I once came across the word “psychology” in my English class. My teacher challenged me to give it’s correct spelling. I failed but that left me with some curiosity to understand what this word meant and why was it spelt this way. After that class, I reached back home to research about the word on the internet. The nerd in me was satisfied but still very curious. I would consider my journey to be a keen mental health learner from that moment. Moreover, experiences growing up made me realise the need for appropriate and ethical mental health support which gave me a drive to be where I am at today.

Humans, our brains, our tendency to learn, unlearn, understand, misunderstand, live and fear living. I feel like I see life in real contradictions as a counsellor sometimes. This is because- me and my fellow therapists provide therapeutic services in the same world that hasn’t provided people (us) with enough pleasant experiences. It’s exciting to be at the end of kindness, love, empathy, acceptance and care of the experiences. As a human and a therapist, I choose to be at the part of the more desirable world which excites me.

After their first session, I hope my clients experience acceptance of them, their life story and understanding for what they’re experiencing.

Therapy is a space to share, explore, learn and change in a safe way. It’s a place that caters to each client at their pace. It’s a collaborative space wherein the therapist and client work together, however, it’s unfair on self to expect immediate solutions for life and concerns from the therapist. It’s a long term process that requires consistency and patience.

In the initial stage of therapy, we work on setting some short term and long term goals. The goals decided are extracted from the reasons of approaching for therapy, and more explored areas of distress. The clients decide the priority of each goal and they are set on the rooster collaboratively. Every now and then, I like to remind the clients their rights in the therapy space which helps both of us be aware of where we are at from time to time. This means that we do not work in hierarchies in the therapy space.

We carry our own narrative and it’s built up on everyday with each experience- pleasant or unpleasant.

One strength of mine is that I operate from a space of being aware of my privileges in the society. This helps me provide a compassionate environment considering the social, economic, political and personal stances of people from backgrounds different than mine.

I usually find myself playing with my dog, cooking, trying new activities or going back to older hobbies in my free time.

I work with the queer community, disabled and neurodivergent folks alongside other populations. I address concerns and work on exploration of areas that are systematically engrained and forced on us at times. The discomfort that comes with being in a system that creates an environment of dismissal because of not meeting the heteronormative, neurotypical, ableist, privileged laws is something that I address in the therapy space.

My therapeutic approach comes from an informed space which considers the clients socio-economic status, their families, childhood and various other areas that affect ones wellbeing. My work leans towards exploring emotions, circumstances, self and identity with the help of stories, art and craft. I also use EFT and somatic techniques to work on emotions and feelings.

I engage in conversations with fellow therapists, people from the community at different events and times possible. This helps me be in touch with my queerness and others’ as well. I work on my preconceived notions and stigmas intensively and bring them up in safe learning spaces, research about them and reframe them with the help of conversations, reading, researching and exploring.