Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Addiction and Substance Abuse
- Sexuality and Gender Diversity
- LGBTQ+ Muslim Mental Health
- HIV Prevention, Treatment, Stigma Management Among gbMSM
- Social Justice and Anti-Oppressive Practice
- Social Work Clinical Education
- Clinical Supervision
- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
- Cognitive Behavioral and Gestalt Integrated Therapy
- Systemic Sex Therapy
Education
- DSW Candidate, Organizational Leadership (University of Alabama – 2027)
- MSW Specialization in Addiction Studies (University of Toronto)
- BA Honours Psychology; Double Minor in Political Science and English Literature (University of Waterloo)
Bio
Rahim Thawer is a clinical leader, educator, and organizational consultant with over 15 years of experience across mental health systems, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. His work focuses on strengthening clinical supervision, guiding organizational change, and building trauma-informed systems that are both ethically grounded and operationally sustainable.
He has led program design and clinical strategy across healthcare and community settings, including oversight of supervision models, intake systems, and team development processes serving LGBTQ+, newcomer, and HIV-affected communities. In parallel, he provides external consultation to organizations navigating growth, burnout, and post-conflict repair, with an emphasis on emotionally attuned leadership and accountable team culture.
Rahim teaches in undergraduate and graduate-level social work and has developed curriculum across multiple institutions in Canada and the United States. His pedagogical work integrates clinical rigor with applied frameworks for equity, supervision, and organizational functioning. Nearly half of his professional practice is dedicated to clinical supervision and consultation, supporting clinicians and leaders in managing complexity, countertransference, and team dynamics.
His writing and public scholarship focus on clinical ethics, systems thinking, and the emotional life of organizations. He is the author of several forthcoming books on psychotherapy practice and queer mental health, and is currently completing a Doctor of Social Work with a focus on psychoanalytic approaches to leadership and organizational life.
Selected Publications
Books and Edited Volumes
Queer and Muslim: On Faith, Family and Healing (Co-editor)
University of Regina Press, 2026
The Politicized Practitioner, Vol. 1: Practice and Politics
Blue Cactus Press, 2025
The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys
New Harbinger Publications, 2025
Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer (Co-editor and contributor)
Coach House Books, 2017
Forthcoming and In Progress (Selected)
The Politicized Practitioner (Volumes 2 and 3)
Blue Cactus Press, in press
Sexualized Substance Use and Queer Men: A Guide for Mental Health Practitioners
Taylor & Francis, in progress
Beyond Existence: The Mental Health Guide for LGBTQ Muslims
Thornapple Press, in progress
Peer-Reviewed and Academic Work (Selected)
“Political content as clinical process: Holding psychoanalytic and anti-oppressive tensions in contemporary social work practice”
Accepted manuscript, 2026
Selected Essays and Public Writing
“When politics enters the therapy room”
The British Psychological Society, 2026
“What Gay Men Must Give Up to Truly Embrace Everyday Bodies”
Medium, 2025
“Our therapeutic tools must be queered – not discarded, but reclaimed and repurposed”
The British Psychological Society, 2025
“Working effectively with people living with and affected by HIV” (with J. Arseneault)
Medium, 2025
“Applying the Four Statuses of Identity Formation Theory to Queer Muslims”
Medium, 2024
“Cultural Safety & Countertransference: Working in Communities You Belong To”
Medium, 2023