Meet the Team
Zamzam Dini, MA, LAMFT
Therapist
My name is Zam, and I am an associate marriage and family therapist. Here at MNTRI, I have the privilege and honor of working with individuals and couples with trauma history using Brainspotting, Narrative Exposure Therapy, and other trauma-focused modalities. I mostly work with adolescents and young adults, as well as couples and families, however, everyone is welcome in my space. I also work with clients who are not needing trauma work and use an experiential approach to therapy. This means I show up authentically, use humor, and will probably challenge you a lot. My space is not sterile or Eurocentric, so it might feel a little different than other therapeutic spaces.
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I am passionate about the impact of culture, equity, and social justice within the practice and supervision of Marriage and Family Therapy. This means working directly with Bodies of Culture, as Resmaa Menakem calls us, interracial couples, racial trauma, minority stress, identity development, children of immigrants, etc.
I have worked with minority populations regarding mental health, newlyweds, new parents, intergenerational & racialized trauma, grief and loss, and identity formation in youth. I have also worked with adults as a mental health case manager and with adolescents and children at a residential facility as a youth counselor. I am certified in Prepare/Enrich, a worldwide assessment tool for couples addressing premarital concerns as well as couples who have been partnered longer.
In terms of my training, I received a BA in Psychology from the University of Washington, my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and am currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota in the Family Social Science department. My research focuses on Racial Trauma and Refugee Trauma and so these two factors influence how I view the world.
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When I am not in session or in school, I enjoy comedy and laughter. I love attending stand-up comedy shows and going to the movies with my two siblings. As a Somali-American, coming from the Land of Poets, I enjoy writing slam poetry and playing rhyming games with my 12-year-old nephew.