year, we helped over 750 clients through direct in-office counseling, delivered over 25 community seminars, trained over 200 imams, chaplains and community servants in basic first-responder mental health skills and supervised the training of several graduate interns. This coming year, as both the community and leading clinicians seek out to work with our trend-setting model of care, we look forward to opening an office in New York City and another in Los Angeles. 

What are Our Clients Dealing With?

We Asked Our Clients...

Did you go to A Non-Muslim Therapist before coming to Us?

How important is it that Your Therapist is Muslim?

How important is it that Islam is an essential component of Therapy?

Reducing Symptoms, Increasing Well-Being

By Allah's Grace, our staff's efforts and our donor's support, our treatment model is working and our clients are reporting favorable outcomes. At Khalil Center, Islamically-congruent psychotherapeutic models are developed, empirically tested, and published. We assessed symptoms of our clients when they first came in and after every four sessions. The statistically significant outcomes are below.

A Charitable Model - Services over Fees

     A 2011 SAMHSA study finds that the number one barrier to seeking mental healthcare is affordability of behavioral health services. We never turn away anyone away due to financial hardship. Our comprehensive billing model is designed to make services accessible to anyone by billing insurances when available and determining cost of services on a sliding scale fee based on the client's financial capacity. Donations and sponsorships from our community make access to such essential services possible. 

     A not insignificant portion of our clients are fully Zakat eligible, roughly 12% last year. Rest assured, scholars on our board and adminstrators make sure every dollar of donations earmarked for Zakat goes directly to the client to cover the cost of the services they receive. This year, we expect over $150,000 of services will be provided directly to Zakat eligible members of our community. Help us meet this need as well.  

Sharing in Worship, Supporting our Beloved

     This Ramadan, support our ongoing services and upcoming expansion by selecting one of the initiatives from the two categories below - our community-based approach, or our direct services approach. Or give to support both, as they go hand in hand for the most significant impact. 

     While we expect to meet over 90% of our budget for the next year through in-office and school -contracted services, institutional grants and other community support, please join us this Ramadan in the worship of supporting our brothers and sisters. We are honored to provide a tried and tested avenue for you to share in work that is life-changing for our clients, their families and thus, our community as a whole. Do not miss this opportunity to give, support and receive reward in manifold. 

Category 1: Community Mental Health Education & Awareness Campaign