I have a curiosity about people. People’s stories and their lives are fascinating, disturbing, elevating and unique. I do believe I have a good, compassionate listening ear as well. Combining these two seemed to be a natural progression to Psychology and thereon to Counselling. Reducing a client’s emotional disturbance and helping them lead more productive, happy lives is immensely fulfilling,albeit challenging.

The opportunity to connect deeply with a person and enhance his or her life by usng my skills, the opportunity to constantly learn and be surprised and humbled by human nature and its endless variations - these may be the top two reasons that excite me about my work.

Good therapeutic alliance. I hope by the end of the first session a client will

• Feel comfortable having chosen to come for therapy
• Have a good understanding of what the counselling process is all about
• Have a clearer understanding of the goals he/she wants out of this process. Besides these, I hope a client recognises that adversities may seem overwhelming and insurmountable, but awareness about our attitudes towards these and the meaning we ascribe to these are critical to feeling a sense of control over our lives. Put simply, I will try to engender a sense of hope.

You may feel apprehensive or unsure about talking to a complete stranger about very private, intimate parts of yourself. That is natural. Take the leap anyway. Give it a shot. Talk to your counsellor about your fears, concerns about counselling. Clear misconceptions you may have about the process. Do not hesitate asking questions. You have the right to do so. Counselling is a process, not a quick fix because we live with our unhelpful beliefs/attitudes/ habits over long periods. Change will take time, so be prepared to work hard to enable that change. Counselling may be the first courageous, crucial step you may be taking towards greater self-responsibility and onus for the problems you are facing.

I would like to have a collaborative relationship with my client. This means there is mutual respect and trust, as well as clarity about the goals we are working toward. I would emphasise the difference between FEELING better and GETTING better to the client. The latter means working hard to examine one’s unhelpful beliefs about self/others/the world and working hard to achieve goals set in therapy. But most important, I would encourage client to work towards greater and greater self-acceptance. That is imperative to any change. Counselling need not be deadly serious ALL the time, so we can have our laughs and chuckles as well.

I have constantly felt awed and humbled by the tenacity and resilience many clients have shown in the face of so many adversities in their lives. Some of the valuable learnings for me personally have been

• Hang in there! Often, the ability to tenaciously hold on to the smallest ray of hope and keep battling on, is the single most important thing
• Do the doable. Keep focusing on what you can do now, rather than what you should have done in the past.
• Tomorrow is another day! Pick up the pieces and keep moving!

The sense of warmth and genuine interest I feel towards people, my ability to be culturally sensitive to issues, my communication skills that help me be flexible in the way I may relate to different clients (example, formal or informal style as the case may be), the capacity for self-reflection and my sense of humour.

Love writing on issues related to mental health on Facebook or in some dailies, listen to or sing old film songs or even a classical raga or two (having been a student of classical vocal music and a performing artist on radio and stage in my youth), read anything that I can lay my hands on, goof around with my family and especially my two ebullient sons, sit around in public places observing people and making up stories about them in my head, and very occasionally try the odd recipe or two when the mood strikes me.