I took a pretty long route to reach here. I have dabbled in a lot of different areas - I’ve moved from studying Commerce in school, to English Literature during my graduation and finally Psychology for post-graduation, trying my hand at dancing and filmmaking somewhere in between to now also wanting to make comics alongside. The one common thread through all of these choices has been the tendency to be attracted towards spaces that allow for subjectivity and individuality to exist, spaces that challenge a person but also hold them and allow them to just ‘be’. I believe that being a psychotherapist allows for a co-creation of such a space and that is what brought me here.

The fact that I’m constantly unlearning and learning with and from clients who enter the therapy space. I love that this space has so much to offer and is not exhaustive in that sense; it will continue to challenge my ways, biases and will keep helping me grow at a professional as well as a personal level.

More than anything else, I hope for the clients to experience a sense of safety within the space right from the beginning. I believe that this helps in building the backbone for therapy to happen - it is important to feel safe to be able to express disagreements, have conflicts, give difficult feedback and come back to the space despite all of it, or perhaps because of it.

I would be curious about their understanding of therapy and would wish to tell them about mine - That therapy is a slow and gradual process which isn’t always about seeking advice or solutions about the next steps, but more about self-reflection, increased self-awareness of ones own patterns and about building a better and deeper relationship with different parts of oneself.

Irvin Yalom, a psychotherapist who I align with, talks about the therapist and the client being ‘fellow travelers’ in therapy. This means that the therapist too experiences the ups and downs of life, just like the client - they don’t have everything figured out either. This highlights the humanness of the therapist and also the humanness of the therapeutic relationship, making space for an authentic shared connection. This for me defines the relationship that I wish to build with clients. We’re fellow travelers, figuring it out as we go.

I also believe in taking a non-directive approach which allows the client to take control of how they would like to drive the therapy sessions. This is to make sure that their needs are always at the center.

The significance of being in and tolerating the ‘grey areas’ of life. I’ve learnt how incredibly hard this can be because grey areas are confusing - they’re neither here nor there. Both ends of this spectrum (black and white areas) make more sense, and they’re easier to exist in…until they’re not. And then we move towards balance, towards the greys. And this balance is always a journey, never a destination.

I try and handle everything that comes up in the therapy space with a lot of sensitivity and care. I understand that this is an extremely vulnerable space where people might lay bare so many parts of them - even the ones that might be difficult for them to talk about. I try and create a safe space for each of these parts to show up.

At the same time, I also carry a lot of reflexivity into the sessions. I am aware that I too will make mistakes and will have my own blind spots as a therapist. And so I make sure to absorb feedback and reflect back.

I paint, I dance, I read and I binge-watch shows and movies. I absolutely love reading comics (Calvin and Hobbes being hands down my favourite one). I also enjoy reading illustrated children’s books - surprisingly (or not) they can be quite profound. P.S. If we do end up meeting, I’m quite likely to slip in a book recommendation sooner or later.

I use an eclectic approach in therapy borrowing from different schools of thought. One of these is Internal Family Systems (IFS) which says that everyone has a lot of different ‘parts’ to who they are as individuals. Each part holds a purpose for us - even the ones we don’t like so much. This process allows space for building curiosity, compassion and understanding towards and between all of these parts.

Another approach is the object relations framework from the psychodynamic school - this explores how early childhood attachments impact later relationships in life with people and objects around us.

I have also trained in narrative therapy - It stems from the idea that we all hold a certain narrative about ourselves and sometimes these narratives make us feel like we are the problem. However, narrative therapy upholds the principle that ’the person is not the problem’ by locating the problem within the larger systemic context. It also helps in identifying the skills, strengths and values that the person associates with. This then helps in reshaping the narratives that we hold with a greater sense of agency.

I use expressive arts in my work with those clients where it seems like a fit and I locate all of these approaches within a trauma-informed framework.

I try to keep reading up, updating myself and engaging with people and fellow therapists from the community. One of the ways that I also inform myself is through reading up personal narratives and accounts of queer and trans folx so as to not just be limited by theoretical knowledge but actually be aware of the lived experiences of people. This challenges any preconceived notions I might be carrying and allows me to keep my own biases in check.