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 (LICSW, LMHC, LMFT, LCSW, PsyD, PhD), verified directly with state boards, no active disciplinary actions. For imams and spiritual advisors: ijazah from recognized scholars, an accredited seminary degree, or advanced Islamic studies training. Self-taught 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 imam.
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 — 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 (launching 2027). "Has worked with Muslim clients before" alone doesn’t count.
Full background check. Community reputation verified. No public allegations of financial, spiritual, or gender-based misconduct. This one doesn't bend.
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 $2M/$4M professional liability with Zaha as additional insured. Every imam and spiritual advisor is reviewed and approved by our advisory team (Clinical Advisor + Scholar Advisor, with the Scholar Advisory Board formalizing as it’s built) before onboarding. No exceptions.
"Vetted" is a word other platforms use without defining. Beyond the six standards above, every imam joining Zaha goes through a structured process before they're approved. None of this is decorative.
Ijazah from a recognized scholar, accredited seminary degree, or advanced Islamic studies training documented in writing. We verify with the issuing institution or scholar where possible. Self-taught alone does not pass.
Three or more years of one-on-one counseling experience — ideally in chaplaincy, community imam, or institutional settings where they've sat with real mental health stakes. Not just sermons or general teaching.
We walk through real-world scenarios: a client showing signs of clinical depression who frames it as iman weakness; a husband seeking fiqh ruling that a clinician would name as coercive control; a teenager processing waswasa that overlaps with OCD. We're listening for whether they hand off to the clinician, defer when it's clinical, and stay scoped to spiritual care.
A 15-minute call with each of two named references — ideally one institutional (chaplaincy supervisor, masjid leadership) and one peer (another imam or scholar). We're listening for specifics, not adjectives.
Any one ends the conversation: a public allegation of misconduct (financial, pastoral, 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. We don't negotiate these.
Our Clinical Advisor and at least one Scholar Advisor see every imam before they're approved. The decision is yes / hold / no — not a score we average. If we don't all say yes, we don't sign.
Zaha only works if therapist and imam 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 doing what only they can, and handing 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, safety planning — these 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.
If a client posts content suggesting self-harm, harm to others, or imminent risk — in the shared room or to either provider directly — the on-call clinical lead is paged immediately, day or night. Both providers are looped in within minutes. Standard 24-hour response windows do not apply.
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 pastoral — spiritual framing, religious counsel, accompaniment. Both providers carry malpractice coverage; the therapist’s policy is the primary clinical liability instrument.
Our Clinical Advisor reviews flagged threads within 24 hours, samples the rest on a rolling cadence, and audits the full corpus quarterly. Outcomes (PHQ-9, GAD-7, program-specific measures) are tracked from intake to graduation. Anonymized cases are reviewed in monthly provider rounds. 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 — imams, Muslim chaplains, and female spiritual advisors — 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. Female clients have the option of a female spiritual advisor as part of every match. Our founding cohort 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.
Zaha has a Scholar Advisory Board that reviews every imam before onboarding. Three to five members: scholars from across mainstream Islamic traditions, a female Muslim community leader, and a clinical psychologist with formal training in Islamic studies.
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. No imam onboarded until advisory review is complete.
We’re listening.
hello@zaha.health