Memories of the firsts

Super thrilled to share that the first batch of my workshop ‘Butterflies’ (held on (16 Dec 2022) was a fun and energizing event for me. We spoke of therapist jitters, therapist self-care, burnout, administrative procedures and so on!

From thinking “why would anyone register for my workshop”, to having 13 lovely participants, with some being known faces, and some unknown ones who chose to place their trust in me, it was a heartwarming experience. 💝 

 Padhaku is a study club for MHPs with the aim of learning in a creative and affordable way. The first session was held on 25 Oct 2023. As a group we made excellent reflective points about the emotion of anger  (through movie analysis) from a personal, therapeutic, political, inter-generational and experiential perspective. 

Sharing 2 highlights here:

1. Seeing anger as a source of wisdom about oneself, than just a problem to be fixed.

2. We all come with an 'emotional ancestry' - unburdening this can help us discover ourselves.

Abhyudaya Global Village School, Saoner, Maharashtra started with a vision to re-shape Vidarbha through education. This was a sunday interaction with the sparkling 10th graders for managing exam anxiety! Their curiosity, insights, energy and participation was mind blowing! 

We focused on:

1. Identifying unhelpful thoughts and changing them to helpful ones.

2. How this stress can manifest in the body - and how the body can be used to manage the anxiety.

The first 'Practice of Patience (POP)' was held in March 2024, a commitment of 7/8 hours over 7 days! We started by understanding patience and various aspects of it and moved on to 5 day practice in silence. We ended with sharings and insights.

The commitment, honesty, curiosity and engagement of the participants was commendable! From finding some practices peaceful, to some irritating to some confusing, the group endured and came up with beautiful personal reflections! We came to the understanding that Patience is an act of waiting that comes from building tolerance. Tolerance = endurance + perseverance. It is the endurance and perseverance that we practiced! Also busted some myths about patience! As a facilitator I learnt the power of trust, group kinship (which came in without much interaction) and the uniqueness of each person’s relationship with patience! ☀️

Kind Place is a support group for individuals coping with Narcissistic abuse. The first group held space for 7 members and 2 facilitators. This group was held over 6 sessions from May to July 2024.

Facilitators: Shama Shah and Irawati Joglekar

                                  (psychologists)

Highlights:

1. Awareness - of the confusing colours of abuse

2. ⁠Body - an intelligent system which guides us well if only we learn to hear it 

3. ⁠Hope - That we can find ourselves and even thrive despite the impact of abuse

Words we resonated with as we parted :

1. Hope

2. ⁠Warmth

3. ⁠Disconnection

4. ⁠Thankful

5. ⁠Resilience 

6. ⁠Being heard

Hush is a lecture series (for psychotherapists) on experiences in psychotherapy that are crucial but less spoken of. These experiences warrant being studied and spoken of to make the therapist's experience seen.

After a month of journeying together over 9 hours and 6 sessions, the Hush lecture series was concluded on 24/08/24. The participants made it come alive through their active interest, sharing and questions! Immense gratitude for their faith in the venture. We went over the therapist’s as well as client’s experiences in psychotherapy (in a lecture + Q & A format) about topics that definitely need more sharing and discussion than there is! 

Hoping to eventually move from a lecture series to a community of therapists that feel safe enough to share their experiences and challenges and receive non judgmental help.

Topics:

1. Gifts in psychotherapy

2. Romantic feelings in psychotherapy

3. When your client is a therapist (nuances)

4. Triggered therapist

5. No empathy for a client

6. Dual-role management

This is a community workshop on the Wisdom of the Body in regulating emotions. These committed, curious and interactive participants who came from all over the city to Thane on a sat evening (7-12-24) made the experience memorable. Thanking www.healthymind.org for trusting me to share this wisdom that our body holds, at the warm and welcoming premises of Saptasopan (Thane). 

Highlights:

1. We learnt the difference between sensations and sensory emotions.

2. We learnt to identify signs of regulation and dysregulation of the nervous system in response to stressors. 

3. We learnt regulation skills through the use of touch, movement and breath.

This is a 3 hour session conducted by a Psychiatrist and focuses on: understanding basic brain biology that is relevant to psychiatric medication, classes of medication and their side effects and how they interact with one another. This session was held on Jan 12th, 2025 by Dr. Kamaljit Singh, Psychiatrist practicing in Thane since 2007. 

Grateful to this large group of dedicated and patient participants. 

Highlights:

1. I am more than just my brain. Brain hardware can be helped with medication. This helped detach the blame that gets put on people when they feel or behave in ways that causes trouble. 

2. Some classes of Psychiatric medication that we went over- Antidepressants, Stimulants, Antipsychotic medication, Mood stabilizers (as they’re called more casually) and so on. 

3. Side effects VS Adverse effects 

Ending this note with : google has info, not wisdom. Always best to check with the doctor about why something has been prescribed!