‘Funding and innovation are essential to changing the mental health landscape’

Tell me about your background, and what spurred you to pursue a career in psychology.

I was born and raised in Leicester, UK and my family is of East African Gujrati descent. From an early age I was fascinated about why people did what they did, and hence I became curious about human struggle. When I was 15, I saw a documentary that explored mental health, in particular depression. That's when I realised that people struggle and at the time I could see this struggle within my own family and communities… but no-one really talked about it. I knew that working in this field was valuable because at the end of the day, I want to help people in some kind of way. 

And what made you interested in going down the clinical psychology route? 

I knew that psychiatry existed, but the medicalisation of mental health did not really appeal to me. What I really wanted to understand was the art of the mind and using talking therapies as an intervention. Hence I chose this route and it would have ticked the box of gaining a Dr title!

What has your experience of navigating a career within clinical psychology as a South Asian Hindu woman been like?

It has been challenging without a doubt because you question everything from your own complex identity to why the current system does not align with marginalised communities. There becomes an awareness of the Eurocentric bias within the mental health care system and the erasure of traditional healing. You go though and continue to learn and unlearn what works and what doesn't… it is an evolution. 

You worked in the NHS for a number of years before moving to the UAE. 

Yes. I moved to the UAE in 2023, after spending some time in Qatar and taking a break from clinical practice. I left the NHS in 2016 as I became deflated by the lack of care being offered to marginalised communities. I had a hunger to work in a more specialised way. I set up my own private practice in 2017 and began to offer specialist support to South Asians. Following the pandemic, I felt I wanted to work differently and we had the opportunity to live in the Middle East. Therefore we made the move and I have not looked back.

What needs to change?

Funding and innovation are essential to changing the mental health landscape; also, focus on prevention, sustainable/regenerative and integrated care. 

What has it been like working as a clinical psychologist in the UAE? 

The system in the UAE is different from the UK as clinics are private and stand alone. In many ways mental health care is offered in silo and not often integrated within physical health systems; however this is changing.  

You're currently working as a Mental Health Planning Manager at Neom, in Saudi Arabia. Tell me about that

The role is not a clinical role and I working on developing mental health care from developing a strategy for the organisation to consulting into projects and initiatives that integrate mental health and wellbeing. 

You founded the Brown Therapists Network…. tell me about that? 

BTN was founded from personal place, where I wanted to connect with like-minded people who were curious about the issues that I was facing in private practice and to also develop a network of professionals that I could refer to. It is an organically growing community and we are working on developing our next mental health event for south Asian therapists soon! 

Can you share a piece of work or research that has really changed or shaped your practice?

I would say, there are a few. 

First was the Bronfenbrenner socio ecological model. It has shaped the way I see mental health from a systems perspective and that we cannot reduce it to a set of symptoms. We truly need a whole systems approach to tackle mental health. I would also say that social constructionism led me to look at systems and helped me to put in words my own struggles in relation to how we as a society make sense of mental health.

What advice would you give to aspiring or early career psychologists from a minoritised background on either navigating or pursuing a career in psychology?

We need you. It's simple as that. If you have passion within the field, please go into it with an open mind and open heart. Listen, learn read and engage in broader academic fields such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology and technology to help you shape your thinking. Always be curious and critical.