About Khaleh Gili

Talk Therapy:

Over the past twenty years, through my work volunteering in Fairfax County and the Center for Multicultural Human Resources, I have come in contact with many Iranian families in need. Before these experiences, I had always assumed that Iranians were all in good standing here in their new country. However, throughout my professional career I have continuously come across issues in Iranian families that are considered taboos in our culture. Discussing or addressing these issues would often come at the cost of a person’s personal relationships within our community. As a mother of two boys with a Political Science degree, as a substance abuse counselor and social worker and my work with battered women and abused children, and Iranian senior citizens in diaspora sparked a passion in me to help other Iranians in need in the Washington metropolitan area.

Through my research in this field I met two other Iranian women with the same passion who were already very active in offering their helping hand to the Iranian community: Mrs. Soudabeh Chamanara, the founder of Ethnic Social Referral Services, and Mrs. Ellie Salour, an educator and child advocate.  They were so generous as to take me in to their non-profit organization and we have started a collaborative effort from there.

In 1998, we started the Khaleh Gili, a radio show created to broaden our reach in giving more information of resources in our community. To date, we have conducted over 500 interviews with experts in fields of psychology, sociology, human relations, child psychology, law experts, Iranian visiting artists and scholars.

Khaleh Gili:

Over the past twenty years, through my volunteering work in Fairfax County and the Center for Multicultural Human Resources, and Naomi Project I have come in contact with many Iranian families in need. Before these experiences, I had always assumed that Iranians were all in good standing here in their new country. However, throughout my professional career I have continuously come across issues in Iranian families that are considered taboos in our culture. Discussing or addressing these issues would often come at the cost of a person’s personal relationships within our community.

In 1998, we started the Khaleh Gili, a radio show created to broaden our reach in giving more information of resources in our community. Khaleh Gili is a non-profit radio program serving the Fairfax county residents in Northern Virginia. To date, we have conducted over 500 interviews with experts in fields of psychology, sociology, human relations, child psychology, Iranian visiting artists and scholars.