To be perfectly candid, I saw Bhool Bhulaiyya as a nine year old and I think Akshay Kumar’s character and approach stuck with me. As an adolescent, my parents ran helter skelter trying to find a reliable mental health professional for me, especially in the smaller cities we used to reside in. When I finally found the right help, the overwhelming relief was followed by an urge to pass it on and that’s what led me here today!

The fact that I see people of all ages just try to become better, the hope and the willingness of everyone who comes to this space sweeps me away. I’m often told that I listen to a lot of negative things in my line of work, which is true of course, but when I see the sheer force of human resilience it is truly awe inspiring. Taylor was right, we do “live for the hope of it all”

I know that coming to therapy can seem like a daunting experience at first, so I hope that after a first session with me, clients feel more comfortable about the idea. And it might be a bit of stretch, but I also try that they feel a tiny bit of relief at the end of it , whether it comes from finally having tried the experience for the first time or being able to revel in a space which is all about them.

• That the biggest plus point of such a space is that it’s all about you and your needs.
  * Therapy can be overwhelming at times, like ‘purging’ in skincare. Just like your skin takes time to get used to retinol, your mind takes time to get used to feelings and insights that have just come up to the surface in therapy.
  * You have every right to call out/correct your therapist if such a need arises. If you feel it isn’t working out even after a couple of sessions, you can exercise the right to terminate it.

I try to build a warm and easy relationship with my clients. Whether it involves using memes/reels to describe things or creating a joint google document to pen important take-aways from the session, I’m fully amenable to any technique which can help the client, even if its a bit unusual (while fully maintaining ethical boundaries). After an intense session, I usually try to check up on my clients via email to make sure they know that their feelings are acknowledged and cared for within this space.

To learn from the vulnerability and trust that makes someone open up to a complete stranger

1. That I’m able to make my clients comfortable in therapy. I fully endorse the joy of frivolity and try to make sure that I do leave a bit of space for it in my practice
2. I’m open to using techniques that I may not academically agree with, if its benefitting my client
3. I try and leave a lot of space for my clients to be themselves.
4. Above all technique and expertise, lies kindness. Not humanity or empathy or compassion, simple kindness.

I like to read a lot of fiction, consume an unholy amount of pop culture and break my Spotify listening record every year while I take my cycle around town. I also like doing random deep dives into obscure topics and Polaroid photography.

• While the therapy space is all about you, your problem may not be. Since we live in a world where existence is more difficult for some, we have to acknowledge caste, gender, class and living situations. That’s why it’s very important to make sure a client can recognize their own values, where they come from and what part of themselves they’d like to hold on to so they make sense of their own experiences and actions.
  * People have a right to know that that their problems can majorly arise from unfortunate events and thus bringing trauma awareness in the therapy room is of utmost importance. It helps clients separate the self from their issue and look at themselves through a more compassionate, kind and informed lens.
  * To make therapy about the client and use the space to help them deal with uncomfortable emotions in a supportive way while holding space for any event, emotion or situation they bring up. It should focus on what people have, rather than what they lack
  * A lot of people struggle with overthinking and through therapeutic techniques we can detangle the string of thoughts, compartmentalize them and work through the knots that can cause us distress.

Therapy by nature of its existence, should be queer affirmative.
- Small acts of allegiance like a pride flag in my office or making sure my stance is visible on my public social media accounts.
- be very mindful or pronouns and names and language use
- If possible, I try and weave around the ideas of queer or joy or queer celebration
- I try and read a lot of lived experiences of queer persons of colour, I feel that can be more beneficial than academic texts at times and also take queer affirmative supervision
- More bespoke approaches, especially because clients usually have to work in very restrictive environments
- Being very mindful of my own privilege