Not a promise about people we haven't hired yet. The bar we won't lower.
Most Muslim mental health platforms use the word vetted without defining it. We think a trust page should start with specifics. Every therapist and every imam (or spiritual advisor) at Zaha meets all six standards below. If someone can't, they don't join.
For therapists: active state licensure (LMFT, LMHC, LPC, LCPC), verified directly with state boards, no active disciplinary actions. For imams and spiritual-care providers: an ijazah from a recognized scholar, an accredited-seminary degree, or documented advanced Islamic studies (Hartford International, Zaytuna College, Al-Maghrib, Bayyinah, Darul Qasim, or equivalent), verified in writing with the issuing scholar or institution. They also need three or more years of documented one-on-one spiritual-counseling experience and a signed clinical-boundary agreement covering when to defer to the therapist, when to escalate a safety concern, and what stays inside spiritual scope. Self-taught study alone is not enough.
Every therapist is trained in at least one evidence-based modality relevant to the programs they serve: CBT, ERP for OCD, EMDR for trauma, EFT for couples, or grief-focused therapy. Every provider commits to coordinated care: shared plans, joint sessions, written updates between therapist and spiritual advisor.
Two things, not one. Faith literacy: the provider understands Islam. What the prayers mean, why qadr matters, how scripture frames suffering. Cultural fluency: they understand that Muslims are not monolithic, that a Pakistani-American daughter, a Black American convert, and a Bosnian refugee carry the same faith through very different families and histories. At launch, every clinician and every imam or spiritual advisor at Zaha is Muslim by practice. A cultural-competency certification program for non-Muslim clinicians is on our roadmap. "Has worked with Muslim clients before" alone doesn’t count.
Full background check. Community reputation verified. Any one of these ends the conversation, for either seat:
A public allegation of misconduct — financial, spiritual-care, or gender-based. Refusing the principle that therapists lead clinical direction. Treating mental illness as primarily a faith deficit. Framing women as inherently fitnah. Advising against medication categorically. Refusing to recognize intimate-partner violence as a clinical issue.
Therapists sign our Clinical Safety Manual: C-SSRS risk screening, escalation protocols, and documentation standards. Imams bring clinical chaplaincy training (CPE preferred) and at least three years of one-on-one counseling experience.
Therapists carry $1M per occurrence / $3M aggregate professional liability. Every imam and spiritual advisor is vetted and approved before onboarding. No exceptions.
Zaha only works if therapist and spiritual advisor stay in their lanes. Here's what that means in practice.
Neither overrides the other. Neither replaces your local imam or your primary care doctor. Coordinated care means deliberate care. Each provider does what only they can, and hands off when they can't.
A coordinated care model only works if it’s deliberate about who decides what, what happens when providers disagree, and how a crisis is handled. Here’s how Zaha runs that.
Diagnosis, treatment plan, modality choice, medication referral, risk assessment, and safety planning are the licensed therapist’s call, sometimes in consultation with our Clinical Advisor. The imam doesn’t override them. Imams cannot diagnose, prescribe, or treat clinical mental health conditions. Their lane is spiritual.
It will happen. The protocol: the disagreement gets surfaced in the provider thread (not in front of the client), and the Clinical Advisor weighs in within two business days. If it’s a clinical question, the clinical view holds. If it’s a spiritual or scope question, the imam’s view holds. We document the resolution. We don’t paper over it.
If a client is caught between conflicting guidance, that’s a process failure on our side. The client is told plainly, and we make it right.
Crisis never waits for Zaha: 988 or 911 first, every time — the platform is not monitored around the clock. Anything a client posts that suggests self-harm, harm to others, or imminent risk is treated as same-day priority under the Clinical Safety Manual, both providers are looped in, and the standard reply windows do not apply. Every client also builds a written safety plan with their therapist at the first session, so the numbers and the people are already in hand.
For any client (or anyone reading this) who can’t wait: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7) or 911 for immediate danger. Our crisis & safety page has the full list.
Our imams are not licensed mental health providers. They cannot diagnose, prescribe, bill insurance, or accept clinical referrals as the primary treating provider. They are trained to recognize clinical signs, defer to the therapist, and refer escalations up. Their work is spiritual: spiritual framing, religious counsel, accompaniment. The therapist carries $1M/$3M malpractice coverage — the primary clinical liability instrument — and the spiritual advisor’s signed scope agreement keeps clinical care, and clinical liability, with the licensed clinician.
Our Clinical Advisor reviews every risk escalation on fixed clocks — hours, not days — samples documentation on a cadence he sets, and owns the Clinical Safety Manual every provider signs. Outcomes (PHQ-9, GAD-7, program-specific measures) are tracked from intake to graduation. Quality is supervised. Nothing is left to assumption.
Zaha is for Muslims who want care that actually engages with their faith. We don’t sort you by school of thought, and we don’t ask you to pick sides. Our spiritual-care providers are imams, Muslim chaplains and spiritual advisors. They offer guidance focused on the spiritual and emotional. Most people seeking mental health support aren’t looking for fiqh rulings; they’re looking to feel less alone. We ask about gender at intake rather than assuming. For both seats, and we match to what you tell us. Our team is small. If you have a preference about who you’d like to be paired with, tell us on intake. We’ll honor it when we can and be honest when we can’t.
A Scholar Advisory Board is on our roadmap: scholars from across mainstream Islamic traditions reviewing the spiritual-care bench, with a clinician trained in Islamic studies alongside them.
We're not listing names until they've signed on. Fake advisory boards are common in this space. Ours will appear here, with photos and credentials, as each member signs. Until the board is seated, every imam goes through the six-step process above before approval.
We’re listening.
hello@zaha.health