Hello, I'm Dr. Sudha Shashwati and I'm glad our paths have crossed! Allow me to share a bit about myself as a person and as a therapist.
I've had 10+ years of experience as a psychotherapist and a community mental health practitioner, working with NGOs and in private practice. As a trainee, I have worked as a marital therapy intern in Bandra Family Court, Mumbai for 6 months and as a clinical psychology intern in Psychiatry Ward, MGM Hospital, Kamothe, Mumbai for 1 year. My diverse experience in psychotherapy and counselling enables me to tailor treatment to the unique positioning of each client who comes to me.
As a therapist, I deeply appreciate a dialectical approach and am committed to a lifelong attempt to hone my skills of allowing dualities to exist in the interest of helping my clients get closer to what matters to them in the long run. That means the co-existence of patience and intentional movement. That means being fully present with my clients and listening deeply, allowing struggle to co-exist with living an intentional life, therefore neither jumping into rescue behaviour nor being completely non-directive (there's a LOT of action in ACT, my favourite approach to psychotherapy!).
Founder & Principal Psychotherapist
PhD in Psychology (JRF; University of Delhi)
M.A. in Applied Psychology with specialization in Clinical Psychology (TISS, Mumbai)
B.A. Hons. Psychology (University of Delhi; Gold Medalist)
I'm an ex-perfectionist workaholic who is learning to enjoy a gentle life. I'm drawn to nature, books, metaphors, silence, and everything that is healing. My own experience with depression as a teenager led me to Psychology, enamoured by the prospect of being able to do for others what I had found life saving for myself- healing through words and connection. All these years later, I feel privileged and grateful to get to do the work of a therapist everyday.
While I work with a wide range of concerns, I particularly enjoy working in the areas of relationship concerns, anxiety, trauma, depression, queer affirmative care, body image issues, perfectionism and overthinking, and digital addiction. I work with adults of all age groups, both individuals and couples. I have worked with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, mostly Non Residential Indians based in the US, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Austria, Australia, and Germany.
In addition to being a psychotherapist, I’m also a mental health researcher and educator. I have over 8 years of teaching and research experience, most of those being in premier colleges of University of Delhi (JMC, LSR, KNC and DRC). I'm passionate about qualitative research and my work as a researcher is at the intersection of gender, culture and mental health. I was the university gold medallist during my bachelor’s (University of Delhi), won the ‘best research for clinical psychology’ award in my master’s (TISS, Mumbai), and was a UGC NET-JRF research scholar. My doctoral research was on masculinities and femininities in modern India, an area of enduring interest for me.
I’m fond of mentoring young professionals and am therefore engaged in a variety of training and learning spaces that allow me the opportunity to connect with the next generation of psychologists in India. I also offer clinical supervision to mental health professionals (0-8 years), with training from the Indian Academy of Professional Supervisors (IAPS). Recently, I have also begun offering consultation for mental health tech startups. If you would like to explore therapy/supervision/consultation with me, set up an introductory call here: https://koalendar.com/e/first-inquiry-meeting-with-dr-sudha-shashwati
Certification in Clinical Supervision by Indian Academy of Professional Supervisors for MHPs
Certification in Trauma Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Russ Harris)
Certification in Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice (Mariwala Health Initiative)
Our team comprises hand picked clinical psychologists and counselling psychologists with minimum 5 years of experience who are in therapy themselves, take regular supervision, and are committed to continued upskilling.
We are all trauma informed and skilled in supporting neurodivergent individuals. Our work is rooted in a strong evidence base and is skillfully adapted to the Indian context. We believe in tailoring our techniques and our stance to the unique needs and goals of each client, to their history and their hopes for the future, to their personalities and their current life circumstances. We use a variety of experiential, post modern, evidence based approaches like ACT, DBT, Narrative Therapy, and more, but what remains common is our client-centred, existential stance. We place a strong emphasis on building a trusting and supportive therapeutic relationship, a solid raabta, that is the foundation of all we do. We all work with an intersectional social justice lens and are feminist and queer affirmative in our approach. We also take pride in being evidence based, and all our services are grounded in research.
No matter how hopeless it may seem at the moment, we are here to remind you of the light at the end of the tunnel and try to be that tiny ray of sunshine that acts as a glimmer of hope.
Ready to take the next step towards emotional wellness and self-discovery?
Book a session with our qualified therapists and experience compassionate, evidence-based care.
Raabta is your sanctuary for therapy, healing and connection through professional mental health support.
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