CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Aarzoo holds Masters in Psychology from Panjab University, Chandigarh and M. Phil. Clinical Psychology from Chennai and is working as Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh. She has been working in the clinical setting since 2007 and is interested in areas of adult psychiatry; children having an intellectual disability, autism, ADHD, and behavioural problems. She has been supervising and teaching trainees of M.Phil. Clinical Psychology since 2012.
Manju Agrawal is a Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist, Family Constellation Therapist, a Social Entrepreneur and an Educationist with 38 years of experience. She is the former Director of Mahila Samakhya, UP. She is currently the Professor of Psychology and Dean Student Welfare, Amity University, Lucknow Campus. She is the Chief Architect of the Women’s Policy for UP. She has also conducted more than 125 training programs for more than 4,000 hours in India and abroad. She has partnered in the launch of a platform for psychologists and alternative therapists for holistic healing committed to Mission Mental Health with YouTube
Channel by the name of MindSpa. manjua@lko.amity.edu, manju.agrawal@gmail.com
D. S. L. Amulya is a practicing Counseling Psychologist, an alumnus of Montfort College, Bengaluru. She has experience in working with adults of different age groups, through face-to-face as well as online counseling. She is a freelancer at present and her work interests include psychological counseling and building awareness about mental health through workshops/webinars. dslamulya.psr@gmail.com.
S. N. Anindya holds Masters in Psychology from Amity University, Lucknow, and currently in training as a transpersonal therapist from EKAA foundation. She believes in aligning with the inner nature to create harmony within and around by giving expression to all the aspects of the self through art, science and spirituality, to reach full potential of human life. She is enthusiastic about bringing psychology in the lives of common people through workshops, and is currently preparing to connect with doctors and school teachers to create a collaboration in Rourkela, Odisha. anindyasnag20@gmail.com
Lamia Bagasrawala is a practicing psychotherapist and queer affirmative counsellor. She is the Project Coordinator for School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA). She is a visiting faculty member at the Department of Psychology at SNDT University, Mumbai and Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts at NMIMS University, Mumbai. She is also on the Board of Studies (Psychology) at Jai Hind College, Mumbai and NMIMS University, Mumbai. She has completed her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from TISS, Mumbai.
Saras Bhaskar is a Counseling Psychologist and Coach. She has more than 30 years of campus, corporate and NGO experience. She practices at Bloom Healthcare in Velachery. She is the co-founder of Chennai Counselors’ Foundation. She has submitted her Doctoral thesis at the University of Madras. She has a Master degree in Counseling and Applied Psychology from St. Edwards University, Austin, Texas and from SIET College, Chennai.
Myrtle Anish Debora, works as an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Clinical Psychologist at the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. She completed her graduate and post graduate study in Psychology from Women’s Christian College, Chennai, and was awarded her M.Phil. in Psychology from Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai. She works predominantly in the area of Intellectual Disability and also enjoys teaching post graduates at Stanley Medical College. She was actively involved with the Trauma Counselling team in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami response. She is actively involved with the Tamil Nadu Association of Clinical Psychologists in providing tele-counselling services for the COVID-19 Pandemic response. debimyrt@gmail.com
S Divyaprabha is a Counseling Psychologist with a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and has more than a decade of experience as a School Psychologist. She is a Certified Professional Supervisor. She has submitted her doctoral thesis in psychology and is the Research Wing Coordinator of Chennai Counselors Foundation (CCF).
Chetna Duggal is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has completed her M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore and her Ph.D. from TISS, Mumbai. She is the Project Director and heads the School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA). She is a practicing psychotherapist and through her initiative RAHBAR she works for training, supervision and professional development of mental health practitioners and supervisors. She is a trustee of Apnishala, an organisation working towards making social-emotional learning accessible to children from underprivileged contexts, and is on the advisory board of Project Mumbai for the mental health initiative. chetna.d@tiss.edu
Sunita Jitendra Gaud, Master of Clinical Psychology from Pune, India in the year 2006 is now a member of Australian Counselling Association. She worked in the position of Sports Psychologist for 5 years at the Army Sports Institute and helped the sportspersons to use their full mental potential in achieving their participation in the World Championships and Olympics. She has been working for the Department of Communities, Australia as a Child Protection Officer for the last 7 years and specialised in a range of fields including Trauma, Relationship Counselling, Family Counselling and Risk Assessment. sunita.gaud2011@gmail.com
J Jasseer is the Associate professor and Head, Department of Psychology, University of Kerala and he did his Masters and PhD. Published 21 research articles and co-author of one book titled ‘Basics of Counselling’. He is the Honorary Director, Center for Geriatric Studies and Psychology Consultancy cell attached to the Department of Psychology, University of Kerala. He had supervised 8 doctoral students, developed and standardized 12 psychological tests. He is registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India as a rehabilitation psychologist. He is also the President of the Kerala Manasasthra Parishath. drjasseer@yahoo.co.in
Srinivasan Jayaraman, is M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology and is Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology, SRM University, Chennai. He is Executive Committee Member, Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists and Treasurer, Tamil Nadu Association of Clinical Psychologists. vasanjayaraman@gmail.com
Annie John is Head, Counselling Services, Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore, India. She did her Masters in Psychology from University of Kerala, M.Phil. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore. She was instrumental in developing the systematic assessment tool of learning disability, which was later modified as the NIMHANS battery of Learning Disability. She was the lead in developing IACP Practice guidelines for Learning Disability. She practices as a School Psychologist. mais.annie@gmail.com
Smriti Joshi is a clinical psychologist and certified advanced telemental health professional, with 18 years of experience. She currently leads designing psycho therapeutic interventions for the world’s first mental health chatbot - Wysa and played a key role in developing a text based supportive therapy delivery platform for Wysa users. She was also instrumental in setting up of one of the first online therapy platforms in India and has been on the advisory board of some others. She is a life member of International Society of Mental Health Online (ISMHO), Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) and IACP. smriti009@yahoo.com
T Kalpna has done her Masters in Psychology and M.Phil. from Himachal Pradesh University and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the area of Cognition and Personality from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana. She is a member of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP). Her areas of research interest are personality, cognitive psychology, industrial psychology, school psychology, gender psychology and criminal psychology.kashipuni3@gmail.com
Dherandra Kumar is the founder and director of Psyindia (multidisciplinary intervention centre) and LRS World College (RCI Recognized). He is a consultant with Apollo Hospital, Noida, President-Elect of Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists and Chairperson of Committee on Tele-counselling Practice Guidelines. He was instrumental in setting up the mental health support helpline in the wake of COVID 19 pandemic. He is consulted as an expert by different media organizations such as NDTV, Zee News, India TV, Time, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Femina, Vanita, Child, India Today, Radio Mirchi, Red FM, Radio City and other media dr@psyindia.com www.psyindia.com
N Suresh Kumar did his Masters in Psychology from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology from Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai and Ph.D. from Bharathiar University. He is currently working as Asst. Prof cum Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Madurai Medical College, Tamil Nadu. He is the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Association of Clinical Psychologists and Executive Committee member, Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. He had published several research papers in various National and International journals. nsureshkumarpsy@gmail.com
Preethi Krishnan works as a clinical Psychologist/Counsellor in Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology, Bengaluru, a visiting Professor at Sweekar Academy in Hyderabad, a part-time faculty at Montfort and is also a private practitioner. She was formerly a Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology, SRM Medical College, Chennai and Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai. She did her M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS and has a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology from Swinburne University, Australia. She had worked with the people who were affected by the Gujarat Earthquake and Tsunami and was also involved in research related to the disasters. She is also a Professional Life Member of the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. p.krishnan2006@gmail.com
Anagha Lavalekar is a passionate traveler in the field of psychology. She has a Masters in Clinical Psychology, and a Doctorate in Social-Educational Psychology aiming at fusion of Eastern and Western viewpoints on quality of life. As a Director at Jnana Prabodhini's Institute of Psychology, Pune, India she is pursuing the path of positive mental health through different initiatives in profession, and has contributed to the field of research and academics over the last 25 years. She has published more than 30 articles in national and international referenced journals, written books on psychology, edited books on compilation of research and is also a National level awardee for Research in Psychology. anagha.lavalekar@jnanaprabodhini.org
Leister Sam Sudheer Manickam received his Masters in Psychology from University of Kerala, Clinical Psychology training (M.Phil.) from the National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru and Ph.D. from C P University, USA. He is the Professor of Clinical Psychology and Hon. Founder Director of Centre for Applied Psychological Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India and serves as Director of Training and Research, Mhat, Calicut, India. He also serves in the research committee of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy. Lssmanickam@gmail.com
Asima Mishra is currently working as a Clinical Psychologist in Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi. She is pursuing Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from CIP under Ranchi University. Her areas of interest include working with children, Adult psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Ganesh Nerur has an M.Sc. in Applied Psychology from Annamalai University. He is a non-practitioner. He is a member of the Advisory Committee and active member of the Chennai Counselors Foundation (CCF). He is a retired IT Professional, having managed and mentored large teams across cadres. He is an avid blogger and studying human behaviour is his passion.
B J Prashantham is Professor of Counselling Psychology and Director, Institute of Human Relations, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore, India, Distinguished Prof. of Coaching Psychology, CFI Graduate School of Coaching, USA and is a world renowned Psychologist with 50 years of professional experience as a trainer and supervisor of many counsellors. He has versatile competencies in areas like corporate coaching, counselling, clinical work, cross-cultural psychology, trauma counselling and psycho-neuro-immunology. He is the President of Association for Psychological Counselling (APC), India and author of best-seller book ‘Indian Case Studies in Therapeutic Counselling which was translated into Tamil, Burmese, and Korean languages. drprashantham@gmail.com
Nandini Raman, is a consultant counselor, a corporate trainer, and a columnist with The Hindu. She did B.A in Psychology and Education from Sophia College, University of Mumbai and did M.Sc. Psychology from University of Madras. She consults at Venkateshwara Hospital, Nandanam and at Saraswathi Vidyalaya and Sri Sankara Vidyashram, Chennai.
K Rangaswamy, President, Tamil Nadu Association of Clinical Psychologists, Retired and Visiting Professor at Institute of Mental Health, Chennai. Former Dean and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology, SARS, Secunderabad. He is a Fellow of Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. He was formerly editor of Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology and currently the editor of Journal of Psychological Researches.
Prasanta Kumar Roy has done M.Phil. in Medical and Social Psychology from Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi and Ph.D. from University of Calcutta and is working with Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, COE, Kolkata. He is having training in Disaster Mental Health, Clinical Hypnosis, Verbal Behavior Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy and Social Role Valorization. His areas of interest include the Comprehensive System of Rorschach, Mindfulness based intervention, Hypnotherapy, Psychological Trauma Management, Disaster Psychology. He has volunteered in many natural and man-made disasters in India to provide psychological support and training. He is currently a Member of Disaster Mental Health Task Force, Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. prasanta.roy@gmail.com
Neha Sayeed is an Associate Professor; Head, Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. She is the chief coordinator of suicide prevention helpline which renders help to suicidal individuals round the clock. She has been a gold medalist in Social science and an achiever in her university. Her area of research includes Neuro-Cognitive Psychology, Suicide Prevention, CBT, Adult Psychiatry, Sex Therapy. neha.s.cip@gmail.com
NovRattan Sharma is a Professor at Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. Currently, serving as the Secretary of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and the editor of the Journal of Indian Health Psychology. With the experience of 36 years in teaching and research, he has contributed extensively to the psychology discipline by publishing 12 books and approximately 196 papers in national and international Journals. His areas of interest are Personality, Applied positive health, and Counseling Psychology.sharmanr5@gmail.com
Prerna Sharma has done her M.Phil. in clinical psychology and Ph.D. She has drawn her work experience working with institutes like TISS, Mumbai; Medanta, Sangath, Goa; GMCH, Chandigarh and Dr. RML Hospital New Delhi. She is passionate about broadening horizons of mental health for every person. She believes that the future of psychology lies in moving out of the closed spaces of clinics and hospitals and having meaningful collaboration and dialogue with experts from other fields as well as laypersons. She is currently working as a clinical psychologist in the center of excellence in mental health, Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi. prernasharma02@gmail.com
R Suryakumar is a Counseling Psychologist and Founder of MANAS Counseling Services, Chennai. He is a Research Scholar, pursuing his PhD from Bharathiar University, Research and Development Centre, Coimbatore. He is the President of TA Study Circle (Madras) and also the Honorary Correspondent of Chinmaya Vidyalaya Anna Nagar, Chennai.
Kalpana Suryakumar is a practicing Counseling Psychologist with a Master’s degree in Guidance & Counseling. She is the Co-Founder of MANAS Counseling Services and the current President of Chennai Counselors’ Foundation. She has specialised in Marital and Family Counseling and has given several interviews on mental health issues in print and visual media.
Reena Thomas hails from Thrissur, Kerala, India. She did her M. A. and M.Phil. in Psychology from University of Kerala. After M. Phil. in Clinical Psychology from KMC, Manipal in 2002, she started her career as Clinical Psychologist at NIMHANS, Bengaluru and moved to the Department of Clinical Psychology, KMC and served as a faculty member until 2008. Since the last 12 years, she has been part of various health care sectors catering to the mental health needs of people from all over UAE and had multicultural exposure. For the past 3 years, she has been associated with Medeor, Burdubai, Dubai, UAE. a unit of VPS healthcare group. rosethomasp2010@gmail.com
T R Uma is a counselling psychologist and completed her M. Phil in Psychology from the Presidency College, Chennai. She holds her Ph.D. in Neuropsychology (Executive Functions of Children with ADHD) from the University of Madras. She is a visiting consultant in Bloom health care hospital, Velachery and in ‘Be well Hospital’ Chennai.
Paulson V Veliyannoor, CMF, a catholic priest, holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and currently serves as faculty at the Forge Center for Claretian Renewal at Madrid, Spain. He has previously served as assistant professor of psychology at Christ College (now, University), Bengaluru, and founding principal of Saint Claret College, Ziro (Arunachal Pradesh). He is also the founding editor of Artha: Journal of Social Sciences (CU, Bengaluru) and InterViews: An Interdisciplinary Journal in Social Sciences (SCC, Ziro). He may be contacted at: frpaulson@gmail.com
Srinivasan Venkatesan is Professor & Head, Department of Clinical Psychology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, Karnataka. He has authored 27 books, published 150 research articles, and conducted over 300 workshops for various audiences on topics related to children with special needs. A recipient of several awards and accolades including a Gold Medal by a former President of India in 1994, his publications have received Google Scholar H-Index of 17, i10-Index of 38 with 19000 views on Academia.edu, ResearchGate Score of 22.49 and 85000 reads. psyconindia@gmail.com
Sujala Watve is Former Secretary of Jnana Prabodhini Samshodhan Sanstha, Pune, India, National Supervisory Psychologist of Mensa India and Advising Psychologist. She initiated and coordinated a one-year ‘Post Graduate Diploma course in Education for the gifted: methods and strategies’, affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University under UGC Innovative. sujala09@gmail.com