As Canada becomes increasingly multicultural, counsellors along with other mental health professionals are challenged to find ways to meet the varying needs of an increasingly multiracial, multi-religious, and multicultural population (En-Nabut, 2007; Lambert, 2008; Qasqas & Jerry, 2014). Gaining knowledge about counselling Muslim women is essential as the Muslim community is growing throughout Canada. Muslim women face various challenges as they endeavor to respond to changing social conditions as an underserved minority and religious community (En-Nabut, 2007). A basic interpretive qualitative research design (Merriam, 2002) was utilized to investigate the dynamics of working with Muslim women in a therapeutic setting. Next, ways of being more culturally informed in working with this population, from the perspective of female Muslim mental health professionals were explored. Interviews were conducted with five female Muslim mental health professionals. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyze patterns in the data. Four themes emerged: (a) seeking help is not easy: challenges faced by Muslim women clients, (b) lack of awareness: fear of the unknown, (c) participants’ suggested solution: psychoeducation and cross-cultural training, and (d) the building blocks of client-counsellor relationship: trust and communication. Findings are described alongside implications for counselling practice and future research.

This dissertation presents in the form of two distinct chapters conceptually related in nature. The first chapter integrates literature from various fields such as indigenous, womanist, and feminist lenses to propose nine principles when working with Muslim women. The purpose of the second chapter is to examine Muslim women’s experiences in therapy at university counseling centers. The study explores women’s experiences from a social determinants of health perspective and a narrative inquiry method—namely, how intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy factors inform women’s experiences. Qualitative analysis from interviews with six women suggests Muslim women navigate multiple systems which inform their beliefs about health and their experiences in therapy.