The Who, The What, and The Why

Hi All Welcome to my new blog. This blog will be dedicated to my personal journey through life, medicine, and motherhood. I hope to use this not only as an outlet, but as an educational experience for the reader. I'll talk about issues in medicine, psychiatry, motherhood, and whatever else comes to mind. I will not be diagnosing or treating people through this site. A little about me. Professionally: I'm a psychiatrist who specializes in children and adolescents. I went to medical school and hold a doctorate in medicine (I am an MD). I graduated in 2012, went through a general psychiatry residency (3 years) and then transitioned into child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship (two years). I now practice at a children's hospital, doing predominantly outpatient work. This means I see children and teenagers in my office. Sometimes I work on the inpatient unit, with those hospitalized for their illness. While in training I had the opportunity to work at a stand alone psychiatric hospital in an smaller city, as well as working at a psychiatric jail. More personally: I'm an Arab American (second generation) Muslim who grew up in Colorado. My parents divorced when I was young and I didn't have contact with my dad for the majority of my life. I (almost) always knew I was going to be a doctor, and come from a family of medical professionals. I went to college in a tiny town in Nebraska. I spent a year in the Middle East after college, then another year teaching at an alternative school before finally getting into medical school. For my journey through medical school (which was it's own, special form of disaster) you can check out my other blog: I Hate Medical School. I am married to a non-medical professional, non Arab, wonderful man who had a much different childhood than I did. It helps add a lot of perspective. We recently had a beautiful baby girl. New motherhood is wonderful and terrifying and could be it's own blog. As someone who has gone through her own bouts of anxiety and depression, I think it's very important to stop the stigma of mental health and illness. I hope to help do that through this blog. At times personal and professional, I hope to always be entertaining. So sit back and enjoy the posts.