Our Team – Manas Foundation

Air Marshal (Mrs) Padma Bandopadhyay.

Padma Shri, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (veteran)

She graduated from Armed Forces Medical College in 1967. Her Post-Graduate degrees include Diplomain Aerospace Medicine from Bangalore University in 1975, MSC (Defence Sciences) from Madras University in 1978, MD Physiology from Pune University in 1984 and PhD in High Altitude Physiology in1995.

She was born at the temple town of Tirupati, in a pious South Indian, middle-class family rooted deeply in its values, customs, and traditions. Before she was selected to the Armed Forces Medical College, she had dropped out of a tailoring school, and then was the first to change from Humanities to Science stream. During her four decades in uniform, she contributed her knowledge and skills during 1971 Indo-Pak war and 1999 Kargil war. She worked extensively in the field of Aerospace Medicine for selecting pilots, and for improving their flying skills with aeromedical training. This involved research in the field of hypoxia and G-stress, as well as designing flying clothing to enhance the pilot’s flying skills. She conducted extensive research in high altitudes to prevent mountain sickness in Armed Forces personnel and formulated a new acclimatisation schedule. She conducted research in the icy Arctic during winter months, to devise measures to improve the fighting capability of Armed Forces personnel when exposed to extreme cold. She retired as Director General Medical Services (Indian Air Force) in 2006. Post retirement, she interacted with Government and Non- Governmental agencies to conduct health camps. Through Telemedicine, she is providing healthcare to patients belonging to economically weaker sections in far flung areas in eastern UP. She perceived the importance of mental health issues while delivering these services and equipped herself with the necessary knowledge and skills. She completed a Certificate Course in Adolescent Health and Counselling in 2015.

As a member of Advisory board of mental unit of Nirmal Chaya complex and other homes for children in need of care and protection and in conflict with law. Her help in conceptualising reform and
rehabilitation strategies for women and girls and in changing Manas Foundation gender sensitization programme for commercial drivers in Delhi and NCR is invaluable. She has helped many young girls by
educating them. During her innumerable interviews, she has stressed on women’s education and empowerment with her personal example.

She has many Firsts to her credit.
– She and her husband are the first couple in uniform to be decorated with Vishisht Seva Medal on the same day at the same Investiture parade in 1973.
– First lady Aerospace Medicine specialist in India.
– First Lady Officer to have successfully completed Defence Services Staff College.

– First to conduct research in the icy Arctic during winter of 1989-90. For her exceptional service, she has been conferred with Presidential awards: Param Vishisht Seva Medal (2006) and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (2002). She was conferred ‘Padma Shri’ in the year 2020 in recognition of exceptional and distinguished service in the field of Medicine. Work Life balance

– Her advice to women: Do not neglect work as well as family. While working, remember work and do your duties to your best. At home spend maximum time with family. Time management is very essential.

Abha Ekka

Advisory Board

Ms. Abha Ekka has 20 years of professional experience in the social development sector. She has worked at international level on multi country programmes and managing teams in Africa and Asia. She also comes with academic experience. She was a faculty member with Xaviers Institute of Social Service teaching Post Graduate students of Rural Development on Gender, Women and Children issues and project management for over 5 years.
She has been awarded with Leadership Development Mechanism Fellowship by the Institute of International Education, San Francisco, U.S.A. She has received her education from Delhi University and
trained in social development, Gender and Reproductive Health from University of Melbourne. She has worked extensively on issues of reproductive health and rights and livelihood programmes focusing
women and girl’s rights.

Sweta Pathak

Clinical Psychologist

Sweta Pathak is a licensed clinical psychologist with M.Phil (clinical psychologist). She has completed her M.Phil from Amity university, Manesar. She has received her graduate and post graduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. She has expertise in psycho diagnostic assessment and psychotherapy with individuals suffering from a wide range of emotional, Psychological, behavioural, and adjustment problems. She addresses the needs of clients and work towards improving their quality of life. She spreads mental Heath awareness delightfully. Her strength is working with children, adolescents to find out their emotional, behavioural issues and to improve their overall well being.

Neha Rao

Clinical Psychologist

Neha Rao is a clinical psychologist with M. Phil. (Clinical Psychology) from Amity University, Gurgaon. She has experience in working with clients of common mental disorders and mentoring future mental health ambassadors. Educating people and spreading awareness about mental health is something she enjoys. Her strength is working with adolescents, young adults and their families to bring out optimum results.

Besides being a mental health professional, she loves finding art in little things and whole lot of coffee

Pramod Kumar Pandey

Senior Trainer

He is a key member of the team, ‘Barabari ki Dagar, Surakshit Safar’, to provide Gender Sensitization training to commercial drivers in Delhi NCR. He is involved in multiple aspects of the programme right from its start. Prior to Manas, Pramod worked with Unique Psychological Services, Subharti Medical College, Apollo Hospitals and HCR Institute as a Psychologist and Special Educator. He has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from VBSPU, Jaunpur and P.G. Diploma in Guidance and Counselling from Davi Ahilya Viswavidyalaya, Indore.

Outside of the office, he likes to work with children with special needs and enjoys singing songs, bhajans and playing the Dhol.

Vasundhara

Clinical Psychologist

Vasundhara is a Clinical Psychologist who in interested in providing mental health service to people in need. She has done her graduation and post-graduation from Delhi University and completed her M. Phil in Clinical Psychology from IHBAS. She works in the area of psychological assessments and intervention at Manas.

Vasundhara Shukla

Clinical Psychologist

Prakriti Sharma holds M.Phil degree in Clinical Psychology from Gwalior Mansik Arogyashala (RCI Registered). She aims to be a facilitator providing mental health services and help individuals gain insight about their psycho-social and emotional problems with the help of therapeutic means. She believes that every individual is unique and special and all it needs is to create a positive narrative by providing a safe space for the growth of all.
She is passionate about creating mental health awareness and is actively engaged with Manas foundation and it’s various outreach programs in Delhi. Apart from working on mental health projects, she enjoys playing basketball and also has also worked with young children as a creative movement specialist, which makes her firmly believe in the mind-body connect to have a healthy life.

Prakriti Sharma

Clinical Psychologist

Prakriti Sharma holds M.Phil degree in Clinical Psychology from Gwalior Mansik Arogyashala (RCI Registered). She aims to be a facilitator providing mental health services and help individuals gain insight about their psycho-social and emotional problems with the help of therapeutic means. She believes that every individual is unique and special and all it needs is to create a positive narrative by providing a safe space for the growth of all.
She is passionate about creating mental health awareness and is actively engaged with Manas foundation and it’s various outreach programs in Delhi. Apart from working on mental health projects, she enjoys playing basketball and also has also worked with young children as a creative movement specialist, which makes her firmly believe in the mind-body connect to have a healthy life.

Uroosa

Trainer

Uroosa a trainer on gender sensitisation at Manas Foundation since 2015. At Manas Foundation, she does trainings on gender sensitisation,road safety, stress, POSH trainings at work place. Her dedication at work entails Noida project and Mumbai Project on women safety and gender sensitisation. Post graduated in Psychology from Aligarh Muslim University in the year 2006 and bagged a P.G. Diploma in counseling psychology in the year 2007 from Jamia Millia Islamia, Uroosa has started her career as a counselor in 2007 in mental health teamat SalaamBaalak trust and centre for equity studies NGO.

she has also worked as a school counselor in Kendriya Vidyalaya in the year 2014 before joining Manas Foundation.

she has keen interest in travelling and exploring nature.

One of her primary areas of focus is to raise awareness of gender sensitisation and creating safer zones in society for better living. She is very hopeful that young generation will play a good role in building a good society, a society where there is no place for stereo type of thinking extremism, religious biasness. She wants to put her efforts to maximum to see a change in society where there is equality, respect for women and opportunities for all.

Manish

Psychologist, Chhattisgarh

Manish holds a degree of MSW in Mental Health from TISS, Mumbai and has also completed his M.Phil degree in Psychiatric Social Work from Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi. He has more than four years of experience in clinical, hospital and school setting. He also have done internship from institutions like RINPAS, World Vision, etc.

He has experiences working with adults, children and adolescents in the areas of education, advocacy, counselling (both individual and group) & guidance, welfare & development, mental health, psychosocial assessment, care and protection. He also has illustrious experience in research, report writing and documentation, conducting workshops, training programs. As an aspirant of higher education and his area of interest is to become a mental health professional he is seeking my career in the mental health field.

His aim is to promote positive mental health among people in the society. He is young, dynamic and believes in “No Health without Mental Health”.

Nuriya

Psychologist, NirmalChhaya

Nuriya strongly believes in the utmost importance of ones Mental well-being. Amidst completing her higher education she has gained experience across various fields of counselling; from crisis counselling, to working with children with special needs as well as patients in rehab centres. She is a keen learner and wants to contribute in the field of mental health by helping people achieve their mental well-being.

After having completed her Bachelors in Political Science, from University of Delhi (Indraprastha College for Women). She went on to pursue her Master's in Applied Psychology from Amity University, Noida. She strongly feels that Psychology as a subject as well as a profession continues to unravel the uniqueness of human mind and behaviour. Apart from Psychology, Nuriya has deep interest in writing poetry and is a dog lover.

Vasudev

Trainer

As a program coordinator in gender sensitization program of manas, he coordinate between uber training centres at pan India level. He does Capacity building of trainers and ensures the smooth functioning of the project. He also likes to design and execute creative activities for the trainers and partners so, everyone can learn through multiple ways.

He has done bachelors and master in social work from University of delhi and also he is a ex- fellow of the gandhi fellowship. Through the academic and internships experience he has collected good knowledge of the social issues and ground reality. He always eager to learn new things and like to travel with full energy.

Off the clock he likes to play djembe, mixing the songs, act in street plays and doodling.

Vibhuti Mehta

Psychologist at Nirmal Chhaya

Vibhuti completed her Masters in Psychology from University of Delhi. Currently stationed at Children Home for Boys, Lajpat Nagar, she works with adolescent children to help them deal with mental distress, current stressors, interpersonal concerns, career enhancement and to promoteoverall mental well being. She also conducts parent counselling sessions to better understand the needs of the children. She engages in psycho-educating children residing at the institution along with conducting workshops around mental well being and adjustment.

She believes in the power of talk therapy, being a good listener and just being there. She believes that change starts from within & that it takes time but it’s all worth it. She loves to meet and know new people. She is also true dog lover who believes that as dog’s unconditional love, humanity can also shower positivity and happiness by realising the positives in each other.

Suman

Psychologist at Nirmal Chhaya

Suman has done her bachelors in psychology from Lady Shri Ram College For Women, Delhi

University and got a masters degree in Applied psychology (specialisation in counseling psychology) from TISS, Mumbai. During her masters she has the exposure to work with diverse populations with different stakeholders. She has the experience of working with adolescents, women centered organisation, geriatric setting and de-addiction centre.

She believes in a non-discriminating, supportive community living, empowering people to introspect and bring about a change in lifestyle. Her special emphasis is on working for the empowerment of women, chiefly by creating awareness in the society about women's issues and improving the lives of women through education, healthcare and gender equality.

At Nirmal Chhaya she conducts Individual and Group counselling sessions. She also organizes different workshops with a therapeutic touch based on the mental health needs of the residents of the Institution. Suman is a sports person and loves writing poems. Her everyday life’s motivational quote is “Decisions Determine Destiny”.

Garima Kaila

Clinical Psychologist, Nirmal Chhaya

Garima has completed her masters in psychology from University of Delhi, North Campus and is currently pursuing Post Graduate diploma in counselling and Family therapy from IGNOU.

She is working at Nirmal Chaya as a psychologist and has experience and skills related to counseling and workshop/Webinar designing and Conducting.Majorly her interest lies in understanding the human relations and emotions, developing effective ways to nurture them. Besides this she is also capable of catering to various psychological issues such as, career problems, mental health self care, peer pressure, bullying, parenting problems, aggression, relationships issues, etc.

She loves to travel and explore nature. She likes writing, reading, dancing, photography, Community service and social work.

Parvathy

Clinical Psychologist, Chhattisgarh

Parvathy is a clinical psychologist who works primarily with children affected by conflict in Chhattisgarh. She has worked in the North-Eastern part of India and her approach towards mental health is informed by both culture and gender. After completing her MPhil in Clinical Psychology from Dr. RML Hospital (Delhi), she went on to do a one year course on mental health and conflict from King’s College London. Books and photography are her cherished hobbies and she hopes to write something of value in the future.

Amala Prabha S M

Psychologist at Chhattisgarh

Amala works for our Community Outreach Project for Children in residential care, in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh. She is a Masters graduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in Applied Psychology (Clinical). During this tenure she has worked with clinical population of different age groups as well as with settings like Family Court, where she has conducted both individual and group sessions along with testing/ assessment on field.

Gender and Education are her areas of interest. As a psychologist she believes that mental health is political and advocates to make therapy accessible and inclusive with an intersectional and rights-based approach to mental health. More than individual work, community as the point of change drives her passion for this field.

She considers Music and Mountains as her Muse!

Madhavi

Psychologist at Nirmal Chhaya

Madhavi joined Manas Foundation shortly after completing her Masters in Psychology from Ambedkar University Delhi. At Nirmal Chhaya, her work has primarily been with young women and children with a focus on creating safe and affirming spaces. As a feminist, she looks forward to integrate her political understandings with her practice of mental health.

Madhavi is a closet nerd, an avid reader and an occasional performer.

Deenu Kumar

Psychologist, CAMP Dausa

Deenu completed his graduation from Rajasthan college Jaipur and MA Clinical Psychology from St. Wilfred PG collage Jaipur, Rajasthan University. He has also completed a 1 year diploma in guidance and counselling and 1 year of internship from Jaipur under the Psychiatrics DR. Anil tambi. Deenu is currently working in CAMP Dausa Office as a Psychologist.

Deenu enjoys community based interactions and awareness camps. He is enthusiastic to learn and grow in the field of mental health and is always ready to learn and experience new things.

Rohit Kumar Tiwari

Psychologist, Chhattisgarh

Rohit is a qualified Rehabilitation Psychologist having license from Rehabilitation Council of India with four years of experience and is currently working at Manas Foundation.

He has completed his Masters in Psychology (specialisation in clinical and abnormal psychology) from CSJM University. He has been a part of various institutions, working towards healthier minds. Rohit possesses strong communication, interpersonal relationships and management skills and expertise in Counseling, Psychotherapy & Psychometric Testing across all age groups. He likes to travel hill to stations and enjoys nature. He also loves to work with children with special needs.

Ashita Sharma

Psychologist at Nirmal Chhaya

Ashita holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Amity University, Noida and completed her Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology from Gargi College, Delhi University. She works as a Counselling Psychologist at Manas Foundation, currently posted at Nirmal Chhaya Complex, working with women and children who have experienced trauma with a history of sexual and physical violence, trafficking and family conflict. She also facilitates workshops as a part of the organisation’s mental health curriculum program across educational institutions.

She sees every person as a story and finds meaning in providing a compassionate space for sharing and growth, and actively supports people and animals of all kinds. The field of Mental health is her profession, avocation and recreation; however her simple pleasures include meaningful conversations with friends and family, photography and travelling.

Namrata Sharan

Trainer

A senior trainer, Published Poet and writer. She is a prominent part of the programme Barabari ki Daggar, Surakshit Safar and conducts gender sensitization training for the commercial driver(Delhi NCR), Delhi Police, Marshall in Delhi. She is also involved in project development and implementation of the same through various and impactful ideas and great enthusiasm. She is a part of this organization since 2014 and dedicatedly works to support the idea of gender equality and she believes that we can achieve equality if all of us gets sensitive towards the issue of gender equality. Though it is going to take some time but can be achieved through the program gender sensitization.

She has also worked for Dainik Bhaskar and Pratham Pravakta as a reporter. She was also involved in career counseling for Deepalya.

Her perception about lives and challenges of today’s women changed while working for a daily talk show called Nari. Namrata has a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and a diploma in Mass Communications and a basic career counselling course.

Samyuktha Mohan Shankar

Psychologist at Dausa Project

A post-graduate in Counselling Psychology from the University of Madras, she is very passionate about her profession and opting for the field of Counselling Psychology was the first stepping stone in her plan to help others so that they can help themselves. Being a good listener and naturally empathic in nature, she took to this profession organically and continues to use her natural skills to provide hope and relief her my clients.

Her main focus is on counselling the ones in need, especially children. She dreams to channel her compassion for animals into animal-assisted therapy as a more popular way of healing minds.

Vinita Yadav

Psychologist at Dausa Project

She holds bachelors and masters degree in psychology from Ambedkar University Delhi and 1 year diploma in counselling, guidance and psychological interventions from Banaras Hindu University.
Vinita worked with children for three years in cry organisation and also have internship experience from RINPAS and KUTUMB organisation. Also she conducted workshops on CBT, personality enrichment, substance abuse in adolescent lives.

Shailendra Rai

Trainer

Shailendra works with Manas as one of the tariners involved in the gender sensitization training programme in Delhi NCR, providing training sessions to public transport drivers. He has learned and is constantly learning so many things which help him become a better human being at a professional level as well as personal level. Before working as a trainer, he worked in couple of organizations as a project coordinator. Shailendera has done field projects in Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and he holds M.A. in Development from Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

He like to watch web series, movies, reading and writing, attend seminars, talk shows, events and he also likes to have discussions on intersectional feminism, society, culture, politics, media, satire etc.

Tekchand Sharma

Trainer

Tekchand sharma is a trainer at Manas Foundation, attached to the programme “Barabari ki Dagar, Surakshit Safar’, to provide Gender Sensitization training to commercial drivers in Delhi NCR. He loves to traveling, talking to people & spending time with his family. He worked with many organization in different states on different issue like HIV/AIDS, woman empowerment , child care and FSW (Female sex workers) at grass rout level.

At Manas foundation he get different experiences, he also feel working with a team where everyone appreciate each other’s efforts & finds it a comfortable place to work keeps all motivated.

Achyuta Nanda

Senior Trainer

Achyuta Nanda is an experienced and senior trainer of Manas Foundation, working for Building Bond Programme from the last six years. Apart from training he is coordinating at Burari Training center and handling of Safe Gaadi app.

Achyuta Nanda has done his Bachelor and Master of Social Work and has worked with other organizations like Gram Vikas, Deepalaya, and FHFI. He has previously worked in profiles such as worked there as Co-coordinator, counselor, and researcher.

He believes in gender-based equality and that is why gender sensitization programme is also his passion. Recently he attended the national level TOT on gender justice and masculinity and has also became a national level trainer under Eksaath Abhiyan. He is very creative and always thinking about new ideas. Apart from his profession he loves to read the news and play badminton.

Ratika Sharma

Social Worker & Senior Trainer

A part of the ‘Barabari ki Dagar, Surakshit Safar’ team, Ratika is involved in conducting Gender Sensitization Trainings. She is also involved in capacity building of the new hires in the team from time to time. Her responsibilities include liaison with Government officials for the implementation of projects.

Prior to Manas, she worked with a Special Schools for Children with disabilities and Care Homes for Orphan Kids. She has completed her masters in Management in NGO from Jamia Milia Islamia and in Developmental Therapy from School of Rehabilitation Science, AADI.

Beyond her work, she likes travelling and is always ready to explore new places. She enjoys spending time with her daughter and watching movies.

Teena Yadav

Liaison Officer & Senior Trainer

Teena is a Senior Trainer in ‘Barabari ki Dagar… Surakshit Safar’ Programme, Teena’s role is to liaison with the different government departments that Manas is working in collaboration with the program. She’s also involved in the formulation of training modules, reports and data analysis of the project.

Prior to Manas, she’s worked with the KD Singh Foundation and other NGOs in providing legal, medical and rehabilitation assistance to the survivors of sexual assault cases. Teena’s educational qualification includes LLB, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Double Masters in Hindi and Sanskrit.

Beyond her work, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, loves gardening and trying out new recipes.

Praveen Kumar Singh

Accountant

He feels that his career under Manas foundation that helps to build his professional skills and would lead him for a better career with every step.

He also having some other experience in the fields of computer knowledge of hardware networking and one year training in Charted accountant firm.

He is pursuing Master in Financial accounting from Ignou University, and graduated from veer kunvar Singh University.

He likes to travel and explore new places and reading articles, bike riding and sporty person.

Pankhuri

Project Officer

Pankhuri joined Manas Foundation after completing her Masters in Social Work from Delhi School of Social Work. She manages the Daughters of Delhi Scholarship Program- carries out vendor management, coordination and is closely intertwined within the growth of the stakeholders.

She has played a key role in developing the gender training module. She thoroughly enjoys creating content for the gender domain as well as writes and administers radio campaigns. Pankhuri with her eclectic approach is actively involved in the school-based mental health program.

She is an inter-sectional feminist who is deeply spiritual and takes personal as political. She likes philosophy, questioning, banters, art and expressing.

Monica Kumar

Managing Trustee & Clinical Psychologist

An undergraduate from Delhi University, NIMHANS alumni with an MPhil. in Medical and Social Psychology and an Ashoka Fellow. She founded a citizen organization, Manas Foundation [2000], to take mental health work into the broader community, reaching out to marginalized and resource-poor segments, with a critical focus on women and children.

In 2007, Monica was awarded the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in recognition of the inherent innovation in Manas Foundation’s approach towards plugging-in and co-creating mental health service delivery, generating awareness/sensitization as well as executing interventions for recovery and reform. She is also the recipient of The EdelGive: Social Innovation Award for her work with underprivileged women, using models of psycho-social care and rehabilitation. She serves on several significant boards such as the Taskforce for Women Safety under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Lt. Governer, as an external committee members for the Department of Women and Child Development [DWCD], a member of the State Child Protection Society and is a member of the governing body of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme [ICPS]. Through her years of innovating, training and creating the space and receptivity of mental health in the communities, she has worked with a plethora of afflicted populations like children and women afflicted with sexual/emotional/physical abuse and violence, juveniles in conflict with the law, children trafficked for labor and sex work, reproductive and child healthcare clinics as well as with the other NGO and GO stakeholders, to build capacity and enhance the mental health taskforces. She has also successfully partnered with the NMHP in Rajasthan and augmenting the DMHP in Dausa district for greater acceptance, reach and impact of mental health care in the district. With such a diverse repertoire of skills and knowledge, she has endeavoured to create person-centric and system-centric change agents who are leading the change in mental health landscape of India.

Monica is in continuous dialogue with the government, CSOs, educational institutes and corporate to co-create a system that encapsulates a multi-tiered model of intervention on the pillars of positive-preventive-promotive methods in mental health care; to illicit awareness about mental health needs as well as management and alleviation of mental health disorders with a psycho-social approach. With her vision to inform and impact policy so as to bridge the gap between the service-provision and service-implementation, she has been instrumental in defining the guidelines for mental health needs and child care and protection policies for the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights [DCPCR] and also coauthored a report on Women’s safety in National Capital Territory of Delhi highlighting the mental health aspects of the same.

Harleen Kaur

Psychologist & Programme Manager

Harleen is a Psychologist & Programme Manager at Manas and works closely with the trustees and senior consultants in overseeing the implementation of the mental health and gender justice programmes. She also represents the organization while collaborating with funding agencies, corporate organizations and CSOs. She believes that each team member has a unique perspective to bring on the table and enjoys discovering that about her colleagues.

Harleen completed her post graduation in psychology in the year 2009 and since then has had a meaningful journey working with diverse sectors; rich in experience and learning. She believes in practicing principles of mental health and gender justice as not just a part of her therapy sessions but also of her every interaction which adds more meaning and value to her relationships, personal and professional.

When off the clock, she enjoys spending quality time with close friends and family members. Also her child is the centre of her universe and she makes it a point that everyone knows this!

Vedha Chopra

Psychologist

Vedha Chopra is a psychotherapist/counselling psychologist who is currently working at Manas Foundation. She has completed her Masters in Psychology from University of Delhi Faculty of Arts. She specialises in and has extensive experience in working with clients experiencing trauma with a history of sexual and physical violence, traumatic bereavement, trafficking and family conflict.

She is extremely passionate about increasing mental health awareness within communities and organisations and is actively engaged with creating and delivering interactive modules for promoting positive mental health amongst children and youth. She has also developed and facilitated trainings to build capacities of professionals working in different community service organisations for providing psycho-social support to women, children and young people.

During the course of her work she has assisted on many psychological assessments for evaluating an individual’s IQ or diagnosing Specific Learning Disability, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder and other neurodevelopmental concerns in children.

Naveen Kumar

Trustee & Psychologist

A psychologist by choice and wanderer by nature, Naveen Kumar is one of the founding trustees of Manas. He has over 20 years of experience in providing mental health inputs to individuals and disadvantaged groups through his clinical practice and community outreach projects. He has been instrumental in conceiving the idea and process behind the key target interventions implemented by Manas to promote well-being and positivity for many vulnerable and volatile communities.

Naveen’s association as alumni of IMT Ghaziabad and Campus Law Faculty, Delhi University helped him build his understanding of the corporate and legal worlds. As his core area of interest, this experience enables him to effectively provide mental health care required for issues related to work situations, environmental stress and personal and professional relationships.

His work is highly appreciated and recognised in the field of individual therapy, especially with marital problems, and resistant psychological issues of obsessions and addictions. He switched to psychology in 2000 and completed his Masters and training as a psychologist to follow his keen interest in human behaviour and the principles governing it.

Hazel Siromoni

Clinical Psychologist

She is having 3 decades experience in the field of education, counselling and social impact.

She has led organization like Canadian Education Centre, India (CECN) which was set up with the support of Government of Canada to promote Canada as an attractive education destination. She was the Managing Director of Maple Bear South Asia a Canadian early childhood education and elementary program with 130 schools in South Asia.

CEO of Modi Edutech which is also the joint venture partner for Maple Bear South Asia to focus on international education and expansion of education related interests of the VK Modi group.

In February 2014 she received the Governor General of Canada Gold Medallion for the contribution towards promotion of Canadian Education in India and facilitating Canada India relations. She has contributed towards publishing of several articles and especially contributed a Chapter focusing on women in workplace and breaking glass ceilings in a book called

“Awaken the Magic”.

She serves on several IC committees of various Government Ministries as the NGO representative. Her passion is to mentor youth and be a leadership coach and practicing as a clinical.

Rashmi Singh

Technical Expert

A technical specialist on gender justice and gender based violence, Rashmi has worked with various International and local social development organisations for almost 19 years. Her work has entailed programme development, programme implementation and donor management. Apart from this developing technical capacity of the teams on issues of gender and GBV is another core skill and experience, which she possess.

Previously at CARE India, as the Executive Director, Gender Equity and Diversity her core responsibility was to lead the process of developing and implementing organisational approach to integrate gender equity and diversity in thematic interventions on health, education, livelihood and disaster response and develop and implement strategies to integrate gender and diversity within all organisational process, practices and policies.

Additionally she has worked with other leading development organisations like Oxfam GB, Action Aid on leadership roles to design and implement project focussed on gender (standalone and mainstream)

At Manas Rashmi is the technical consultant on gender based initiatives and informs the process of proposal development, donor management and team capacity building of some of the key interventions of the organization. Her keen interest in mental health has also over time led her to bring structure and impact mechanisms to Manas’s community based mental health care programmes thereby adding more value to those intervenions.

Dr. Amiya Banerjee

President & Psychiatrist

Dr. Banerjee received his training in psychiatry (DPM and MD) from NIMHANS, Bangalore and AIIMS, New Delhi. As a practicing psychiatrist over the last 20 years, his interest has been in the mind-brain and mind-body interfaces that underlie all psychiatric disorders.

Just as the mind is seated in the brain, the bran too is one with the body. Physical and brain illnesses are often intertwined. These observations have shaped his interventions that integrate psychiatry both with psychology as well as with the other medical specialties, especially the neurosciences.

While a clinic-based practice addressed the needs of the individual patient, it is clear that each individual is a part of a larger community. In 2000, Dr. Banerjee along with Monica founded Manas to give shape to their shared vision of improving mental health in the community.

Mental health services are virtually non-existent in the remote and rural areas of the country, where they are needed the most. Through various community health projects, Dr. Banerjee is working with these under-served populations. His fascination with the breath-taking cultural and natural landscapes of India takes him to magical places. He returns from these experiences enriched and better able to understand the communities he works with.

MEET THE TEAM

Monica Kumar

Naveen Kumar

Dr. Amiya Banerjee

Rashmi Singh

Hazel Siromoni

Harleen Kaur

Neha Rao

Manas Foundation

Pankhuri

Pramod Kumar Pandey

Manas Foundation

Manas Foundation

Praveen Kumar Singh

Manas Foundation

Teena Yadav

Ratika Sharma

Uroosa Khatoon

Achyuta Nanda

Tekchand Sharma

Shailendra Rai

Vasudev

Namrata Sharan

Ambika Chawla

Ashita Sharma

Rohit K Tiwari

Madhavi

Deenu Kumar

Amala Prabha S M

Vinita Yadav

Samyuktha Mohan Shankar

Parvathy

Garima Kaila

Suman

Vibhuti Mehta

Nuriya

Manish

Air Marshal (Mrs) Padma Bandopadhyay

Abha Ekka

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