Tayyab Rashid

As a Psychotherapist, Dr. Tayyab has offered individual and group therapy since 2011 to more than 500 UTSC students experiencing depression, anxiety, psychosis, and other mental health related concerns. He has handled more than 150 crises in the past nine years in a variety of clinical situations. As the Lead Researcher of Flourish, he assisted his team in developing a strengths-based preventive mental health program that over 3700 UTSC students have participated in which includes comprehensive online clinical assessment and full-day workshops to reduce distress and increase well-being. Dr. Tayyab has also designed, delivered, and disseminated a large-scale group resilience intervention program and co-wrote a 280+ page train-the-trainer manual that provides an approach to support students with mental health issues in secondary and post-secondary settings. Dr. Tayyab has led a national group to design and launch a 135-page Comprehensive Assessment and Planning Inventory to encapsulate a systemic approach towards a student mental health interactive website.

As a therapist by heart, and researcher by head, at the Health & Wellness Centre, University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), Dr. Tayyab tries to integrate symptoms with strengths, resources with risks, weaknesses with values, and hope with regrets. He has tried to do the same with the 9/11 families, with survivors of Asian tsunami.

Dr. Tayyab has shared insights from these connections through training at diverse settings including Kings College (UK), University of Maastricht, University of Paris, Princeton University, Wellington College (UK), Geelong Grammar School (Australia). Some of these insights have also made into peer reviewed journals and book chapters, as well as have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and TEDx. Guided by Sufi & Yogic philosophies, Dr. Tayyab humbly but actively searches for the half-full portion of the proverbial glass to help his clients explore what makes life worth living. Dr. Tayyab earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in New Jersey.