My career path
Before I was a therapist, I was a public health person. My first job out of college was the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in Boston, and I became interested in systems of healthcare, access to health-related information, and reducing barriers to services. For years, I worked in the sexual health and anti-violence fields and oversaw education, training, and advocacy initiatives at Casa Myrna Vazquez, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, and MIT.
After my second child was born, I began facilitating a new parents’ group in my community. I loved this work immediately--holding space for new parents and hearing their stories and experiences was powerful and transformative. I also worked in my community as a postpartum doula and lactation counselor, and I loved providing comprehensive support to families during the transition to parenthood.
After working at the intersection of public health and perinatal support for several years and referring numerous new parents to mental health services, I went to social work school to become a clinician and also became certified as a perinatal mental health specialist through Postpartum Support International so that I could provide these services myself, especially for folks of color and children of immigrants-- who often struggle to find a therapist who shares their racial identity and can relate to their lived experience.
After my second child was born, I began facilitating a new parents’ group in my community. I loved this work immediately--holding space for new parents and hearing their stories and experiences was powerful and transformative. I also worked in my community as a postpartum doula and lactation counselor, and I loved providing comprehensive support to families during the transition to parenthood.
After working at the intersection of public health and perinatal support for several years and referring numerous new parents to mental health services, I went to social work school to become a clinician and also became certified as a perinatal mental health specialist through Postpartum Support International so that I could provide these services myself, especially for folks of color and children of immigrants-- who often struggle to find a therapist who shares their racial identity and can relate to their lived experience.
The intersection and integration of macro and micro
Throughout my career, I have provided direct services and care--such as advocacy for survivors of violence, sex education, lactation support, and psychotherapy--while also working to change the systems in which that type of care occurs.
Perinatal mental health is a public health issue. Before I was a therapist, I was a public health person, and I entered the perinatal field by creating initiatives to fill gaps in support services. In 2014, I helped create a Community Health Center Pilot Program that was funded through the Massachusetts Department of Pubic Health and focused on integrating comprehensive perinatal support into existing systems of care. In 2015, I co-founded the Every Mother Project with three of my close friends and perinatal colleagues in order to support perinatal professionals in screening for and responding to perinatal emotional complications. In 2017, I co-founded the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color (PMHA-POC) with Jabina Coleman and Desirée Israel, two powerful forces in the perinatal mental health field. Now a program within Postpartum Support International, PMHA-POC aims to build capacity within the perinatal mental health field in order to better support individuals, families, and communities of color during the perinatal period.
Providing mental health support must include the integration of the issues that are central to our clients' lives into our service provision. When we work with clients experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, we can't view race, racism, and trauma as "sidebar" topics; rather, we have to view conditions like depression and anxiety within the larger context of the oppressive structures of white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy.
Perinatal mental health is a public health issue. Before I was a therapist, I was a public health person, and I entered the perinatal field by creating initiatives to fill gaps in support services. In 2014, I helped create a Community Health Center Pilot Program that was funded through the Massachusetts Department of Pubic Health and focused on integrating comprehensive perinatal support into existing systems of care. In 2015, I co-founded the Every Mother Project with three of my close friends and perinatal colleagues in order to support perinatal professionals in screening for and responding to perinatal emotional complications. In 2017, I co-founded the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color (PMHA-POC) with Jabina Coleman and Desirée Israel, two powerful forces in the perinatal mental health field. Now a program within Postpartum Support International, PMHA-POC aims to build capacity within the perinatal mental health field in order to better support individuals, families, and communities of color during the perinatal period.
Providing mental health support must include the integration of the issues that are central to our clients' lives into our service provision. When we work with clients experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, we can't view race, racism, and trauma as "sidebar" topics; rather, we have to view conditions like depression and anxiety within the larger context of the oppressive structures of white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy.
My clinical approach
I base my clinical work in the belief that everyone is doing the best they can in the context of their own lives. My clinical experience includes screening new mothers for perinatal emotional complications, providing advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, facilitating sexual health initiatives for adolescents and college students, and providing psychotherapy at an in-patient psychiatric setting and at the Simmons University Counseling Center. My perinatal experience has shown me how triggering birth and parenting can be for many folks; this major life transition rattles the various mental health hornets' nests that we all carry with us.
I value the opportunity to help clients process interpersonal, relational, and systemic trauma, especially in the context of the transition to parenthood, and I am especially passionate about supporting BIPOC clients and folks who are first- and second-generation immigrants during the perinatal period. I hold space for clients as they explore how race, racism, and culture impact identity development and the creation and telling of narratives, and I'm especially interested in exploring how cultural narratives inform our ideas about parenting and mental health. I primarily work from a relational approach and believe that the therapeutic relationship is a primary intervention in therapy. I also integrate psychodynamic, social justice, and intersectional feminist frameworks into my therapeutic work, as well as CBT, DBT, and mindfulness based skills work. I also also trained in EMDR therapy and utilize EMDR therapy with clients who come to therapy to process trauma of all kinds. You can read more about therapy with me here!
I value the opportunity to help clients process interpersonal, relational, and systemic trauma, especially in the context of the transition to parenthood, and I am especially passionate about supporting BIPOC clients and folks who are first- and second-generation immigrants during the perinatal period. I hold space for clients as they explore how race, racism, and culture impact identity development and the creation and telling of narratives, and I'm especially interested in exploring how cultural narratives inform our ideas about parenting and mental health. I primarily work from a relational approach and believe that the therapeutic relationship is a primary intervention in therapy. I also integrate psychodynamic, social justice, and intersectional feminist frameworks into my therapeutic work, as well as CBT, DBT, and mindfulness based skills work. I also also trained in EMDR therapy and utilize EMDR therapy with clients who come to therapy to process trauma of all kinds. You can read more about therapy with me here!
When I am not working...
I’m walking around the beautiful green spaces in my neighborhood, singing loudly to myself (I tried to be a rock star once but went to public health school instead, much to my Indian parents’ relief), knitting brightly colored asymmetric triangular shawls, and baking the best brownies ever. I have some snarky irreverent humor and am also probably muttering about the ills of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. Also, as a parent of two teenagers, I am constantly humbled by this parenting journey and am deeply committed to speaking honestly about the challenges of parenting.
Education & Licensure
- Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University
- Master of Science from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- Master of Social Work from Simmons University
- Massachusetts LICSW #125620
Certifications & Professional Memberships
- Certificate in Trauma Practice from Simmons University
- Certification in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International (PSI)
- Member of Postpartum Support International (PSI) and the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color (PMHA-POC)
- Board Chair of the Massachusetts Chapter of PSI
- Commissioner on the Massachusetts Legislature’s Ellen Story Commission on Postpartum Depression
- Member of the Advisory Board for Neighborhood Birth Center
- Member of the Massachusetts Maternal Health Task Force