Room, The Mindcare Space
What is Siyappa?
Siyappa is a one-of-a-kind lecture series co-hosted by Room, The Mindcare Space and Guftagu Therapy, designed to make mental health discussions dynamic, accessible, and deeply engaging. More than just a series of talks, Siyappa is a space where ideas collide, perspectives shift, and the complexities of human experiences take center stage.
Each Sunday, we bring together thinkers, learners, and mental health professionals to challenge stigma, unpack difficult emotions, and explore the mind in ways that are raw, real, and often unconventional. Siyappa isn’t about one-way expert lectures, it’s about open dialogue, lived experiences, and practical insights that leave a lasting impact.
Why Should You Join?
Because ideas are meant to be shared, this series isn’t just about listening - it’s about engaging, questioning, and thinking aloud. Our speakers bring research, lived experiences, and passion to the table, while you, the participant, are at the heart of it all, with your unique perspectives and questions enriching the conversation. We want you to leave each lecture feeling expanded, your mind more open, and your world more understood.
Who is this for?
This series is for everyone. whether you’re deep in the field of psychology or just fascinated by the way our minds tick. Our discussions will range from the science behind human behaviour to the everyday intricacies that shape how we live, think, and connect, and the unspoken complexities that shape us.
What to Expect:
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Research Meets Real Life – Psychology beyond theory, real-world insights that matter.
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Lively, Open Conversations – No "right" answers, just honest dialogue and shared curiosity.
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Diverse Perspectives – Experts, learners, and you; because every voice counts.
Topics and Our Speakers
What is the Role of Imagination in Continuing as well as Liberating us from Oppression?
Dr. Amrita Narayanan is a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. She is the author of "Women's Sexuality and Modern India: In a Rapture of Distress" My talk will be on the role of the imagination and of memory in women's sexuality, given the collective imagination about women in India. Focussing on women in the birth years 1950-1990, I'll draw from research in psychoanalysis and psychology to talk about how normal parental failure to provide for developmental needs of young girls in the domain of sexuality can result in an anachronistic sexuality whose time period is maintained by the imagination rather than by reality.
In Community Mental Health, What Happens to Individual Responsibility?
Neels is a TC Specialist with expertise in therapeutic communities, relational care, and group facilitation. She co-creates therapeutic spaces globally, focusing on relational working and arts-based methods. Alongside this, she is a Group Facilitator at Mosaic Therapeutic Community and holds leadership roles with Growing Better Lives and other community organizations. Therapeutic communities (TCs) emphasize collective care, co-production, and peer support, where members collaborate with practitioners for well-being. Neels will share her lived experience and discuss the core competencies framework for TC practitioners in mental health.
Speaking to the Father Wound and its Implications
Vikramjeet Sinha has 26 years of experience in the field of Arts and social change. While he has a background in sociology and literature, his work and training as a trauma-informed arts-based therapist have been interesting and winding, with work in the prison system, observation homes, and with transgender population in Bengal and Maharashtra. With work experience in Kashmir, Sri Lanka, and the UK, especially with children in conflict in areas like Turkey and Syria, Vikramjeet brings varied insights on cultural trauma, archetypes, collective healing, and its implications. Transgenerational trauma passes from one generation to another. The passing down the unsaid, through the handing down of material history be it land, history, structure, or the loss of it. The legacy of the unspoken from grandfather to grandson. What is the legacy of masculinity that we have received?
Navigating Love in the Digital Age
Rathna Isaac has a PhD in clinical psychology and is currently a private practitioner from Bangalore. She has over 20 years of experience as a therapist, supervisor, and trainer - both with couples and individuals. She has recently co-authored a book on reflective practice for psychotherapists. We explore couple relationships in India today, with specific emphasis on the role of the digital world in developing an identity as a couple, mediating communication, and blurring boundaries around the relationship. Case illustrations will be used to contextualize the discussions.
Partition, Moving Away, the Trauma of Settling and Unsettling
Dr. Talwar brings her doctoral training in anti-oppressive frameworks and intersectional feminism in this experiential and reflective lecture on intergenerational trauma in the Indian context, exploring themes, memories, and stories stemming from partition and the process of settling and unsettling. This conversation explores the relationship between fragments of family history, cultural memory, and partition archives through the process of jacquard weaving as an act of repair. The repeated throwing of the shuttle on the jacquard loom, becomes a process of remembering and witnessing. The slow emergence of the images in the weaving process represents the “silence,” giving way to the stories and images that have been passed down through generations
Navigating the Muslim identity in the clinical space in India and globally
Dr. Maliha Ibrahim (She/They) is a systemic, relational educator, researcher and practitioner for about 15 years. Maliha is an Assoc Chair and Professor in the Masters in Counseling Psychology program, at Yorkville University, Canada and continues to see clients in a multicultural practice across clients in India, the US and Canada. "Being Muslim" is a very layered identity in present times. Maliha presents experiences from depth-oriented, relational therapeutic practice by sharing examples of identifying as, and "being seen" as Muslim. In doing so, Maliha will share the intersubjective between a therapist and client when identities are not overtly shared, in the presence or absence of self-disclosure and the ethical responsibilities in holding the perspectives of diverse clients with intersecting identities while navigating one's own identity and belongingness as a practitioner.
Wounded healer: Implications of the Inner Lives and Emotional Wounds of Helping Professionals
Lyn Georgy is a clinical psychologist and psychodynamic psychotherapist with over 13 years of experience. She integrates her interests in consciousness studies, spirituality, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and existentialism with contemporary approaches like relational psychodynamics and complex systems theory. Lyn is an International Affiliate with the APA and a Member of the IARPP, with an M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore, and a Master's in Clinical Psychology. The wounded healer archetype, from the myth of Chiron, suggests healing comes from personal pain. Our histories and life circumstances shape our choice of work, influencing it both positively and negatively. This conversation explores why you became a healer and how to authentically embrace that role.
Envy, Jealousy and Gratitude in Shaping the World of the Erotic and Desires
Pompi Banerjee is a psychologist and human rights advocate with over 14 years of experience at the intersection of mental health, gender, sexuality, and marginalized identities. She has been a consent and kink educator and a community builder, working with queer, neurodivergent, and kink practitioners. We rarely discuss what shapes our erotic desires, as norms dictate what is acceptable while other expressions become taboo. This session explores the hidden realms of fantasy, encouraging deeper self-inquiry and acknowledgment of desires held in shadow. It also examines how envy and jealousy can create life-affirming erotic tension when recognized.
Are there any Ethics Protecting Therapists?
Aryan Somaiya, Transman, is the co-founder of Guftagu Counselling and Psychotherapy (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. He believes that mental health is an interplay between what is done to us and what we do with it. He believes in the richness and strength of personal and private experiences, and expanding on those is what helps us to access choice and agency with regards to life’s problems. In his free time, he likes to game, cook, dance and spend time with pets. Due to historical mistreatment in mental health settings, ethical codes protect clients worldwide but in India, even clients lack full protection. Nowhere, however, do ethics safeguard therapists, as if they are invulnerable. This session explores how clients can hurt therapists, distinguishing enactments that can be worked through from situations requiring therapist safety measures.
Looking at the Inner Dichotomy and Ambivalence of Needing Both
Jaya Sharma is a feminist activist and sexuality educator. She has co-founded forums like Voices Against 377 and the Kinky Collective. Currently, she’s writing about sexuality, politics, and the psyche. With the 3 P’s of Personal (is) Political and the Psyche, let’s explore the play of Safety and Adventure in 3 other P’s - Polyamoury (Love), Pushing Boundaries (Sex), and Permission for Aggression (Politics).
The Myth of 'Finding Yourself' - Is There a Hidden, Undiscovered Self Really?
Rajul Jagdish is an existential-relational Psychotherapist, Supervisor, and Mental Health Educator with over six years of experience in psychotherapy. As the Founder of Room, The Mindcare Space, an all-women-run mental health organization, she is dedicated to making mental health care accessible and affordable and creating a reflective, growth-oriented community. The Myth of 'Finding Yourself' - is there a hidden, undiscovered self really? What happens when we embrace the fluidity of becoming? Is the fear of not knowing ourselves a fear of freedom? And what might it mean to truly live with that uncertainty?
Identity and Culture
Sandhya is a Psychotherapist and Counseling Psychologist with seven years of experience in counseling, psychotherapy, and education. She runs an independent practice and has worked in academia and special education. Trained in various therapeutic approaches, her practice is rooted in Humanistic-Psychodynamic, Transactional Analysis, and Gestalt therapy. We carry our identities everywhere, shaping our choices, relationships, and interests. In this experiential space, we’ll explore how culture influences our sense of belonging and individuality, and how cultural trauma shapes self-acceptance. Ready to explore your fabric of identity?
Rise in Loneliness and the Subtle Fear of Abandonment
Sadaf Vidha is the founder of Guftagu Counselling and Psychotherapy (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. As a plus-sized queer woman, Sadaf has lived experience of conservatism at home and Islamophobia outside, however, she has always used her curiosity and resourcefulness to balance the fine line between hope and loss. Her therapy, training modules, workshops, and supervision work is influenced by relational psychoanalysis, a school of thought that sees people as primarily existing and shaping themselves within relationships. There is an undoubtable rise in loneliness in the world. This session will try to address the following questions: how do our phantasies or perfect ideas of relationships play into the increase? What structural systems and supports can be created for a divided world? How might loneliness lead to a common ground for terror and isolation which gives fascism the fuel it needs and how might holding tough conversations allow for a respite from this?
When Your Mom is the Patient...
SnehaJanaki is a psychotherapist working with adults- individuals and couples from a relational psychodynamic perspective. She is the founder of Reflective Arena, a group practice based out of Juhu, Mumbai. “Toxic Mothers: Looking beyond the Idolized Quintessential Maa “ A chance to question the cultural deification of mothers. An expose to maternal rage, abandonment, envy, and control.
The Allure of Toxic Positivity
You can now avail our group discount offers | If a group of four or more are signing up together then get a discount of 15% Off
1. 5 lectures the price is INR 5000
2. 10 lectures the price is INR 8000
3. All 15 lectures the price is INR 10500
For those outside India, the prices are USD 50/80/100