In my formative years, I was interested in the subject of history, and psychology as a subject made me realize that I could know about the histories of people - where they come from, what experiences they have had, and what brings them to their current life. My own mental health concerns coupled with the curiosity to understand people’s lives better helped me to choose this profession.

I love making connections - understanding patterns of life and weaving them together and articulating the same to clients is fascinating to me. The fact that I could do this for clients and help them understand their distress better is a gratifying experience, just like solving a jigsaw puzzle and enjoying the picture that is created at the end.

After the first session, I hope for clients to know that they were in a space that understood them and their concerns better, and that they are the specialists of their own lives. Therapy is going to be a collaborative space, and we can work on their concerns together. The therapeutic relationship can be built gradually, and I hope that it only furthers the understanding they have about themselves.

Seeking therapy, and trusting a complete stranger with your concerns can be daunting, but I would like to appreciate them for thinking about seeking support and taking space. Therapy however, may not match what is shown in mainstream media, and it can take some time before you start feeling changes in the way you see yourself and your distress. Allow yourself to witness your journey with curiosity, and it can be a rewarding experience.

I actively work towards building an authentic and safe relationship with my clients. I want them to know that I may not immediately “get” what’s troubling them, but I am more than keen to understand them better, and I will always strive to factor in their lived experiences, thereby making the therapeutic space a collaborative one.

My work with clients has shown me how humans are incredibly resilient, and that we are actively and constantly doing something to sustain ourselves, even if we may not see it. Also, clients changing therapists because they wanted the best for themselves has motivated me to change therapists, however inconvenient that may be, and I am ever grateful for that.

As a counsellor, I value the social backgrounds that play a part in the lives of my clients, because I believe that humans are social beings, and our social structures - caste, class, religion, educational status hugely impact our beliefs and play a role in the experiences we have had. This genuine interest to know about the external systems that affect their lives helps me to provide a supportive space that is beneficial to them. This allows clients to go easy on themselves, knowing that there are other factors at play, which may be exacerbating their distress.

As nerdy as this sounds, I absolutely love reading - getting lost in the pages of fiction and nonfiction is a relaxing experience for me. I also love to pair a book with a warm cup of filter coffee; going to new places and sitting amongst nature is also something that I like.

I am a person-centred therapist, and I work towards helping clients in trusting their experiences and the subjective realities that they have encountered. I am a queer-affirmative, trauma-informed therapist with a systemic lens, and I highly believe in the sense of agency and autonomy that clients have. Building an empathetic, non-judgmental and safe space for the clients is extremely important to me, and I believe that awareness of the self and our backgrounds can hugely contribute to the alleviation of our distress.

The intake form that I send to prospective clients has an option to mention the pronouns of the person, and I also take great care in not assuming the gender/sexual identity of the person. I readily state that I am a queer-affirmative practitioner, and to educate myself, I love reading fictional and nonfictional books on LGBTQI+ literature, so that the burden of explaining things is not on the clients. I also engage with my queer friends, and follow people from the community on social media, so that I am aware of the difficulties that the community must be facing, and the stigma and prejudices that the community may be going through.