Therapists
Mastaneh Moghadam is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cross-Cultural Expressions (CCE), a non-profit organization based in Sherman Oaks, California. She has been a psychotherapist for over 25 years, working with individuals, couples, and families, with a specialization in multicultural and immigrant communities. Fluent in Farsi, Mastaneh utilizes a psychodynamic approach that integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Existential, and Narrative Therapy modalities.
At CCE, Mastaneh oversees the organization’s Community Counseling Center, which provides accessible mental health services for immigrant, refugee, and underserved populations, and leads the development and implementation of multiple community-based grants. She also provides clinical supervision to the clinical staff that work at CCE.
Mastaneh is an active educator and facilitator, providing trainings, presentations, and workshops on multicultural counseling, domestic violence, trauma-informed care and other topics for various organizations and media outlets, including Iranian television and radio. From 2012 to 2015, she was a weekly guest speaker on KIRN 670AM Radio’s program, The Role of Self and Mental Health.
Her leadership in the field includes serving as Co-Chair of the Underrepresented Ethnic Populations Domestic Violence Task Force (2008–2011) and as a long-standing member of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s (LACDMH) Underrepresented Ethnic Populations Eastern European/Middle Eastern Subcommittee and LGBTQ Subcommittee, where she also served as Co-Chair (2009–2011).
For more than two decades, Mastaneh has worked closely with the Iranian LGBTQ+ community, offering therapy and advocacy for individuals and families. In 2016, she founded We Do Care: Iranian-American Parents of LGBTQ+, a support group that provides guidance and connection for Persian parents of LGBTQ+ children. That same year, she received the JQ International Inspiration Award for her leadership in bringing visibility and support to the Persian LGBTQ+ community.
As a filmmaker, Mastaneh uses creative storytelling to promote mental health awareness and cultural understanding. She wrote and produced Wake Up Sleeping Beauty, wrote, directed, and produced The Djinn in the Pen, and in 2025, wrote, directed, and produced her third feature film, TRAPPED. All three films were created in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and address mental health and social issues—including trauma, domestic violence, LGBTQ+ identity, immigration, and intergenerational conflict within immigrant communities, specifically the Russian and Persian-speaking communities. Each film is available with Russian and Farsi subtitles on the CCE Productions YouTube channel.
