About Me | Soul Space

I have trained in Gestalt Therapy and worked as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at the Integral Counseling Center on Church Street, San Francisco.

I have trained in and provided Couples Therapy at The Couples Center, San Francisco.

I have studied Cross Cultural Archetypal Psychology with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Colorado, through her Singing over the Bones and Heart of the Wounded Healer Master Trainings.

INDIA

I have trained in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy in Bangalore, for four years, in an intimate process-style training group. I have worked with clients under supervision for three years.

I have trained in Neurolinguistic Programming and Gestalt Therapy with Rev. Richard McHugh SJ at the Sadhana Institute, Lonavala.

I am currently under contract with Chitra Ravi, TSTA to qualify as a Certified Transactional Analyst under the International Transactional Analysis Association.

I have attended over 600 hours of training in workshops on various modalities such as Psychodrama, Dance Therapy, Family Constellations, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy and Trauma.

Areas of Special Competence

Creative Process

Couples Therapy

AREAS OF SPECIAL COMPETENCE

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

I have studied the Creative Process in my personal journey as a fiction writer. I have facilitated creative collaborations in the course of my early work in feature films and theatre.

COUPLES THERAPY

I have studied and explored various facets of interpersonal dynamics that come up between a couple, together with my former partner, during our decade long marriage. We ended our marriage amicably, in the interest of personal growth, continued to grow through this transition and remain friends.

THE GRIEF PROCESS

I participated in the Grief Counseling Program, a collaboration between the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and ICP Church Street. As part of this program, I received training in holding the grief process and provided grief counseling to individuals and couples who had experienced perinatal loss.

MULTICULTURAL THERAPY

I immigrated to the US from India eight years ago. Changing cultural contexts was challenging for me, and it changed me. At the same time, I got in touch with all that was essential and unchangeable within me. I experienced an expansion in my capacity to see the world from multiple perspectives. This experience has added a richness to my life, and to my work as a therapist, couples work especially.

Grief Process

Multicultural Therapy

My Approach

Transactional Analysis

Gestalt Therapy

Stories and Myths

MY THERAPEUTIC APPROACH & STYLE

I work using a blend of two Humanistic style therapies- Gestalt Therapy and Transactional Analysis.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS provides a practical system to help us understand ourselves and others. The cornerstones of its theory involve Ego States, Transactions, Games and Life Scripts. It holds that we can consciously revisit our early decisions and make new ones aligned with our present goals and values.

The client's life plan is evaluated by exploring their Life Script and early childhood decisions. Re-decisions are made in sessions, using the Empty Chair technique.

GESTALT THERAPY with its philosophy rooted in holistic and existential principles, is guided by seven pillars- Awareness, Organismic Self Regulation, Boundaries, Polarities, Needs Cycle, Creative Process and Paradox of Change. Rooted in phenomenology, it invites us to dive into our subjective experiences and define the world that we discover therein, in our own unique terms.

Discovery is made in sessions and outside it, using Experiments.

Both these approaches honor the inherent value, autonomy and interconnectedness of human beings. They focus on human potential, emphasizing the individual's innate capacity for transformation.

ADDITIONAL METHODS I USE:

STORIES & MYTHS I grew up reading the folk tales and myths of the Indian subcontinent and beyond, and I have experienced the healing potential of stories. I am inspired by the work of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and have attended her trainings in working with stories for psychological exploration.

I include stories, myths and archetypes in my work with clients and groups. If a client has a favorite story or mythological character or deity, I invite them to bring them to our sessions for exploration.

DREAMWORK I invite clients to bring in their dreams for exploration in sessions, if they feel called to doing so. I use two approaches when working with dreams- Gestalt Dreamwork and Jungian Dreamwork.

CINEMATHERAPY I use screen-stories with my clients as a tool for reflection, emotional exploration and fostering empathy I invite them to watch selected films and then discuss what was evoked for them.

WRITING, DOODLING & JOURNALING I have used free-writing, creative writing, doodling and journaling for years as a means of self-expression, self-exploration and self-regulation. If clients are so inclined, I invite them to use these methods as adjuncts to our therapy sessions.

TRANSPERSONAL ORIENTATION If clients are open to exploring the Spiritual dimension of their life experience, I invite them to bring this inquiry in to our sessions.

TRAUMA-INFORMED THERAPY I have taken classes and basic trainings in working with Trauma, and this informs how I hold my clients' experience of Trauma. I am not trained in depth in any one approach.

Dreamwork

Cinematherapy

Writing & Journaling

Transpersonal Orientation

Trauma Informed Therapy

Session and Fee Policy

LGBTQIA+ Affirmative

ONLINE THERAPY

SESSION LOGISTICS

SESSION AND FEE POLICY

WHO, WHERE & WHEN

I am licensed to work with residents of the state of California.

I work with Adult INDIVIDUALS, COUPLES & GROUPS.

I welcome Immigrants and members of the BIPOC community to my practice. I identify as both.

LGBTQIA+ AFFIRMATIVE

I am female-bodied, cis-gendered, and heterosexual. I experience my gender as an ever-changing blend of masculine and feminine energies. I go by the pronouns She and Her.

I welcome members of the LGBTQIA+ community to my practice. I remain humble in my expanding understanding of our difference, and I seek to discover and learn together with you.

ONLINE THERAPY

At present, I ONLY offer sessions ONLINE.

I am open to considering sessions in person, in the South Bay and in San Francisco.

If you are interested in in-person therapy, please write or call and let me know.

I see clients on WEEKDAYS between 2pm and 6pm.

THE SESSIONS

I offer an initial 20-minute FREE PHONE CONSULT to help us discover if we are a good fit for each other.

If we choose to begin therapy, then you will be assigned a mutually agreed upon FIXED WEEKLY SLOT.

Our first one or two sessions will be INTAKE SESSIONS. Here I will ask you questions, to get to know you better. You are welcome to ask me the same questions in turn, if you like.

Thereafter, our sessions will proceed on a weekly rhythm.

We will work in the direction of growth, exploration or any goals you have chosen for yourself.

I follow a policy of OPEN COMMUNICATION and transparency in my work. You are welcome to ask me questions about our work or about the therapy process at any time.

Periodically, we will do a REFLECTION SESSION, to see how far we have come or moved off course. This is a time to take stock and set new directions for change or growth.

CANCELLATIONS

In case of CANCELLATIONS, I request that you offer me a 48-hour notice. You will not be charged for sessions you have cancelled within this time frame.

For cancellations made closer than 48-hours, I will charge you your full session fee. If I can reschedule you to another slot that week, you will not be charged for the spot you missed.

In case your cancellation was due to some dire emergency, this condition does not apply, and you will not be charged your cancellation fee.

CANCELLATIONS

Fee Policy

MY FEE POLICY

NEW CLIENTS

My professional fees are standardized across the board for all new clients.

I do not offer a sliding scale system.

I have arrived at my fee structure after deep consideration and this is the fee at which I am able to best offer you my services in a sustainable way.

I believe my fees reflect the value of the services that I provide.

That said, I do honor that we each have differing financial circumstances and needs, and should you require lower cost therapy, here is a LIST OF CLINICS that will offer you high quality and affordable therapy.

INSURANCE

I do not accept insurance. But I do provide a SUPER BILL on request, which you can submit to your insurance provider for reimbursement.

I suggest speaking with your insurance provider in advance to confirm that they will be willing to reimburse you for our therapy.

EXISTING CLIENTS

Whatever fee you started therapy with me at, is your fixed fee. Even if my fee increases for new clients, as it will from time to time, your fee will not change.

To this fixed fee, at the start of each new year, I will propose a small increase, to keep pace with inflation. Should your financial circumstances not allow for this increase, we can discuss this.

As an existing client, should you run into financial difficulty, I will be happy to offer you therapy at a lowered fee for a limited time, so you can continue to receive the support you need.

My CANCELLATION policy is the same for all clients.

Privacy and Confidentiality

PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

I use HIPAA compliant systems and all our communications- via phone, email or this website will remain confidential. Everything you share with me in our Sessions, is protected by CONFIDENTIALITY.

There are legal exceptions to Confidentiality, however, and I would like to bring these to your attention. In the event you disclose to me an event of child abuse, elder or dependent adult abuse, I am a mandated reporter and must inform concerned authorities, for the protection of the parties involved. .

Also, if you share with me your intent to mortally harm someone, I am duty bound to alert them.

Other than these exceptions, anything you share with me will not be disclosed to anyone. In case I take peer consultation or supervision for some area of our work together, as I might from time to time, I will take care to communicate in a manner that does not reveal your identity to anyone.

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