Psychology major starts non-profit to provide comfort to traumatized children

Zeeshan Haq balances academic success and business pursuits to graduate with 4.0 GPA

A soft pillow sometimes is the only comfort a child in pain has.
A soft pillow sometimes is the only safe thing a child in anger can hit.
A soft pillow sometimes is the only gift a child in trauma can accept.

Zeeshan Haq, a senior majoring in psychology with a minor in business foundations, wants to send soft pillows to children who need everything a pillow can be.

“I am creating the organization, Send-A-Pillow, with the support and help from professors of the University of Houston Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship,” Haq says. “My organization sends out personalized comfort pillows to children who have gone through a traumatic event as a gateway to providing psychological support in their time of need.”

Haq has spent time helping his brother-in-law, a psychiatrist with a practice in child mental health. In the near future, Haq plans for Send-A-Pillow to provide remote mental health services. His brother-in-law will provide consultations overseas via telemedicine through his clinic.

“I witnessed how powerful therapy was to the children who were my brother-in-law’s clients,” he recalls. “It made a huge impact on the children’s lives because they were able to recover from their issues and grow up to be successful.”

Haq is especially interested in sending pillows to children in Third World countries where access to mental healthcare services is extremely limited.

“Many of the children I want to help are from war-torn areas where they have lost a parent or their whole families,” he said. “If these children are left without any hope or help, they will have an extremely difficult time growing into healthy adults.”

In addition to Send-A-Pillow, Haq is also using his education to establish a start-up company. He hopes to deliver halal food and groceries to Houston-area families and students who have difficulty gaining access to this type of dietary requirement.

“As an entrepreneur, my goal is to innovate mental healthcare with a network of psychiatrists and psychologists who will provide support and counseling to underprivileged children in the U.S. as well as globally to make sure they receive proper guidance to achieve dreams of their own,” he says.

Haq has balanced his burgeoning entrepreneurial efforts with maintaining high academic performance. He graduates on Dec. 19 with a 4.0 grade point average.

“With the help and resources of great mentors and faculty here at UH, I have been able to balance my academic requirements as well as work on my business plans without either responsibility being compromised,” he says.

Haq plans to enroll in a master’s of business administration degree program to further his education and his career plans.

“Children are our hope, our future leaders and future problem solvers,” Haq says. “I would like to do anything to help children and allow them to change the world. That is just my simple idea behind why I want to provide psychological support to children.”

- By Monica Byars