My Background and Therapeutic Philosophy
I was born in South India to US American parents. During my growing up, I lived in India, Haiti and Bangladesh, and my family moved just about every three years. I consider myself an adult Third Culture Kid (TCK) or Gobal Nomad.
I have always been concerned with inequities and got my first master's degree in Cultural Studies in Education at Ohio University. My focus was on anti-oppression training and Whiteness, where dismantling systems of power and control were at the forefront of my studies.
After teaching high school biology in India, I became fascinated by the empathy tool, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) aka Compassionate Communication. I have been studying and practicing this empathy tool since 2007.
Shortly thereafter, Inviting Presence was born as I started helping individuals organize their lives and felt called to work in counseling rather than teaching. I began by helping people face shameful and difficult life and relationship challenges. Then I served as an addictions counselor in California and in New Jersey.
I have always been concerned with inequities and got my first master's degree in Cultural Studies in Education at Ohio University. My focus was on anti-oppression training and Whiteness, where dismantling systems of power and control were at the forefront of my studies.
After teaching high school biology in India, I became fascinated by the empathy tool, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) aka Compassionate Communication. I have been studying and practicing this empathy tool since 2007.
Shortly thereafter, Inviting Presence was born as I started helping individuals organize their lives and felt called to work in counseling rather than teaching. I began by helping people face shameful and difficult life and relationship challenges. Then I served as an addictions counselor in California and in New Jersey.
I pursued an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, with a concentration in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Counseling. The transpersonal aspects my degree mean that my practice is based in a spiritual* understanding of the innate health of every individual. The mindfulness aspects mean that I got two years of meditation practice and am able to find my inner calm to hold whatever my clients present.
*Many people have been abused, hurt, and killed by the church and religion. I absolutely do not condone the actions of collective communities that have harmed others. I welcome atheists, agnostics, and people from any background or religion as clients.
One key aspect of my desire to be a counselor comes from wanting to promote social justice in the world one person at a time and to advocate for broader social change. As part of that process, I want to name some of my areas of privilege. I have white skin privilege, class privilege, cis-gender privilege, heterosexual privilege, current able-bodied privilege, Christian background privilege, citizenship privilege, English as my first language privilege, and current mental health and ability privilege. Even though I consider myself to be non-binary, heteroflexible, and no longer Christian, I can pass and that is a privilege in itself. I know that an aspect of my privilege is being ignorant of the experiences and realities of people who are marginalized in society, and I commit to continual self-education and training.
I welcome conversations about identity, positionality and social location. Though not your responsibility in any way, I welcome your voicing anything I express that does not feel honoring of you. Your feedback, criticism or critique is valuable and important.
I strongly believe in the innate health and brilliant sanity of each of us. As such, I see my role as providing a loving and empathic container within which vulnerability, exploration and deep searching can occur. I hold the therapeutic interaction as sacred and trust the wisdom of my clients.
My primary method of therapy is empathic presence. I have experience guiding clients in self-integration or parts work similar to Gestalt, in mediation or communication counseling such that everyone experiences being heard, and in facilitating transformation work. I also have extensive training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT).
I look forward to hearing from you to set up a session.
*Many people have been abused, hurt, and killed by the church and religion. I absolutely do not condone the actions of collective communities that have harmed others. I welcome atheists, agnostics, and people from any background or religion as clients.
One key aspect of my desire to be a counselor comes from wanting to promote social justice in the world one person at a time and to advocate for broader social change. As part of that process, I want to name some of my areas of privilege. I have white skin privilege, class privilege, cis-gender privilege, heterosexual privilege, current able-bodied privilege, Christian background privilege, citizenship privilege, English as my first language privilege, and current mental health and ability privilege. Even though I consider myself to be non-binary, heteroflexible, and no longer Christian, I can pass and that is a privilege in itself. I know that an aspect of my privilege is being ignorant of the experiences and realities of people who are marginalized in society, and I commit to continual self-education and training.
I welcome conversations about identity, positionality and social location. Though not your responsibility in any way, I welcome your voicing anything I express that does not feel honoring of you. Your feedback, criticism or critique is valuable and important.
I strongly believe in the innate health and brilliant sanity of each of us. As such, I see my role as providing a loving and empathic container within which vulnerability, exploration and deep searching can occur. I hold the therapeutic interaction as sacred and trust the wisdom of my clients.
My primary method of therapy is empathic presence. I have experience guiding clients in self-integration or parts work similar to Gestalt, in mediation or communication counseling such that everyone experiences being heard, and in facilitating transformation work. I also have extensive training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT).
I look forward to hearing from you to set up a session.