Dr Nesrin Abu Ata

Born and raised in Israel, I understand firsthand the experience of trauma personally, and how it is stored in the body and transmitted to the next generation. Once trauma is stored in the body, it gets stuck. I grew up speaking four languages and understand how the world is experienced differently through each person’s unique cultural lens. I grew up watching my grandmother use spiritual practices and traditional healing methods for ailments, including herbs. Being part of a minority that fell in the 2% of the population, I have an appreciation of the untold and hidden stories due to fear and misunderstanding. I have developed an ear for hearing what is not said in words and that remains invisible to the eye.

I went to Ben Gurion Medical School in Israel, with an emphasis on global health and worked with diverse populations in their native languages. I completed dual training in both family medicine and psychiatry at the University of Iowa and subsequently completed training at the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma with Dr. Richard Mollica. I have also trained with the Center for Mind Body Medicine and worked with different underserved populations, such as veterans, refugees, asylum seekers, youth at risk, transitional youth, youth in foster care, and different American Indian tribes. I have completed 200 hours of yoga instructor training and enjoy teaching different types of meditation and movement practices. I am also a practitioner of Reike and Shamanism.

I believe that as one Hopi elder once said, “We are the ones that we have been waiting for.” This belief has helped me shift from the victimhood and helplessness mindset to recovery and wellness, both for myself and my patients. I bring mindfulness, movement, spiritual and cultural practices to traditional psychiatric care, creating a bridge connecting the mind and the body. On this bridge, patients experience personally meaningful alchemy.

The first visit is spent in getting to know you, your habits, previous treatments, previous methods that you have tried, and understanding what your goals are and what you are looking for. This may evolve over time as you progress on your journey of healing.

To me, being a healer is anonymous with being a storyteller. I have been a “midwife of stories” way before I became a physician. And, when I realized that stories are stored in the mind and the body, becoming a physician and a psychiatrist who can work with the mind body to help “deliver stories” called to me. I simply followed the calling. And, I continue to fall that calling to healing and delivering stories with every patient that I meet.