Mahira Zakiuddin

Mahira Zakiuddin
Social Worker
Populations: Adolescents, Adults, Couples, Families
Location(s): Toronto, Brampton, Virtual

Biography

Mahira Zakiuddin holds a Master of Social Work from Columbia University, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar and served as a Columbia Interfaith Fellow. She is a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) and licensed as a Clinical Social Worker in the UAE. Mahira also holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Institute of Business Management.

She brings nearly two decades of diverse global experience across the UAE, Pakistan, and the United States, including senior leadership roles in educational mental health services. She previously served as the Director of Counselling for the GEMS Wellington cluster of schools in Dubai and Qatar, where she designed and implemented cluster-wide counselling strategies, supervised counsellors, and led wellbeing innovation across school communities.

Mahira’s therapeutic style is warm, client-centred, and culturally responsive. She integrates evidence-based modalities tailored to the unique needs of each client. Her approaches includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Narrative Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Play Therapy (for adolescents), Motivational Interviewing, Mindfulness-based interventions, Attachment-based family systems work and Gottman Method for couples. She also offers therapy in English, Hindi and Urdu.
Outside the therapy room, Mahira is a writer, speaker, and mental health advocate. She values creative expression, intersectional justice, and being part of meaningful community dialogue. She is passionate about holding space for others with compassion, clarity, and curiosity.

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