Wajdi Akef Fakhoury LMFT 148333
Founder, Clinical Director
Wajdi Akef Fakhoury is an experienced mental health clinician (CA. LMFT 148333) specializing in providing psychotherapy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and co-occurring mental health challenges. His therapeutic approach is informed by extensive expertise in executive functioning domains - from impulse control and emotional regulation to information processing - allowing him to skillfully adapt evidence-based psychotherapy modalities to each individual's processing style and needs.
As founder and clinical director of the Samar Center for Mental Health and IDD, Wajdi has developed innovative therapeutic frameworks that bridge critical gaps in mental health treatment. His careful attention to diagnostic overshadowing - the tendency to attribute mental health symptoms to disability - ensures that therapy addresses true underlying concerns rather than making assumptions based on diagnosis alone. This precision in therapeutic assessment and intervention allows for mental health treatment that is both targeted and neurodevelopment-informed.
His psychotherapeutic approach integrates sophisticated understanding of sensory processing differences, trauma responses, and executive functioning challenges to create truly accessible therapeutic experiences. By adapting traditional therapeutic techniques to account for each client's unique biopsychosocial profile, Wajdi ensures that therapy effectively addresses mental health needs while honoring neurodevelopmental differences.
In addition to direct clinical work, Wajdi provides high-level consultation to healthcare systems, educational institutions, and mental health professionals. His training programs focus on building capacity for trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming therapeutic approaches that recognize the complex intersection of developmental differences and mental health. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist pursuing a doctorate in international and multicultural psychosocial health, he brings both clinical excellence and cultural sophistication to his therapeutic work.
At the Samar Center, Wajdi's leadership has established a therapeutic model that emphasizes practical, evidence-based interventions while maintaining unwavering attention to individual differences and needs. Through his clinical practice, consultation work, and system-wide advocacy, he continues to advance therapeutic approaches for neurodevelopmental differences and mental health, establishing himself as a trusted leader in specialized mental health treatment for the IDD community.
SELECtion of clinical trainings wajdi has facilitated (i/dd and mental health)
•CA Society for Clinical Social Workers. Exploring Autism Spectrum Disorder & Co-Occurring Mental Health Challenges •California State Council on Disability: Crisis Intervention and Prevention in the I/DD MH Population •Faces of Trauma: Presentations in individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Developmental Trauma & Co-Occurring Diagnoses for People with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities •PERMA V-Six Steps to Happiness •Sexuality and Dating within the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Community •Challenges & Gaps in Treatment for TAY Population •Grief and Loss in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Population •Nature & Nurture: When Parents and Children have Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •OCD: Presentation in individuals with ASD and/or Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Focus on Fitness: Exercise for Treating ADHD •Caregiver Anxiety in the Context of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Leveling up to independence: Levels of residential treatment •Caregiver/Support Staff Burnout and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Understanding Reactive Attachment Disorder in those Diagnosed with ASD •Rewriting the Story: Discussing a Family History of Suicide •What's PERMA Got to Do with it: Support Individuals Through Positive Psychology •The Impacts of Marijuana Use in those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Exploring the Diversity of Trauma and Trauma Responses in the IDD Population •A to ZZZ About Sleep Challenges in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Population •Exploring Executive Functioning Vulnerabilities in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Population •The power of language: How to counteract stigma with strength-based terminology •The big “IDEA”- Promoting individual education goals while maintaining school safety •Beyond Words: Exploring Communication Vulnerabilities in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities •Break it Down: Reducing Barriers to Health Care Literacy •The Impacts of Delayed ASD Diagnosis •Safety First: Using Trauma-Informed Care to Create Safe Spaces for Individuals with Co-Occurring Psychosis, PTSD, and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities •Fulfilling Connections: Using PERMA to Address Treatment-Seeking Behavior •Understanding and Addressing Iatrogenic Trauma in Mental Health: Promoting Safe and Effective TTM Practices •Together We Thrive as a Community: Understanding ADHD with Co-Occurring ASD • Personalizing the Building Blocks of Wellness: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA) •Reconnecting Threads: Strengthening Trust in a Community of Providers •Secure Connections: Cyber Safety for Individuals Navigating Autism Spectrum Disorder •The Weight Behind the Prescription: Metabolic Effects of Psychotropic Medication in Autism Spectrum Disorder •Navigating Diabetes and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities •Pressure Points: Social and Environmental Stressors in the Context of Neurodevelopmental