Amal Abdelfattah, 28, grew up in the Philadelphia area, daughter of a Palestinian father and a Native American mother.
Amal is pursuing a master’s degree in occupational therapy at Trinity Washington University. After obtaining her BS from Temple University in recreational therapy – the use of activities to meet physical and emotional needs of individuals – she practiced that profession for five years. She worked with occupational therapists and learned that they are skilled in holistic healing of people with disabilities. This inspired her to expand her professional training.
Fluent in Arabic, Amal has tutored refugee children, helping them with homework and team-building activities. She has also interpreted for English-speaking therapists providing early childhood home-based therapy to Arabic-speaking families.
Amal is dedicated to working with underserved communities, influenced by her multicultural identity and personal experiences. She foresees working with refugees and trauma victims, both in the US as well as at international sites for displaced persons. Amal knows that while occupational therapy is an expectation for recovering patients in the US, it is rarely accessible for persons in many other parts of the globe. Her attitude is to look at what people can do, not what they cannot do, and to build on their strengths.
Amal’s love for cooking has given her opportunities to bond with immigrant and refugee women who are hard-working and yet underserved trauma survivors themselves.
