“Happiness, not in another place but this place … not for another hour, but this hour.”

–Walt Whitman

About my style

I believe that the solutions to your problems lie within you. Emotional pain and distress can illuminate a path to self-discovery, healing and transformation. Yet too often we suffer in silence. Therapy is a powerful act of self-affirmation, and I endeavour to provide a space to rest, to be seen, to renew oneself, and to mend one’s broken dignity.

While the therapeutic process will necessarily vary from one person to the next, I integrate a range of insights and techniques including strengths-based, narrative, and mindfulness approaches to therapy and stress reduction. My aim as a therapist is to help you reconnect with your innate strength and resources, and to explore the solutions that will enable you to lead a more fulfilling life.

I also bring to my practice an abiding commitment to social justice and to providing a non-pathologizing space that respects the dignity and agency of all my clients in the entire spectrum of their diversity.

A bit about me

A child of immigrants from India, from a young age I was captivated by questions about the meaning of existence and justice: what is the good life? And how can we create the conditions that enable every human being to flourish and realize a life they value? I sought answers to these questions in literature, in the sacred texts of the world’s religious and mystical traditions, and I studied psychology, social work, and international development – all disciplines that were fundamentally concerned with human suffering and how we might ease it. I also worked with poor and culturally diverse communities in Canada, Tanzania, India, Vietnam and the UK. 

Despite achieving some measure of outward success, I struggled with anxiety and bouts of sadness. I also felt disconnected from the values of the consumerist, profit-driven society of which I was a part; and like so many other people of colour, I experienced how subtle forms of racial bias could damage one’s dignity and sense of self-worth.

Yet I also discovered that one of the marvels of the mind is that it is possible to train it to relate to disturbing thoughts and emotions in a more gentle and wise way. While we often cannot control the circumstances in which we find ourselves or the turns in fortune to which life subjects us, we can with patience and self-compassion cultivate the skills to face the inevitable vicissitudes of life with greater equanimity and calm.

MY QUALIFICATIONS

Registered Social Worker (Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers)

Member, Ontario Association for Social Workers

Masters of Social Work (University of Toronto)

MPhil in International Development (University of Oxford)

BA Honours in Psychology (York University)

Certificate in Narrative Therapy (Dulwich Centre)

Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Wilfred Laurier University)

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: Accreditation, Level 2 (Association of Psychological Therapies)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Accreditation, Level 2 (Association of Psychological Therapies)

The Foundations of Mindfulness Practice (School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto)

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Centre for Mindfulness Studies)

Graduate Certificate in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (Cornell University)