Well, its quite a story! I was that typical misfit in a medical section who was trying to make sense of friends’ stories of agony and discord near a window while all the counter parts were busy preparing for the esteemed IITs and Medical colleges. It was only later I realized that people and narratives drive me like nothing else and hence listening to stories of resilience became the biggest motivation to be a mental health professional.

The individuality and yet the common themes of resilience, strength that drive us as community are often reflected in the clients’ narrative and those help me bring new perspectives and ideas to therapy, thereby making my work as a counsellor quite dynamic, and routed in values. Also, since, the field of mental health is still growing in our country, the scope of new conversations and advocacy helps me connect with people from varying backgrounds making it yet another exciting factor that keeps me on the toes to keep exploring.

I believe the process of finding the right therapist is like matchmaking where you are striving to find the one you are connected to! So as clients enter therapy, looking for their best match, I make sure the first session provides them enough safe and open spaces to explore their ambiguities. Post their first session, most of my clients take back the assurance that their journey is going to be less lonely and more of a personalized experience where they validate and find meaning in their difficult experiences. Also, my approach to therapy is collaborative and so post the first session, the clients definitely have more clarity of the process and experience an initial catharsis.

For any client who is seeking therapy, I prefer to elaborate on these aspects:
1. Mental health exists on a continuum and while on most days we are able to manage our difficult days, there are periods of life or days which seem unmanageable. In those periods of life, therapy can be your space to listen to yourself, see which patterns seem to be repeating themselves and learn new skills to move up the ladder.
1. Therapy is often a long term process where the therapist has subject expertise and the objective lens that could be missing when we are experiencing something subjectively.
1. The role and structure of therapist and the process.
2. Give it a try by being in therapy for one or two sessions and focus on how connected and safe you feel with your therapist and if you are unable to feel that connect maybe he/she is not the write therapist for you.
1. Therapy is your space and you will not be pushed to the edges for any details of your life that you are not open to disclosing. We will move as per your pace where as a therapist I will encourage your honesty and vulnerability.

My clients would often find me as a trusted resource that they can rely on, not for solutions but for perspectives and warmth. I wish each client who is able to relate with me finds a space which is free of judgments, supportive and facilitative.

In my journey so far, I have worked with several vulnerable groups, clients and facilitated several workshops to advocate for mental health. However, my greatest learning has been in terms of the ‘helping approach’. I truly believe that each person has an internal strength system/ voice that perhaps they have stopped recognizing for which I play a facilitative role. In no means are they victims who need a rescuer as a therapist to save them. All they need is a listening and objective ear that helps them reflect or learn to recognize their internal voice of strengths. There my approach towards therapy has been a big learning and time and again I have to remind myself of the role I play in a client’s life and my view of them.

I am a reflective professional who follows a systemic lens to mental health and hence I would call openness, reflection and my ability to identify patterns from a critical yet compassionate lens as some of my strengths.

I love to sing and create something. So in my free time you would often find me in one corner of the room singing Sufi songs or Gazals with a paint brush and canvas in hand. And if this virus allows soon travelling will be added to this list!

My approach in therapy is biopsychosocial in nature with focus on past traumas and possibility of losses incurred in the past. I often explain this to the clients using a three pillar analogy that contribute in supporting a building. One of the pillar are the systemic and social factors that influence ones mental health, the other which can’t be negated is the genetics and neuro chemistry that often play a role. The third pillar where i could possibly support the clients is the emotional/ behavioral (psychological) difficulties that we can work around in therapy. I often propagate that these three shall contribute to your overall journey and as and when possible we must collaborate to look at the other two.

1. I am training myself in queer affirmative counselling skills with the help of literature and MHI course material.
2. I am moving from a gender neutral stance to being more gender affirmative and sensitive by challenging my internalized beliefs of normalcy.
3. I am mindful of using language that is affirmative
4. Alongside my personal readings, I provide open spaces to my clients to talk about their sexualities and experiences that they wish to bring to therapy.
5. I am proactively trying to find groups where I can facilitate for the queer community as constant contact will build my repertoire of information and experience with the community.