When insight alone stopped cutting it, this founder built something different, with a body, a brain, and real change in mind.
*No shame in your sound bath game. No hate for Bali retreats. We just do things a little more clinical (& a lot less Instagrammable).
By a Human Who Studies Humans
Abraham Sharkas is a therapist, PhD student, researcher, and a full time nerd who somehow turned "nervous system literacy" into a career path. He works where psychology, movement, story, and culture overlap because mental health is never just mental, and talking is only one part of how people change.
His approach blends clinical rigor with trauma-informed care, somatic depth, and a grounded respect for science, narrative, and lived experience. His work draws from evidence-informed frameworks shaped by positive psychology, psychosomatic work, transpersonal research, and contemplative traditions taken seriously rather than ceremonially.
His influences include philosophy, movement, cultural identity, and a lifelong curiosity about what actually helps people remember who they are. He has also published four books of poetry and is writing more, which is either admirable or slightly concerning depending on the day.
No crystals. No shortcuts. No theatrics. Just care that honors your complexity and actually works with it.
Counseling Experience
I'm a clinical counselor at Layers Therapy, offering integrative care grounded in culture, the body, and what actually helps people change… not just what looks good in a treatment plan. I work with individuals and groups, always tailoring the approach to the person, not the protocol.
My clinical work draws from Positive Psychology, Gestalt, somatic approaches, AEDP, mindfulness, transpersonal psychology, and strength-based models.
The academic trail: a B.A. in Psychology from Arizona State University, an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Walden University, and advanced Applied Positive Psychology coursework completed in the United Kingdom. Specialized training includes psychedelic integration, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, Psilocybin Assisted Psychotherapy, and MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy through Fluence and MAPS networks.
I'm currently finishing my Ph.D. in Counselor Education & Supervision at Walden University while teaching at the university level… because apparently one degree was never going to be enough, am I right? My work has also taken me outside the classroom as an invited speaker at universities across the United States and internationally, including engagements in China, the United Kingdom, and the Levant.
The work doesn't stop at the therapy room. Movement, contemplative study, and embodied practices aren't hobbies that sit separately from my clinical lens, they're part of it. Always have been and always will be.
Teaching Philosophy
I'm a doctoral student in Counselor Education and Supervision, which means I spend a meaningful amount of time thinking about how people learn to sit with other people in crisis and how we can do that better. My teaching philosophy is straightforward: learning should be inclusive, embodied, culturally aware, and rigorous enough to shape clinicians who can handle real complexity, not just pass exams.
I support emerging counselors in developing the skills that actually matter in the room: presence, critical thinking, cultural humility, and the ability to work with the mind and body together. I emphasize curiosity over certainty and depth over performance, because the clinicians who change lives aren't the ones who memorized the DSM, they're the ones who learned how to truly show up.
My approach draws from neuroscience, somatics, multicultural frameworks, transpersonal theory, and the ecological understanding that the person in front of you is never separate from the environment, culture, and relational field they carry into the room. Good clinical training honors that complexity. It doesn't flatten it into a checklist.
Developing as a clinician is a shared, lifelong craft, not something you master alone, and not something that stops when you get licensed. I invite students and colleagues into the work whenever possible, because the best teachers I've had never stopped being students themselves.
Advocacy Work
For over two years, I served as Acting President-Elect of Bab Al Ilm, a nonprofit dedicated to community, culture, and the kind of storytelling that actually invites real conversation, not the kind that performs it. Our work included gatherings, workshops, and creative spaces that brought together seekers, social changemakers, and everyone in between.
The aim was simple and, honestly, a little countercultural: build bridges instead of echo chambers. We prioritized spaces where people who rarely feel at home in traditional dialogue, LGBTQIA+ communities, BIPOC communities, immigrants, interfaith groups could speak and actually be heard. Not tolerated. Heard.
Leadership, for me, has never been about titles or volume. It's grounded in listening well, showing up consistently, and helping people feel seen, which, if you think about it, is exactly what good therapy is too. That's the approach I brought to Bab Al Ilm, and it's the same one I carry into my clinical, academic, and community work today.
Got thoughts? Projects? A rant about wellness culture?
Let’s talk: Hello@wdml.xyz.
I love connecting with people who care about psychology, culture, and being human in real ways.
*No crystal consultations or moon-sign readings. Also not currently accepting applications for spirit animal readings or crypto therapy startups (lol.)