In my short span of working as a counselor, I feel privileged to be a part of people’s lives in ways that perhaps only I could have been. I have been told that I listen well and I would be curious about people around me and ever since my role as a counselor, it has been extremely rewarding to listen to people’s stories of love, hope, resistance and resilience, and joy in ‘little’ things. These people and their stories continue to remain with me in my journey ahead.

The sheer joy to be able to experience discoveries together and warmth in the room. Mornings are difficult for me and what helps me (apart from my tea) is to look forward to these conversations, which are about sharing spaces of laughter and silences, safety and vulnerability, exciting co-researches and deconstructions, and all the wonder. 🙂

I hope they take back a sense of richness and meanings to their stories they come with and a sense of agency in bringing about change in ways they would want to. I also hope for them to experience a sense of collaboration and solidarity in their relationship with me.

I would want to be the influencer in the conversation and tell them that they’ve already been (actively) responding to some of their concerns in ‘little’ and big ways and thinking about seeking counselling is one of them. And that counseling could be a safe space for them to explore possibilities, to make visible spaces that invite their ways of being.

I hope for our relationship to look like something that’s warm, equal and collaborative, even buddy-like and for me to be a co-traveller, co-researcher, co-discoverer in their journey to be agents of change.

The fact that they always have skills and abilities to respond to their concerns, every single thing they do. The role becomes then of the counselor, to attune and look for these skills and know-hows, relentlessly unpack them, in order to make visible people’s agency.

My ability to listen and listen through cracks in stories of trauma and abuse, to believe that the person is an expert and to de-center myself and my ability to hold silences in conversations.

In my free time, I would be found curled up indoors with a book about love or a period drama. I also love watching Bollywood movies - the colourful, the parallels and the in-betweens (if any). My free times are also devoted to ‘the sweetness of doing nothing’.