Credentials: Masters of Cognitive Psychology; Masters of Social Work, Clinical Social Work; Certified Nutritional Coach; DV/IPV training; Somatic and Interpersonal Neurobiology Training
About
Welcome! I am Jaya (she/hers), a Decolonial and Liberation oriented therapist. I use a holistic and integrative approach to nurture transformative healing addressing our mind, body, and spirit. I’m not here to slap a band-aide on you and get you back to just baseline. I want to know what impacted or degraded your baseline such that led you to this place, so we can heal at the root of your suffering. While we cannot control many things in life, we can explore practices, philosophies, and frameworks to help us navigate the world around us while intentionally embodying your values. In session we will build wisdom, insight, knowledge, and explore accessible practices, tailored to your needs to support your healing between sessions. If you are looking for that happy place of therapy that is holistic but grounded, you’ve found the spot!
Services offered
Services
Available for
Speaking topics, trainings & workshops
Decolonial Mental Health Practices; Reclaiming Mindfulness; Introduction to Interpersonal Neurobiology; Mindfulness and Somatic work in therapy; Working Holistically with People Struggling with Eating Disorders
Focus areas & populations
Focus areas
Communities served
Identity & values
Values & commitments
Identities & communities
Lived experience
Practice & approach
Interpersonal Neurobiology, Narrative Therapy, Buddhist Psychology, Liberation Psychology
What harm reduction means in practice
Come as you are, be held as you are, feel valued as you are. Healing is not linear and you do not need to change to receive support and guidance. Your journey is your path and I am here to help you walk alongside it, while intentionally embodying your values. As your guide or support, I will collaborate with you to find a path forward that works with where you are today while also holding your vision or hope for your future. Taking steps to mitigate harm to yourself is a practice of compassion.
Communities, movements & lineages that shaped this work
Harm reduction as a concept was introduced to me through the example of 70’s community orgs and non-profits that engaged in needle exchanges as way to minimize negative consequences of substance abuse. The concept, since studied and applied in clinical mental health work, is now seen as a legitimate practice alongside resolving mental health issues. It’s clear to me that harm reduction would feel revolutionary in a cosmology in which treat people with mental health challenges as needing to be fixed (part of white supremacy culture and colonial thought), but to me healing has always been non-linear and across generations. Training through Nalgona Positivity Pride illustrated how other Indigenous frameworks also echoes a similar perspective of healing as not a black and white process of those who are ill and those who are healed. Harm reduction, in its spirit, has always been part of me culturally through the work of compassion. In Buddhist traditions, compassion is not something that is earned or given to those with the promise of change. It is holding the person as they exist and honoring them as inherently valued. Any negative feelings are directed towards the context and conditioning and not the person. In my mentorship in learning about Interpersonal Neurobiology, we see people as adapting and responding to their conditioning, not as being flawed or needing to be fixed. As a therapist, letting go of ownership over another person’s journey is illustrated through not forcing behavioral change or overly concentrating on symptomlogy. I focus on being a support, refuge, and guide in moving from where we are currently in our environment and conditioning to where we are growing towards, knowing there is no one path.
Trainings, certifications & community lineages
As part of the South Asian diaspora, I am rooted in rich and ancestral knowledge from India as well as my family’s own lineage. I carry my family’s legacy as Freedom Fighters against British colonial rule, feminists who pushed against both cultural and colonial patriarchy, and holistic healers, into my work as a Decolonial and Liberation based healer and therapist. I work holistically through integrating practices to create balance between our mind, body, and spirit. I have intensive training and mentorship in Interpersonal Neurobiology and Somatic Psychotherapy through Decolonial and culturally affirming lenses. I also have certifications in Domestic Violence work and Nutrition Coaching. Community spaces that continue to offer opportunity in nurturing my wisdom includes training and guidance through Nalgona Positivity Pride and Socially Conscious Buddhist environments. These spaces help inform what my values in action look like in and out of the therapy setting.
Publications, media & written work
https://www.kantimentalhealth.com/blog