About Dr. Aida
Providing mental health services since 2006, Dr. Aida has developed a unique approach to mental health including research from different medicines around the world. She integrates the theoretical findings of cultural anthropology, sociology, psychology, and human behavior coupled with holistic expertise in breathwork, regression hypnotherapy, and shamanic training to provide a whole-person approach to mental and emotional wellness.
Listen To Dr. Aida’s Interview about her life story.
Emigrating with her family as a political refugee from Iran at the age of 1 to Sweden and then to California at the age of 6, Dr. Aida grew up to pursue several degrees including a bachelor's degree from UCLA in sociology with extensive courses in cultural anthropology, a masters degree in psychology, with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy, from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and a doctorate degree in human behavior from American Premier University with a capstone on conflict resolution: the power of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. She proceeded to obtain her professional board licensing in California, Montana, and Washington State.
During her intern and training years, Dr. Aida worked with autism spectrum disorder, foster families, children and family therapy, Orange County’s Postpartum Wellness Program, inpatient mental health and substance abuse hospitalization, insurance companies, and auditing clinics for the County of Orange Health Care Agency. She also served as a research assistant at UCI’s Psychology and Social Behavior Lab conducting field studies for underserved youth in the county of Orange in California. During her professional development, she learned the ins and outs of the mental health system, the strengths of the western mental health system along with the gaps and weaknesses. Realizing that theory and evidence-based practices have a limit and often resort to medication dependence, Dr. Aida continued her training in holistic medicines from around the world. She is trained in Regression Hypnotherapy from the Omega Institute and trained directly by Dr. Brian Wiess. She is a certified Transformational Breath Facilitator having trained for 1 year in breathwork. She has recently completed a 1-year Shamanic Training learning about Native-American Plant Medicine Teachers as well as the pathway to enlightenment from the teachings of Tibetan Buddhists. Leveraging her western education, and eastern esoteric practices she integrates spirit into mental health treatment while simultaneously battling stigma around the topic of mental health. She strives to make it safe, normal, and easy to talk about mental and emotional distress.
As an international speaker, Dr. Aida takes pride in reducing the stigma of mental health needs by providing educational seminars. She has presented with Ferry Corsten in Amsterdam, ADE with DJ Dave Clarke, in Ibiza for AFEM, to UCI Psychiatric Symposium, UCI OBYN department, Lupus LA – Orange County Branch, and March of Dimes. She supported her community through the peer mentorship program of the UCLA Alumni Association and served as Vice President of Iranian American Mental Health Society. She is passionate about protecting the mental health of musicians and artists and is the health group co-chair of the Association For Electronic Music. She aided in revising the new edition of “The Electron Music Industry Guide To Mental Health” lead the “Ask The Doctor” live segment for Beatport, and contributed to the “Music Connects Us” report. Alongside her service work, Dr. Aida provides consulting services and is a legislative advisor.
“I met Dr. Vazin in my role as CEO and Founder of Gaggle, Inc. Gaggle is an early warning system to identify students in crisis before a tragedy takes place. We use a combination of technology and safety experts to provide real-time analysis of students’ use of school-issued online collaboration platforms. Dr. Vazin’s extensive knowledge of her subject area made her a vital part of our national launch of new teletherapy service. Simply put, she wants kids to get the help they need.
I reached out to dozens of professionals over a period of time, and it was Dr. Vazin who saw the vision. I knew I wanted to offer teletherapy to districts, but I didn’t know where to start or what questions needed to be asked. Dr. Vazin’s impact was immediate in both senses: she was readily and enthusiastically available, and she was integral in launching this new service. Gaggle Therapy started as an idea, and Dr. Vazin’s expertise in teletherapy has enabled us to bring this service to five school districts in less than three months. Without her help, these districts would not be getting started, and the students would not be getting the help they need.
This is what made Dr. Vazin such an asset to our organization. She taught our leadership team the information we needed to understand before deploying this service. She helped us with everything from billing insurance and medicaid to vetting quality candidates to creating video content for district customers, individual clients, and trained psychologists. Whether she was presenting in a pre-recorded video or live in a webinar, she spoke with knowledge and authority, and I was confident in her ability to represent Gaggle’s mission. It was clear her passion was the same: helping students.
She did all of this while maintaining the well-being of her personal clients and pursuing an active research project in Montana. Her work with farmers and veterans and their self-perception of masculinity fueled her involvement with Gaggle. We know individuals of all ages struggle with suicide, and we see those victims far too often. What we don’t see is postvention. Not only do students need support when suicidal ideations manifest, but students need support when they see friends take their own lives. Dr. Vazin’s collaborative enthusiasm is helping those students get that support.
Not only did Dr. Vazin see the potential for this work, but she knew what to do to enact it. She taught us how to do it, and she collaborated with an eagerness I don’t see often. Dr. Vazin could have responded like the dozens of therapists I contacted, but she didn’t. Her knowledge of the subject matter is top-notch, and she can discuss it with anyone helping even the uninitiated fully understand. Whether it was a one-on-one call or a public presentation, her voice was always smiling and sincere. Her extensive, diverse background in both lived experiences and research allows her to communicate effectively with anyone. As a direct result of her involvement, hundreds of students are receiving the mental health care they need.”
Jeff Patterson
CEO & Founder
Gaggle.Net, Inc.
“I have worked alongside Dr. Vazin since 2018 on preventative suicide measures for Montana, specifically among military veterans, farmers and ranchers, and Montana teens. Through my position as a Montana State Senator, I have relied on Dr. Vazin's research to drive my office's behavioral health policy and strategy. Her research and consultation will result in multiple pieces of legislation for Montana's 2021 legislative session as well as a proposed suicide prevention technology once funding has been secured.
In regard to the aforementioned technology, Dr. Vazin has shown she is committed to innovation through technology while at the same time understanding how to communicate with demographics that are typically slow to adopt them. She is also exceptional at translating psychological and behavioral health nuances to an easy-to-understand language that everyone from politicians to those who have historically been weary of mental health services can understand.
Dr. Vazin has shown the utmost dedication to the subject by moving her residence to one of the most rural areas of the country to get a better understanding of the culture and to conduct in-person interviews of affected demographics. My office is not afforded a budget for outside staff, so she did this voluntarily to address the epidemic in Montana and rural America as a whole. While living in the community, Dr. Vazin also mentored a local woman entering college that wanted to pursue a career in behavioral healthcare. These selfless acts speak directly to the character of Dr. Vazin.”
Kenneth Bogner
State Senator, Montana District 19