Today we’d like to introduce you to Masa Hashem.
Masa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest in how the human mind works. I wanted to know what influenced our choices, how we dealt with struggles and how to repair our sometimes faulty perspectives. I genuinely wanted to help people with the things they were going through. Growing up, I found myself in an advisor, mediator and caretaker role to acquaintances, friends and family. Throughout school, I tended to be a high achiever and due to my cultural background there was an emphasis placed on the importance of the math and science fields, so naturally, I initially pursued Medicine.
Eventually, I figured out that I loved the idea of coming together with another individual to find resolutions to their unique struggles. I geared myself towards talk therapy and made the decision to pursue a career in Mental Health Therapy. I received my Master’s of Science in Counseling from the Southern Methodist University and worked to become licensed as a Licensed Professional Counselor through supervision and guidance of a great advisor. As my career path widened, my areas of specialization did too and I started to include the treatment of mood disorders, trauma, and personality disorders.
My experience also includes working with human trafficking and family violence victims in my native language, Arabic. My background also includes the treatment of addiction, mental health disorders and caring for veterans and first responders struggling with PTSD. At my last job, I was expecting my first child and I was put on bed rest for the last three months of my pregnancy. Through the encouragement of my husband, I realized that this was blessing in disguise that allowed and afforded me the ability to start developing Think Tank Counseling. I enlisted my family and husband in making it what it is today.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
On a personal level, no. I’ve had my fair share of struggles to include mental health struggles like depression, anxiety, grief and loss that subsequently impacted our entire family. I believe every struggle and experience I’ve had aided me in being the therapist I am today. It is also why it is important to my family and I to offer affordable and accessible quality care. My family and I opened Think Tank Counseling a little over a year after my son’s birth. This created a continuous effort to balance the type of mother, wife, therapist, and director I wanted to be.
Naturally, this in itself brought its own struggles. We face new challenges every day and we are constantly looking for ways to grow so we can care for our clients and provide stability for our staff. We care strongly about every person that walks through our doors and hope to somehow impact each and every one of them positively. As a counselor, you aren’t taught about the aspects of business management, credentialing, filing insurance claims, marketing, advertising and so much more.
Some of it you learn as you go and others you learn the hard way. The lack of certainty can be scary but it is a risk worth taking when it comes to creating a mental health care practice that makes a difference to our client’s lives. With that being said, owning a business is hard. It’s never just a nine to five job and we don’t just get to go home after a long day at work and call it a night. It gets exhausting but we get to do something we love and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
We’d love to hear more about your practice.
Think Tank Counseling is a family-owned practice that specializes in holistic treatment of mental health disorders, addiction, and dual recovery. Think Tank understands how important quality care is to the betterment of our clients’ wellbeing. Our practice houses providers with different specialties and strengths who are able to tackle the struggles associated with both mental and nutritional health. We pride ourselves on our wide array of specialties and our treatment team approach to finding the best possible outcome for our clients’ health. We use mental health and functional nutrition to integrate the brain and promote overall mind-body wellness.
As business owners, we wear many different hats and we split duties and tasks between us according to our strengths. I act as the Clinical Director of our practice. I am responsible for ensuring quality care to our clients, training and leading our staff, as well as developing and implementing new policies to better care for our staff and clients. My father, Omeir Hashem was previously the Chief Medical Director and Chief Operational Officer of a general hospital with a concentration in psychiatric services in Saudi Arabia. His 34 years of experience allows him to monitor performance and find ways to improve.
He manages efficiencies, financials and day-to-day operations. My sister, Mira Hashem previously worked as a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Coordinator for the treatment of major depression followed by an Office Manager position at a psychiatric office where she was able to gather the skills needed to manage billing, insurance, scheduling, marketing, and client relations. We take our strengths as a family and experience in the mental health field and apply them to our business practices. What sets us apart from many others is that we offer clinical assessments, counseling, and nutritional coaching in one location with a high emphasis on our holistic treatment approach.
What were you like growing up?
My family moved around a lot growing up and as a result, I was exposed to a variety of hurdles and experiences and I struggled to adjust in each new surroundings. However, moving around also allowed me the exposure of several cultural and religious backgrounds. Today, this aids me in therapy as cultural diversity and sensitivity are crucial to understanding the clients I see today. For the majority of my upbringing, I grew up in Saudi Arabia with my two younger sisters and parents. I went to an American International School and was blessed to receive an education from one of the best schools in the Kingdom.
As much as my parents pushed for my sisters and I to focus on our education, they also instilled the importance of developing a healthy and active social life. I played varsity basketball, competed internationally in karate tournaments and sang in our school choir. I surrounded myself with a strong group of friends who shared similar values. I graduated high school with honors and moved to Texas shortly after to pursue my college education. Fast forward to today, I’m a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, counselor and business owner.
In terms of personality, I consider myself to be introverted, intuitive, and thoughtful. This reflects quite a bit in my therapy style. Oddly enough, this personality combination is rare in the counseling field but has been effective in the way I help my clients and why I was drawn towards Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Schema Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy. With this, my life experiences have given me a unique perspective, understanding and approach to the clients I see on a daily basis.
Pricing:
- $40-$125
- We also accept insurance
Contact Info:
- Address: 5228 Village Creek Drive, #100, Plano, TX, 75093
- Website: www.thinktankcounseling.com
- Phone: 972-913-4738
- Email: info@thinktankcounseling.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinktankcounseling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinktankcounseling/
Image Credit:
Sonay Nicole Photography
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