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Development Team
SAATA hosted four major events in the last 6 months with diverse speakers on a range of topics ranging from recovery to action and process to tributes.
We hosted an Open Session in May 2022 with an experiential workshop facilitated by Sailaja Manacha – “Anatomy of Action”. The aim of the workshop was to learn a new idea, reflect where to apply it and make a clear plan of what you can change to get the results you seek. Anatomy of action is an idea that allows us to see the significant steps in getting the results we want. Hosted on Zoom, it created a safe space for a highly engaged group of participants to take away a lot of learnings.
SAATA Open Sessions are conducted once a quarter to create space for learning, reflection and connection on a range of topics. In the past, these included sessions on gender and sexuality, preventive psychiatry and mindfulness in everyday life.
In June 2022, we hosted our next episode of TA Talks – “Beauty is in the Process”, by
Dr. Suriyaprakash C. in conversation with his trainee Parul Arora. During this 90-minute session, Dr. Suriyaprakash shared his journey candidly, how process came to be important to him, his switch from Mechanical Engineering to TA, his philosophy of teaching and life, how process comes into play even in his passion of running and spirit of volunteerism. There was also a very candid rapid fire round at the end. If you haven’t catch it LIVE on Facebook, you can still watch on facebook.com/SAATAWorld
TA Talks gets up close and personal with seasoned TA practitioners to be inspired by their journeys. It aims to inform, educate and motivate us to empower ourselves and take charge of our lives.
August 2022 Open Session was by Prof. Dr. Diana Rose - “Recovery: A Survivor’s Perspective”. Drawing from her twin identities as a mental health service user as well as an academic researcher, Dr. Rose presented her thought-provoking ideas – challenging conventional notions of “recovery” and “normalcy”. She shared her account as a service user, activist and academic. The session hosted on Zoom created a safe space for Dr. Diana to talk about her experience living in the asylum, how she built her community and answer questions by the audience in an authentic way.
Our most recent event held in November 2022 was a tribute to P.K. Saru - the co-founder and first President of SAATA. “P.K. Saru Memorial Endowment Lecture”. Saru made her bodily transition last year leaving behind a rich personal and institutional legacy. Her TA colleagues from across the world, several of her first and second generation trainees as well as her family members participated in the event in-person as well as virtually, to celebrate her life. Dr. Ashlesha Bagadia delivered the first P.K. Saru memorial endowment lecture on the topic “Beyond the individual: Community building in mental health”. Dr. Bagadia is among a rare crop of professionals who is qualified both as a psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist. In this lecture, she drew upon her personal journey to highlight the significance of and challenges in going beyond the individual client and individual practitioner to build a community for improving mental health. The event was heartwarming, marked with smiles and hugs and a deep sense of camaraderie. We even celebrating new graduates as Saru would have!
Many thanks to everyone who came together to make this lecture possible. Special thanks to the volunteers who worked for many weeks to handle different aspects of the event – Ragjni, Suriya, Aruna, Krishnan, Prathitha, Dipankar, Manish, Parul, Deepa, Asha, Nisha Rao and Nisha George.
You can watch the full recording of the lecture on our YouTube channel SAATAIndia.
The Board set up an endowment fund for the purpose of funding these lectures with a generous initial contribution from Saru’s sons. SAATA hopes to continue these annual events.
- Krishnan Madabushi, VP Development
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