Navid Zamani, Ph.D., LMFT

Bio

Navid Zamani is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist practicing in San Diego. His work is structured around supporting families experiencing domestic violence, and conceptualizes these experiences from a post-structural, decolonial feminism situated in Narrative practices. His interests in counseling, philosophy, and music are blended together with an interest in relational ethics, the politics of revolutionary love, and leaning into complexity. In addition to teaching at San Diego State University, he is the Head of Clinical Services at License to Freedom, a non-profit that supports refugees and immigrants from the Middle East who are experiencing domestic violence issues.

Navid received his BA in Psychology with a minor in Music from the University of California, Davis and graduated from the San Diego State University Marriage and Family Therapy program in 2013. He has since pursued numerous academic and clinical interests, particularly in domestic violence counseling. He currently teaches in the SDSU MFT program and is the Director of the MA Counseling in Education (Counseling) program. 

Intellectual Contributions

Published Work:

Navid J. Zamani, Graham S. Smith, and Gerald Monk (2013). Online Forums as Definitional  Ceremonies. Journal Therapies: Vol. 32, No. 4

Interests

Research & Teaching Interests:

Navid has had experience teaching Theories I, Theories II, Multiculturalism in Counseling, Groups Counseling, Law and Ethics, and Recovery Movement and the DSM. Teaching theories and conceptualizations of clinical practice is where he finds himself most energized and stimulated. He has research interests and experience in domestic violence services and the intersection of technology and therapy. Other research interests include the practices and effects of bilingual and multicultural counseling; trauma-informed care and services.

Personal Interests:

An important part of working in a highly stressful environment is self-care. Navid practices this well by maintaining a well-rounded San Diego lifestyle that includes surfing, gardening, playing drums in a band, camping and spending quality time with his partner and 2 dogs.

Publications

• Zamani, N., & Zamani, N. (2021). Doing Narrative Therapy in Fenglish . In M. Polanco, N. Zamani, & C. D. Kim (Eds.), Bilingualism, Culture, and Social Justice in Family Therapy. (pp. 39-46). Springer.
• Polanco, M., Zamani, N., & Kim, C. D. (Eds.). (2021). Bilingualism, Culture, and Social Justice in Family Therapy . Springer.
• Zamani, N. J. (2020, October 4). I Laugh and Cry With These Men . San Diego Union Tribune.
• Monk, G., & Zamani, N. (2019). Narrative Therapy and the Affective Turn: Part I . Journal of Systemic Therapies, 38(2), 1-19.
• Zamani, N. (2019) [Reflections on Power] In Monk, G., polanco, m., Sinclair, S. & Winslade, J. (2020). Intercultural Counseling: Bridging the 'Us' and "Them' Divide. San Diego, CA: Cognella.
• Zamani, N. (2019, October 19). Reflections on Vikki Reynolds’ AFTA Keynote in Oakland, CA. Retrieved from https://vikkireynoldsdotca. files.wordpress.com/2019/10/ navid-zamani-reflection- reynolds-afta-keynote-2019.pdf
• Monk, G., & Zamani, N. (2018). Integrating Emerging Understandings of Neuropsychology and Affect for Narrative Therapy with Couples . In Postmodern Perspectives on Contemporary Counseling Issues.
• Alzendi, D., Zamani, N., and Ashour, A. (2017). A Study on Mental Health and Gender Based Violence amongst Iraqi Youth and Syrian families of Newcomers to San Diego, California.
• Navid J. Zamani, Graham S. Smith, and Gerald Monk (2013). Online Forums as Definitional Ceremonies . Journal of Systemic Therapies: Vol.32, No. 4, pp. 1-18.

Research

Professional Activities:

Navid practices narrative therapy with an at-risk, highly-traumatized population in a residential setting. This includes providing services in individual, family, couples, and group contexts. In addition to providing counseling services to families experiencing and seeking safety from domestic violence, Navid provides numerous trainings across San Diego county in domestic violence services, safety planning strategies, and domestic violence advocacy. Navid also has experience in providing psychoeducational groups to the Iranian community in Farsi.