Re: Desi Shrinks
My husband and I often consult our Imam for advice and help with different things like personal, family, work or school issues- he's someone hubby did hifz with so we know him well, and he's a great family friend. He's a young guy, highly educated, Indian but brought up in England, so both of us find him very easy to talk to and connect with as he's more open minded and has a different approach to things than most Imams I know. Also, because he knows us and our families closely, he advises us accordingly. We haven't had any serious issues in our marriage (Allah ka shukr) but I have referred him to some friends and even to a couple of people on GS who found him to be very, very helpful with marriage advice.
If we ever have serious issues that need to be addressed, I am pretty sure we'll go to him for advice before consulting a shrink. However, some problems are so severe than even the best Imam can't do anything, so it all really depends on the nature of the issue.