Akshada Anikhindi

Let me tell you about Maya (not her real name). She came to me after trying three other therapists over two years. Each time, she'd attended a few sessions, felt something was off, and eventually stopped going. By the time she reached out to me, she felt defeated. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for therapy," she said in our first conversation. "Maybe the problem is me." I stopped her right there. "The problem isn't you," I told her. "The problem is that therapy only works when you find the right...

I still remember my first therapy session as a client, years before I became a therapist myself. I sat in that waiting room, heart racing, wondering: What will they ask me? What if I cry? What if I can't explain what's wrong? What if they judge me? Now, as a therapist in Thane who works with clients both in-person and online across India, I see this same nervousness in nearly everyone who reaches out for their first session. It's completely normal. You're about to share vulnerable parts of...

If you're part of the LGBTQIA+ community and considering therapy, you've probably wondered: Will this therapist understand me? Will I have to explain my identity from scratch? Will they see my queerness as something to "fix"? These aren't small concerns. For many queer and trans individuals, finding a therapist who truly sees and affirms you can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. That's where queer-affirmative therapy comes in. As a queer-affirmative therapist practicing in Thane...