About Dr. Abdulrehman

A clinical & consulting psychologist, Dr. Abdulrehman applies his skills of creating sustainable change to leadership and diversity equity & inclusion. He has a broad & international portfolio of clients including Google/Youtube (to whom he was the subject matter expert on bias), Mastercard Foundation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and was a member of the Conference Board of Canada. He hosts a podcast on the difficult conversations of racism, called Different People. Dr. Abdulrehman’s work has been recognized by the Society of Consulting Psychology for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Consulting. A TEDx speaker on “Resolving Unconscious Bias” and the founder of tesbias.com and livingwithracism.com, he believes insight of our biases can be the beginning of a resolution to systemic racism.

Dr. Abdulrehman is also the author of the book, Developing Anti-Racist Cultural Competence, that helps individuals develop practical skills, insight, and better empathy when working with diverse groups of people. He is the new guest editor for a coming special issue for the Journal of Consulting Psychology on working with Arab and South Asian professionals and leaders.

Dr. Abdulrehman has held numerous leadership roles within his own profession, including being a past president for the Manitoba Psychological Society and Chair of the Committee on International Relations for Psychology with the American Psychological Association. He is an assistant professor with the department of clinical health psychology at the University of Manitoba and has held three visiting professor positions at Zanzibar University, the State University of Zanzibar and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, due to development work in Tanzania, where he worked to also develop psychological services in low resource areas, including with young people who were formerly homeless.

Dr. Abdulrehman also uses his expertise to help his own community locally and internationally. This includes leading the development of resources such as working with  refugees from the Middle East, but also to help move his city, once dubbed by Macleans Magazine, as “the most racist city in Canada”, to ideally, the most inclusive city in Canada with his #celebrateeverything campaign.

Dr. Abdulrehman is lauded as a “beguiling storyteller, gifted speaker, and subject matter expert on inclusion and diversity,” as well as a “force on leadership and cultural diversity,” Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman has a well-honed ability to catalyze insight-oriented change through powerful storytelling and practical psychology that sticks with people. A Canadian of Zanzibari descent, Dr Abdulrehman draws on his extensive professional expertise and his life as an immigrant from an ethnic, cultural and religious minority, to illustrate the necessary concepts and actions for lasting change. In addition to speaking, he coaches, consults and delivers compelling experiential learning events, all designed to create a bridge of understanding and compassion across common human experiences and activate potent human transformation.