Dr. Zari Hedayat (she/her/hers) joined Antioch University as an Adjunct Faculty in 1994. For the academic year 2014–2015, she served as the interim director of the Trauma specialization Program; she then was Affiliate faculty for the Child Specialization (2015-2022) and the primary supervisor for Colors’ LBBTQ youth Program at AUCC from 2015 to 2020.

Dr. Hedayat earned her PhD in 1991 from what is now the Chicago School. She did her postgraduate studies at the Wright Institute of Los Angeles, where she received a certificate in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

In the late 1990s, Dr. Hedayat was affiliated with and participated in the Infant Mental Health certificate program at the Early Childhood Foundation of Cedars Sinai Medical Center. It was from that training that she was inspired to teach the cross-cultural infant observation class at Antioch, which she did regularly for many years.

Since 2016, Dr. Hedayat has been the Clinical Director of Open Paths Counseling Center, where she provides trauma-informed and culturally affirmative training to 40 MFT trainees/associates and collaborates with seven clinical supervisors and two Clinical Program Managers to oversee all aspects of training as well as the quality of services rendered to a largely marginalized population of Angelinos. Dr. Hedayat has contributed two chapters on Islam in two editions of the Handbook for Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity, an APA publication. Her dissertation on the Selfobject Functions of the Koran has been published in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.

Dr. Hedayat has provided training on the neurobiology of trauma at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and Society and offered presentations on trauma-informed approaches in the workplace at Sony, as well as trauma-informed approaches to working with children at Youth Orchestra LA and Camino Nuevo Academy Charter Schools. Dr. Hedayat has been married for 37 years and is the proud mother of a young adult daughter.