Adithy
email: [email protected]
Adithy, PhD, is a Counseling Psychologist in Pune, India, involved in education, prevention, intervention, and postvention work in the field of mental health for more than 20 years. She received her PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2022 for her research in ‘Understanding and addressing stress and trauma, with a focus on interventions for users and providers of mental health services in India’.

She takes the approach of trauma healing in her psychotherapy. To her work, she brings knowledge and experience from using many therapeutic modalities such as EMDR, Brainspotting, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), somatic, energy, art, and hypnotherapies. She was a practicum facilitator for EMDR trainings in India and Nepal, and is a training assistant for Integral Somatic Psychology for India and Europe. She is a consultant for trauma therapy. She has created many programs for empowering professionals in working effectively with trauma and dissociation. She has experience co-training and co-leading volunteers for psychosocial support after disasters. She has jointly developed and implemented programs for suicide prevention and survivor support.

She has co-authored articles in international journals of mental health. She is passionate about learning and sharing effective methods of healing. She is a Board member and Fellow of ISSTD.

Hvovi Bhagwagar
Dr. Hvovi Bhagwagar is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist based in Mumbai, India. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. and a master’s in Clinical Psychology. She is the founder of Manashni, a private practice specializing in mood and anxiety disorders, complex trauma, and dissociative conditions.

Her career spans significant roles, including serving as the Head of the Department of Psychology at a Rehabilitation Institute and maintaining over two decades of private practice. Currently, she is the Secretary for the ISSTD Asia ROC (2025). Dr. Bhagwagar is also a Founding Board Member of the “Mental Health Support Foundation,” a non-profit organization that supports individuals with mental illness and their caregivers. She is a visiting faculty member at institutions where she teaches trauma-related courses.

Her scholarly contributions include publications in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research and the Asian Journal of Psychiatry. She has presented on trauma and dissociation at national and international conferences, is a frequent speaker at mental health events in India and contributes regularly to media platforms to raise public awareness about mental health issues.

Passionate about therapist well-being, she advocates for training, supervision, and self-care practices to support professionals dedicated to healing others.

Gayitri Bhatt
Gayitri Bhatt is an integrative psychotherapist and has a private practice in Bangalore, India. She is affiliated to Parivarthan Counselling, Training and Research Centre in Bangalore as a trainer and supervisor. She is also an Adoption consultant, offering psychosocial assessment for prospective adopters and post-adoption counseling to facilitate bonding and attachment in Adoptive families.
 
Dr Gayitri was a practicing Anaesthesiologist for several years before she moved into the field of mental health. In 2002 she retrained as a counsellor at Parivarthan in Bangalore. She went on to study Integrative Psychotherapy at Sherwood Institute in Nottingham, UK and holds a MSc in Medical and Health Sciences from Sheffield University UK.
 
Her client work is informed by principles drawn from Gestalt and psychodynamic approach, existentialism and Indian Psychology. Her training in EMDR, Integral Somatic Psychology and Family Constellation enhance her competencies to work with Trauma and Dissociation.
 
Over the last 20 years she has conducted training at various levels of counsellor development and brings particular attention to ethics and Indian cultural context for the practice of the profession in India. She holds a Certificate in Reflective Supervision and offers individual and group supervision to practicing therapists.

Karishma Shah Savla
Karishma Shah Savla, MA is a trauma-informed psychotherapist from Mumbai, India. She has a Master’s in Counselling Psychology from SNDT University, Mumbai and further has specialised with a two-year certificate course in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies (Tavistock model).

She has been in private practice for the last fourteen years, working with children, adolescents & adults. She uses Play and Somatic Modalities abled with a trauma lens. She is an EMDR practitioner since 2010 using it with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, traumatic stress & dissociative disorders.

She is a Consultant-in-Training and a Trainer-in-Training with EMDR Asia, having participated in multiple trainings since 2019. She is currently serving as an Executive Committee Member on the board of EMDR Association, India. She is leading an EMDR Asia project focussed on culturally adapting EMDR Basic Training practicum.

Karishma has worked as a School Counsellor and a Corporate Trainer. From this experience she brings her learnings of working with myriad group dynamics, skills enhancement workshops in team building, communication, assertiveness and emotional literacy.

Karishma is passionate about working with young children and trauma survivors. She offers trauma consultancy services and has presented in numerous international conferences. Drawing inspiration from the guidance and mentorship she received early in her career, she would like to pay it forward by helping emerging mental health professionals gain expertise in the field of trauma and dissociation.