Our People

FAHI is a coalition of creative arts therapists, artist-facilitators, mental health practitioners, trainers and researchers.

Currently Working on the Ground

Andrea Pereira

Andrea Pereira is an educator and an expressive arts facilitator, advocating for creative play and kindness in spaces of learning and labour. Over the last 15 years she has worked across the country in education, activism and the arts- first as a founding member of the Space Theatre Ensemble, India, and then as faculty at the Azim Premji University, Bangalore. In 2022, she developed a course titled ‘Let the body speak’, and from there, she has moved deeper into working with the human voice and expression. Through her work, she hopes to create safe, pleasurable spaces as we (re)visit movement and stillness, play and work, listening and voicing, giving and receiving, ease and dis-ease. For her the arts is an invitation to gather, make meaning of and navigate the times in which we live.

Geet N (They/Them)

Geet (they/ them) uses creative processes to build spaces with young people where they can express themselves, question anything and share their knowledge. They believe in the power of stories to connect and heal. Their practice is grounded in care, hope, responsibility, trust and critical engagement.

Geet facilitates arts based community projects for children and adolescents with grassroots organisations in Bangalore. They also work with the Queer community using the arts to understand what safe space feels like for Queer people. They bring their learnings from doodling, cooking, growing plants and reading children’s books into their work.

Maitri Gopalakrishna

Dr. Maitri Gopalakrishna, PhD, is a drama therapist, counselling psychologist, and practice-researcher. She has a PhD from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai) and an MA in Counselling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco).
Maitri has been working towards community building, preventative care, mental health support, psychotherapy, and training in a variety of institutional and community contexts, for nearly two decades. Her early training and experience was in the use of the arts therapies in a psychiatric facility. Her practice in more recent years, has focused on issues of gender, sexual trauma, and childhood sexual abuse through a social justice lens. Maitri’s recent areas of practice-research include drama as an intervention for sexual trauma, therapeutic theatre, and drawing on theories and practices from the Natyashastra in therapeutic work. While most of her work is process oriented, there have been devised theatre work that has emerged from some of the therapeutic processes conducted in community settings. Prior to setting up FAHI, Maitri worked with Parivarthan Counselling, Training and Research Centre for 15 years.
Maitri has also designed and taught on multiple learning programmes in the arts therapies and counselling practice. Her work has featured in publications, conferences and in cultural venues in many parts of the world. Maitri is co-author on Arts Practice and Ethics of Care resource guide commissioned by the World Health Organisation (www.withcare.art). Maitri was named Global South Arts and Health Envoy in 2023.

Mohini Singh

Mohini is psychotherapist & an expressive arts practitioner. Her practice revolves around a person-centred, trauma informed, caste and queer affirmative approach. With a background in clinical psychology from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi and Tata Institute of Social Science (BALM), Mumbai, She has been actively working with individuals and communities from diverse backgrounds for several years. Believing in the transformative power of arts, Mohini incorporates various creative arts to create space for fostering collaborative and egalitarian relationships, aiming to facilitate self awareness and meaningful dialogues.

Pallavi Chander

Pallavi Chander is a Visual Artist trained at CKP and creative arts therapist who works with young people and adults with mental health concerns, diverse abilities, and their caregivers. She uses various art forms to facilitate creative processes to integrate creativity and imagination in learning spaces, for therapy and healing. Besides private practice, she runs community-based projects with grassroots organisations and institutions in South India. She completed her Masters in Drama and Movement Therapy in 2017 in London, UK, and Arts-Based Therapy training in 2013 in Pune, India. She is on the executive committee of the Drama-Therapy India Association. Her practice delves into research, education, and indigenous approaches to mental health with a trauma-informed, and social justice lens.

Roshni Bhatia

Roshni is an art psychotherapist and educator based in Bangalore, India. She specializes in psychodynamic approaches and trauma work, primarily with children and young people. Roshni co-created FoundSpace, a collective focused on arts and mental wellness through public art and community-based projects across Southeast Asia. She is currently training as a Clinical Supervisor with the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT). Her practice extends to community projects in India, aiming to broaden access to arts in health beyond clinical settings. Roshni’s research interests include arts-based approaches, arts in education, and embodiment. Roshni has been running her private practice in Bangalore since 2019.

Sannidhi Surop

Sannidhi is a counselling psychologist and theatre performer, who is passionate about the arts and mental health. They are also a Playback theatre practitioner since 2013. They are also an Expressive Arts therapist and Object Theatre artist. Sannidhi designs arts workshops regarding mental health, self-expression and other various topics for varied populations. Sannidhi is also involved in work with young people to teach and facilitate using the arts and play, helping to build 21st century life skills, acting skills, educational support and to promote mental health.

Shravanthi Venkatesh

Shravanthi was born and raised in Bengaluru, India. On paper, she is a Psychotherapist since 2015 and Dramatherapist since 2020, and off paper she lives a more exciting and kaleidoscopic life, where she is a writer, poet, theatre artist and meditation facilitator. She specializes in working with the Self, identity, trauma, grief & loss, and shame.

Her work now includes systemic approaches to therapy, intergenerational trauma, and psychosomatics. She has worked extensively in the field of education in India as a teacher, administrator, trainer, psychologist, and psychotherapist.

Presently, she has been running her Bengaluru based private practice, Svāhā Space since 2021, and has been gradually introducing dramatherapy as a pan-effective intervention for healing and wellbeing through which she facilitates therapy, workshops, supervision, community engagement, internships, webinars, and conversations on holistic psychoeducation, ethical practice in Mental Health, and psychotherapy & creative arts therapy practices.

Sri Vamsi Matta

Sri Vamsi Matta, or simply Vamsi, is a Bangalore-based Theatre and Visual artist. His practice is influenced by his Dalit identity, experience, and location. Dalit is the political identity of communities formerly known as “untouchable” and considered the lowest within the Hindu Caste System, and thus oppressed by its discriminatory scriptures, social structures, and norms. The identity, and histories of his community and family, inform the questions, topics, and mediums that Vamsi engages with through his work. As a student of science, Vamsi’s work is rooted in rigorous research. As the child of a writer, he has grown up around stories and finds that they are his route to not only entertain and educate but to organize people and challenge hegemonic and oppressive structures of power.

“Come Eat With Me” is a solo performance piece by Vamsi that explores the relationship between Caste and Food. It has been awarded the “Refunction 2022” grant by Goethe Institute, New Delhi. “Star in the Sky”, Vamsi’s first script as a playwright was awarded the First Runner-up prize at the Tata LitFest: Sultan Padamsee Award 2022. As of August of 2023, Vamsi will be joining as the Interdisciplinary Artists-in-Residence at The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Our Research Team

Akhila Khanna

Akhila Khanna (she/her) is a licensed creative arts therapist from New Delhi currently working with adults in acute inpatient psychiatry and with adolescents and families at a group private practice in New York City. She is also a researcher with the Foundation for Arts and Health India where she supports gathering data on measurable outcomes of the arts and health in India. Her research, clinical and artistic practice she blogs about stems from her training in Theatre of the Oppressed, in the meditative magic of Bharatnatyam, and in playing games with communities across cultures.

Harini Gunasakeran

Harini, PhD, is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist based in Bengaluru. She has completed her M.Phil as well as PhD. in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore. She is currently practising in Bangalore as a Consultant in multiple locations in the city. Her PhD. research has been In the area of developing neuropsychological tests of planning for adults in India. Thus a large part of her clinical and research experience has been in working with assessment and rehabilitation of patients with cognitive complaints arising out of neurological, neurosurgical and psychiatric conditions. Her interest particularly lies in working with Geriatric population She has also been continuing efforts in training in process-experiential therapies and her psychotherapy approach is largely influenced by the same. She has a keen interest in exploring the interplay of neuropsychology & psychotherapy as well as other forms of experiential therapies in her practice as well as in future research endeavours

Poornima Viswanathan

Poornima Viswanathan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, India, and a licensed clinical psychologist. With a strong academic background, Poornima holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), where she also completed her M.Phil in Clinical Psychology. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Christ University after completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Ethiraj College For Women. Poornima has extensive experience in both academia and clinical practice. Prior to her current role, she served as a PhD Scholar and Junior Consultant at NIMHANS, specializing in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. She also worked as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Central University of Karnataka and gained experience as an Online Writing Tutor at TechKnit IT Enabled Services Pvt Ltd. Since July 2022, in her role as Assistant Professor in O.P.Jindal Global University, she has been coordinating and teaching courses in Statistical Methods, Qualitative Research, Counselling Psychology, Environmental Psychology, and Psychology of Trauma and Recovery, designing curriculum, and supervising research projects. Additionally, Poornima leads and contributes to individual and collaborative research, guides student projects, and engages in administrative work. Currently, she is a school representative member for the Disability Support Committee at the university and the Admissions and Scholarship Committee. serves as the Associate Director at the Centre for Neurodiversity Studies. In addition to her role as Assistant Professor, Poornima holds several additional positions. She serves as the Associate Director at the Centre for Neurodiversity Studies, where she contributes to research and initiatives related to neurodiversity. Furthermore, she is the Co-founder & Facilitator of the Diverse Minds Collective, promoting diversity and inclusion in mental health discourse. Poornima also acts as a Faculty Mentor for Mindscapes, a student-run club for Art-based expression and The Origins, a psychology theatre club. Poornima’s research interests encompass a wide range of topics including mental health of mental health professionals, help-seeking for mental health, lived experiences of individuals with mental illness and caregivers, neurodiversity, and art and mental health. Additionally, she runs a private practice as a Psychotherapist, providing counseling and therapy services. With expertise in psychotherapy, teaching, qualitative and quantitative research, Poornima is dedicated to advancing the field of psychology through her research, teaching, and clinical work.

Sanjna Banerjee

Sanjna Banerjee, PhD, is a neuroscience researcher, science communicator and theater artist. She completed her doctoral studies from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where she studied perceptual attention and decision making in humans using transcranial magnetic stimulation. She has been engaged with theatre in Bangalore as writer, director, and performer for over 8 years, and served as theatre facilitator for students of age 7 to 17 years. Sanjna is passionate about helping create new, interdisciplinary scaffolds of well being and connection, through bringing together the practice of art with scientific enquiry into the mind and brain.

Supporting From Behind the Scenes

Apeksha Vora

Apeksha is an independent researcher, theatre practitioner and writer, with 15 years of experience working with grassroots organisations across North India. She works on issues of gender, sexuality, caste, religion and education with young people, and organisations who work with them. Her approach is rooted in interdisciplinary feminist praxis which prioritises the body, emotions, the psyche and embodied knowledge, and spiritual practices, on par with the mind and the rational.

Arjun Khera

Arjun is a drama and movement therapist and works for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) as a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Practitioner in its neurodevelopmental team in Cambridge, UK. His areas of work include therapeutic, diagnostic and psychoeducation work with children and their families. Prior to joining CPFT, Arjun worked as a counsellor and dramatherapist at Parivarthan Counselling, Training and Research Centre, Bangalore. He has facilitated arts-based community mental health projects in Bangalore and advised on social inclusion focused projects in India and Nepal.

Asim Siddiqui

Asim Siddiqui, PhD is a faculty of Philosophy and Development Studies at the Azim Premji University India. His research interest lies in Liberation philosophy and psychotherapy for deepening democracy and creating a compassionate society. He collaborates with several youth focused organisations to facilitate critical thinking and emotional capacity building workshops while engaging with issues of social justice.

Lakshmi Karunakaran

Lakshmi Karunakaran is an educator and development professional with over 20 years of experience. In her last engagement, she headed the Parag Initiative. Set up by Tata Trusts, the initiative supports the development of and access to good quality books for children in Indian languages. Over the past decade, Lakshmi has worked with children experiencing social exclusion in government schools, special needs schools, remedial schools, and in disadvantaged communities. Previously at Hasiru Dala, an organization that works with informal waste pickers, she headed the Buguri Children’s Program. At the heart of this program was the Buguri Community Library Project, an after school library and art centre for over 1000 children of wastepickers in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. She also works at Radio Active 90.4 MHz, Bangalore’s first community radio station, producing shows on arts, education, culture and personal transformation. In 2017, she was an artist in residence at the Center for Contemporary Arts, Warsaw, working on a project on children from abandoned mines in Poland. She was a fellow at the Arts for Good Fellowship 2019 at the Singapore International Foundation. She lives with her partner and two cats in a quiet neighbourhood of South Bangalore.

Madhu Smriti Shukla

Madhu is a theatre and storytelling practitioner from Bangalore, India and currently based in Chicago. Since her post-graduation in Acting from The National School of Drama, New Delhi, India in 2006, she has extensively explored the applications of theatre for personal and leadership transformation. She is trained in Psychodrama and is an advanced trainee of the Therapeutic Spiral Method community, USA – a specialised form of trauma informed Psychodrama Practices. Her love for storytelling emerged from the simple desire to explore what helps people connect authentically and empathetically. Madhu is the co-founder of By the River, an initiative for exploring how stories expand our ability to connect within and outside of us. She believes that exchanging stories can be the way to build bridges- to create a more respectful and harmonious society.

Madhu’s journey as an artist practitioner has taken her to diverse spaces to create an impact- through the roles of a facilitator, entrepreneur, community builder, performer, learning design consultant, teacher, counsellor, and supervisor. Her ongoing practice in yoga, being in nature and playing improv, anchor and fuel her diverse interests in the service of building caring communities through arts practices.

Padmalatha Ravi

Padmalatha Ravi is a therapeutic arts facilitator and an artist. She works with individuals and communities at the intersection of social identities and mental health. She has received intensive training in expressive arts therapy, relational gestalt principles, trauma-informed approach and strongly believes in an anti-oppressive, arts based, therapeutic approach to mental health.

Advisors and Directors

Anurupa Roy

Anurupa Roy is recognized as a major creative force in Indian Puppet Theatre. She has a diploma in Puppet theatre from DI (Dramatiska Institutet) for Film, TV, Drama and Radio, at Stockholm University, Sweden and has been trained in traditional glove puppetry from the School of Traditional Glove Puppetry in Naples, Italy under Bruno Leone in 2002. She is a recipient of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, 2007, a national award for contribution to puppet theatre by the Ministry of Culture. She is currently the Trustee of UNIMA India, now known as UNIMA Puppeteers Trust, the Indian Chapter of the Union Internationale de la Marionette. In 1998 she established her troupe, “Kat Katha”, and has worked with many mediums of expression including dance and music. Kat-Katha also focuses on collaborative processes and projects with other artists, communities, schoolteachers and children. These explorations have taken them to conflict zones like Kashmir, Manipur and Sri Lanka, to Juvenile Remand homes in Delhi, to Women’s self help group across villages in Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir and to schools across India.

Blaise Joseph

Blaise Joseph is an artist, art educator, and a farmer from Kannur, Kerala. He has a BFA in sculpture from MSU Baroda, and an MA in philosophy from Madras University and a Bachelors in Theology.

After completing16 years of formation as a Jesuit in the Patna Province of the Society of Jesus, Blaise Joseph moved out of the religious life to pursue art and lived a 4 years of a nomadic life exploring and engaging with various communities as an artist and art educator. Since then he has been involved in community based art projects as an art consultant and facilitator to several Research based funding organisations like NEG-FIRE, New Delhi, OXFAM, American Indian Foundation (AIF), India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Quest Alliance (Bangalore) facilitating art workshops/projects and also developing art based modules and curriculum for schools, learning communities and various social organisations across the country for the past 15 years. Together with his artist-partner Atreyee Day, he has worked extensively with communities and learning spaces in tribal-dominated government schools, educational institutions, orphanages, prisons and family spaces in several parts of the country. His interest in social and environmental issues have led him to documenting people’s memories and histories of People’s Movements like Narmada Bachao Andolan, Kandankali Samaram, memories connected to rivers in various parts of India. As he has returned to his home in Kannur after almost 30 years, his current art projects are very personal, reconnecting to his home, his family, the land, the local people and the river that he has grown up with. His works critique the environmental and political realities.

Since 2018, Blaise has been the Programme Manager of the Art By Children (ABC) Programme of Kochi Biennale Foundation where he designs and coordinates its Art Room project which was also conducted as an online programme under the name Learning At Home Programme during the Pandemic. In the art workshops and projects that he facilitates for the ABC Programme, he engages with children and their families to explore creative possibilities in their living circumstances and critically think about their everyday realities through art. The Art Rooms that he designs and curates at the Biennale as well as in specific government schools are non-competitive, non-judgmental, fearless spaces, where participants get the opportunity to explore themselves for creative collaboration.

Jahnavi Phalkey

Jahnavi Phalkey, PhD, is a historian of science and filmmaker, at present she is the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru. Previously, Jahnavi held a tenured faculty position at King’s College London. She was also external curator to the Science Museum London, and has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the Deutsches Museum, Munich.Jahnavi is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and has co- edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. She is the producer-director of the documentary film Cyclotron. Jahnavi read civics and politics at the University of Bombay and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. She holds a doctoral degree in history of science and technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.

Maitri Gopalakrishna

Nisha Sajnani

Nisha Sajnani, PhD, is a co-founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, a collaboration between New York University’s (NYU) Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Culturunners, and Community Jameel, where she leads the Lancet global series on the health benefits of the arts. Dr. Sajnani is an associate professor and director of the NYU program in drama therapy and the chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium. Other faculty appointments include NYU Abu Dhabi where she developed a trans-disciplinary course titled Can Art Save Lives?, uniting current evidence for the health benefits of the arts with practice and policy, the NYU Stern School of Business where she teaches Improvisation and Leadership, and the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma where she lectures on the role of the arts in supporting the wellbeing of people who are forcibly displaced. Nisha received her PhD in interdisciplinary studies, combining drama therapy and community economic development, from the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University in Montreal. An award-winning author, educator, and advocate, her body of work explores unique ways in which aesthetic experience can inspire equity, care and collective human flourishing across the lifespan.

Pavitra Jayaraman

Pavitra is co-founder at The PARC – a social enterprise that provides multidisciplinary training programmes in mental health for all healthcare workers, mental health professionals and caregivers. She previously headed editorial at White Swan Foundation, a non-profit that created a multilingual online and offline repository to democratise access to mental health information. As a journalist she has worked with NDTV and Mint and continues to write independently.

Dr. Prabha S Chandra

Dr. Prabha S. Chandra is a Senior Professor of Psychiatry and Dean of Behavior Science and also the former Head of Department of Psychiatry at the prestigious National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, India. With a career dedicated to advancing women’s mental health and women’s well-being, she stands as a prominent global figure in the field and is the current President of the International Association of Women’s Mental Health. Her impactful initiatives have included pioneering the first-ever Mother Baby Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and a specialized Perinatal Psychiatry service in Asia, both located in Bangalore. She was also the lead for Project Stree Manoraksha, a Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt of India funded project which during the pandemic trained 3000 front line workers in mental health issues of Gender Based Violence. A true advocate for change, Dr. Chandra co-authored the World Psychiatric Association curriculum addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence. Her research contributions include 320 publications, an h index of 48 and an i 10 index of 162. She has been a Principal Investigator in 16 funded research grants focusing on women’s mental health. Dr. Chandra also holds key editorial roles, serving as the Associate Editor for the “Archives of Women’s Mental Health” and as a member of the Editorial Board for “Lancet Psychiatry.” Furthermore, her global influence extends to her past roles as a Temporary Advisor to the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, as well as her appointment as a nominated member of the Mission Steering Group (MSG) for the National Health Mission, Government of India. Her achievements have earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious Marce Medal and the Professor Channi Kumar Oration from the Marce International Society for Perinatal Psychiatry. Notably, in 2018, she was featured in Lancet Psychiatry as a champion for Women’s Mental Health in India. Dr. Chandra’s unwavering commitment to women’s mental health and her impactful contributions have left an indelible mark on the field, making her a distinguished leader and advocate for positive change

Dr. Prashanth N. S.

Prashanth N Srinivas is a medical doctor and public health researcher with experience in working in primary health care and community settings in southern Karnataka. He has worked at the intersections of healthcare and health systems with ecological and social systems with a particular focus on health inequities and social determinants of health. He leads the health equity cluster at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru. Since 2014, he lives and works at a public health research field station in BRT Tiger Reserve in southern India and is setting up a planetary health information centre at Pakke Tiger Reserve in Northeast India through collaborations with local communities and ecologists. Through a fellowship from the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, he has set up collaborations to examine health inequities in indigenous communities in multiple remote forested locations in southern, central and northeast India. He has experience with using health policy and systems research methods particularly realist evaluation, implementation research and participatory action research approaches in addition to experience with quantitative epidemiological methods. He is part of research consortia on health systems strengthening for OneHealth and mental health in primary health care.

Dr. Shekhar Seshadri

Dr Shekhar Seshadri is a child psychiatrist with 40 years of experience in the field of child mental health but his work extends beyond the clinical population, amongst others, to children in institutions, educational spaces and in the context of law, across the country as well as the South Asia region. With a view to enabling access to mental health for the most vulnerable child populations, his special areas of interest in child mental health are childhood trauma, gender and sexuality and life skill education. An artist and musician, he uses a number of creative methodologies in child mental health interventions, including theatre in development approaches. In the belief that wider psychosocial interventions are rooted in child rights, in addition to his preventive-promotive and curative child mental health interventions, he has undertaken various legal and policy-related initiatives. He was part of national deliberations on the POCSO Act 2012 during its drafting, and more recently an active part of the debates around the December 2015 Juvenile Justice Act on children in conflict with the law. He has also engaged extensively as a member of working groups of the National commission for protection of rights of the child on issues such as substance abuse and elimination of corporal punishment in school.practitioner from Bangalore, India and currently based in Chicago. Since her post-graduation in Acting from The National School of Drama, New Delhi, India in 2006, she has extensively explored the applications of theatre for personal and leadership transformation. She is trained in Psychodrama and is an advanced trainee of the Therapeutic Spiral Method community, USA – a specialised form of trauma informed Psychodrama Practices. Her love for storytelling emerged from the simple desire to explore what helps people connect authentically and empathetically. Madhu is the co-founder of By the River, an initiative for exploring how stories expand our ability to connect within and outside of us. She believes that exchanging stories can be the way to build bridges- to create a more respectful and harmonious society.

Madhu’s journey as an artist practitioner has taken her to diverse spaces to create an impact- through the roles of a facilitator, entrepreneur, community builder, performer, learning design consultant, teacher, counsellor, and supervisor. Her ongoing practice in yoga, being in nature and playing improv, anchor and fuel her diverse interests in the service of building caring communities through arts practices.

We recognize that expertise develops not just from formal training, qualification, and work experience; but also through lived experience and in community-based knowledge systems. For each piece of work we do at FAHI, we endeavour to bring together a team based on these multiple types of expertise. If this expertise does not exist in our on-ground core team, we have no hesitation in reaching out to the larger community of practitioners and researchers. We have a growing supportive community of practitioners who collaborate with us on individual projects and research studies.