Born to parents who emigrated from Damascus, Syria to Connecticut, where they launched successful medical and academic tenure careers, Lana Amawi grew up as an Arab-American in Kansas. She benefitted from early exposure to diverse cultures and seeing her parents pursue their dreams in a foreign country. These formative experiences inspired her to assist international students in progressing and advancing in the United States through her future role as an impactful therapist, consultant, and life coach. She has successfully led international medical graduates to residency through her full day workshops and proudly shares her first group of eight that traveled from Detroit to Cleveland and each matching that year.
Her educational career started at the University of Kansas, where she expanded her passion for culture, language, and psychology. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Human Development & Family Life in 1994. Upon graduation, she launched her career as a Mental Health Technician at the Menninger Clinic (Topeka, KS) in the international inpatient unit, where she used her Arabic language skills frequently to assist the medical staff with patient care. Lana then went on to Wichita State University and found that a Social Work degree had a broader ability to reach those in need and worked in inpatient and outpatient settings. She finally landed in Cleveland after being accepted to the Advanced Standing Program at Case Western Reserve University – Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences for her Masters in Social Work (MSSA). After graduation, she continued to work in hospitals and expanded into research at University Hospital of Cleveland and eventually became the Schizophrenia Research Program Manager that focused on clinical trials. Later, she was recruited to Michigan to the Arab American & Chaldean Council, and then later joined as a Psychiatric Social Worker with the Providence Hospital Behavioral Health Department and William Beaumont Hospital. Furthering medical careers then took Lana to the Mayo Clinic, where she worked on the transplant unit and then private practice.
Lana returned to Cleveland in 2008, and opened her own practice Psychological Counseling Solutions, LLC and continued to serve many international populations, as well as become become a speaker on various niche topics. In 2020, she added Coaching & Consultation Solutions, LLC. This allowed her to expand her work into Executive and Life Coaching across state lines and country borders. The practices, along with her degrees and licenses, were paramount to continue the work she had started. As a fluent Arabic speaker, she has become particularly skilled at connected to those who were born in and out of the US. These attributes also assisted those not just from the Middle East but also from the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Due to these fortunate experiences, she possesses a deep understanding of the various cultural nuances and religions, which allow her to provide effective and inclusive support.
COVID was a very challenging time personally and professionally for many in the mental health and medical fields. In 2021, she published and co-authored “Because You Matter: The Personal and Professional Stories of Health Care Warriors During COVID-19. This very profound and emotional book shared 22 stories of mental health and medical professionals that shared their struggles of being in the trenches during the pandemic.