Mohamed Selim is a recognized behavioral healthcare professional with over two decades of industry experience. He has served in several capacities, in all treatment modalities including therapist, program director, senior-level administration, and business development.
Mohamed Selim is the Founder of MSC² (Mohamed Selim Coaching & Consulting), a leading life coaching and multi-specialty counseling center established to address the needs of individuals and families struggling with an array of behavioral health issues, including mental health, addiction of any sort, and trauma. Selim is passionate about helping people navigate the highly fragmented treatment system in a way that produces positive outcomes and allows them to heal quickly.
Mohamed Selim’s parents migrated from Lebanon in the early 80s and settled in New York. Selim holds a BSW from the NYS University at Albany, where he pursued his master’s degree in Social Work. Through his persistent commitment to the field, Selim became a Certified Clinical Interventionist, NYS OASAS Advanced Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor, Master Reiki Teacher, Certified Recovery Coach, Master Certified Life Coach, and Certified Grief Educator.
While Selim agrees that listening and nodding have their place – it feels good to be heard and seen – MSC²’s approach is strength-based. Drawing from his extensive skill set, Selim equips his clients with effective yet applicable coping mechanisms. He enables them not just to survive but thrive in their daily lives. His approach is customized, providing deeply individualized holistic care. Selim addresses each client’s mental health in conjunction with their spiritual, physical, and relationships for more comprehensive results.
Mohamed Selim strives to partner with the families of each patient to navigate the behavioral healthcare landscape in a better way. He also connects his patients with the clinically appropriate level of care suited to their specific identified needs. He finds his work of establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with other providers to be necessary for holistic healthcare. For Selim, it’s about providing clients with education, direction, and advocacy to support their wellness and recovery journey.
When he is not coaching clients, Mohamed Selim is a philanthropist and a remarkable Scrabble player. He loves gardening, spending time with his family, as well as studying the latest findings in the field of cognitive psychology.
Thanks for joining us! Let’s start with getting to know who Mohamed Selim is. And what are you doing these days?
Thanks for having me. I am Mohamed Selim, whose family migrated from Lebanon in the early 80s. I hold a BSW from the NYS University at Albany, where I pursued my master’s degree in Social Work. Through my commitment to the field, I became a Certified Clinical Interventionist, NYS OASAS Advanced Certified Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor, Master Reiki Teacher, Certified Recovery Coach, Master Certified Life Coach, and Certified Grief Educator.
I am a behavioral healthcare professional with over two decades of industry experience. I have served in numerous capacities in all treatment modalities, including business development, program director, senior level administration, and therapist.
I founded MSC² (Mohamed Selim Coaching & Consulting). I’m focusing on establishing my company as a life coaching and multi-specialty counseling center for individuals and families struggling with an array of behavioral health issues. I help patients suffering from mental health, addiction, and trauma. I am passionately helping people navigate the highly fragmented treatment system in a way that produces positive outcomes and allows them to heal quickly.
What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?
I have always strived to lessen the suffering of people around me. I believe in partnering with the families of each patient to navigate the behavioral healthcare landscape in a better way. In order to connect my patients with the clinically appropriate level of care suited to their specific identified needs, I realized I need to have a company where I can implement my working style with ease.
This led me to find MSC² so that I can successfully establish and maintain collaborative relationships with other providers to be necessary for holistic healthcare. For me, it’s all about providing clients with education, direction, and advocacy to support their wellness and recovery journey, and this passion has made me an entrepreneur.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
- Effective Communication
Powerful communicators are bound to succeed. Regardless of the size of your company and the industry you are working in, effective communication is vital to engage all stakeholders of your business.
- Ability to Convince
Convincing power goes hand-in-hand with communication for a successful entrepreneur. If you can convince others and sell your idea, you have a bright chance of becoming successful.
- Ability to Focus
Focus is the key. Every entrepreneur has to face a few ups and downs, if not more. They face the highs of successes and the lows of setbacks from time to time. An entrepreneur requires a focus not to go astray when the going gets tough.
You sound quite passionate about your work; why? Is there a story behind it?
Honestly, there is no life-changing story behind my choosing this as my profession. I have seen people suffering from mental health issues, addiction, trauma, etc. Their life struggles encouraged me to play my part in bringing goodness and health to society. Frankly, everyone has someone in their close friends and family who has struggled in one way or another and is recovering from something.
The relational distress present in our relationships is often a mirror of disconnection in our relationship with ourselves. I believe coaching has unlimited power, and it can heal almost everything. It helps us transform and grow and provides a safe place to be heard and understood without judgment.
How do you separate MSC² from your competitors?
Undoubtedly it’s me and my abilities as a great communicator and coordinator. MSC² is my brainchild, and I have struggled a lot to make it a “go-to” of sorts in this field of holistic healthcare and life coaching. At MSC², my team and I lean into our organizational skills to make sure that our referees, clients, and their families are informed at all times.
MSC² utilizes all the best technologies to accomplish our goal. We leave no stone unturned to enhance our productivity and earn client satisfaction. We provide high-quality care rooted in science, compassion, and heart for patients and their families. At MSC² you will feel welcomed, understood, accepted, and empowered on your path to a life well-lived.
What was the biggest problem you encountered launching your company and how did you overcome it?
When I started my private practice at MSC², I wanted to implement a new and innovative approach to counseling and treating addicts. While other treatment approaches call for either confronting or detaching from a loved one who is a substance user, I wanted to utilize CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training). This method focuses on changing one’s interactions with the addicted person to reduce or stop his or her substance use.
CRAFT is a demanding technique that requires active participation from close family and friends to encourage the addict to move toward getting help. It was a challenge to make the families realize and exercise their role in treating their loved ones. But with persistent efforts and positive outcomes, now families of such patients fully understand the importance of their role and happily participate in the journey of healing of their loved one.
How do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
My passion for serving people in trouble keeps me motivated. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimates, there are more than 22 million Americans aged 12 or older who need treatment for substance use. The matter of concern is that drug and alcohol use disorders are as far-reaching as they are insidious.
It undermines the lives of not only the people who are struggling, but also of parents, spouses, siblings, and friends. This makes the number of friends, family, and others touched by addiction likely in the tens, if not hundreds, of millions. These facts motivate me to never give up and stay passionate about reducing the stigma associated with co-occurring disorders.
What’s the best part of your job?
I love helping people heal from all kinds of addictions, mental health issues, or traumas. I feel excited every day when my patients come and tell me that they are implementing the coping mechanisms I have taught them and that they are actively working on obtaining the goals that we created for their betterment. The best part of my job is that people feel safer with me to share their deepest thoughts and feelings without fear of being misunderstood or judged.
What is your definition of success?
If I define success in accordance with my profession, I believe, success is treating my patients beyond their diagnosis. When I succeed in building a one-on-one connection with my patient and they trust me with their unsaid and unheard fears and struggles, this is when I feel successful. I don’t just try to manage their symptoms but I sit with my patients acknowledging they are in profound pain.
I acknowledge suffering doesn’t fit into the conventional checkboxes of a DSM diagnostic category. Success is being able to assure my ailing patient that I’m in this with you, and I’m going to stay with you as long as it takes, no matter what.
Thank you so much for this truly amazing interview!
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