Dr. Soheila Pashang
Director at Large (2022-2025)
Dr. Soheila Pashang, MSW, RSW, is a criminology professor and SafeTALK suicide prevention trainer at Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Prior to joining Humber, she was an academic coordinator and faculty member at Seneca College, where she implemented the Social Service Worker-Immigrants and Refugees Program.
Throughout her academic work, Soheila has led and collaborated on numerous research projects on global migration, illegalized migration, barriers to settlement and integration, sex trafficking, cyber sexual violence, mental health, COVID and gender-based violence, and grief. Currently, she is leading a research project entitled, Pedagogy and Practice: Teaching Diversity in Classrooms, at Humber College. The purpose of this study is to identify gaps and strengths of the existing pedagogical approaches used in teaching diversity courses and to further explore the experiences of faculty and students. In addition, Soheila has extensively published articles and chapters on mental health and gender violence. Her latest edited book, Today’s Youth Mental Health: Hope, Power, and Resilience takes a multidisciplinary approach.
When Soheila arrived in Canada in 1988 from Iran, she found no appropriate services to meet her basic settlement and integration needs. This gap ignited her to join the field of social work within the multifaceted settlement, health, and the criminal justice system. For over two decades, she provided support to immigrants and refugees, survivors of torture, war, sexual abuse and incest, in addition to families and children dealing with mental health, addictions and psychosocial and developmental challenges. During this time, she implemented several programs and initiated advocacy groups while serving on the board and as a committee member.
Currently, Soheila operates a private counselling and consulting practice, utilizing trauma-informed social justice and anti-oppressive therapeutic approaches in working with individuals and families thriving to overcome intersectional life challenges. She further provides training to community-based organizations and businesses.
As a member of OASW and a new director at large, Soheila believes in collaborative life long learning, where she can share her expertise and continue learning from her colleagues.