Insiya Dsouza

Insiya Dsouza is a CDA Licensed Counselling Psychologist at Openminds Psychiatry, Counselling and Neuroscience Center. She has 4+ years of experience working in areas such as complex trauma, stress and burnout, anxiety, depression, neurodivergence, loneliness, grief and bereavement, self-worth, emotional distress, OCD and more.

Her primary approach to therapy is trauma-informed, client-centered, and self-compassion based. She takes a diversity-affirming, socio-politically aware and intersectional feminist lens into her work and therapy relationships. Given the polycrisis that our world is going through, Insiya is conscious of the mental health challenges that come with living in this day and time.

Insiya is multi-culture sensitive, and has a nuanced understanding of South Asian culture. Rather than looking at trauma as an adverse experience limited to the past, she is mindful of how the present also poses significant difficulties for trauma survivors. Her training entails sensitization to how the experience of trauma varies based on factors such as race, social class, gender and sexuality, neurodivergence as well as other forms of marginalizations that people have. She tailors her therapeutic interventions based on the unique needs and life situations of her clients.

Her special interests in existentialism, nature, and mindfulness deeply influence how she shows up to the therapeutic space. She is also curious about areas such as urban loneliness, belonging, ageing and life transitions, and the expat experience.

Insiya holds a Masters in Counselling Psychology from Montfort Institute of Advanced Studies, India (2021). Additionally, she has completed certificate courses in IFS Therapy (Internal Family Systems), and Advanced Trauma Therapy. She has been working with clients since December 2019.

Much like her existential predecessors, she too believes that the therapeutic relationship acts as a catalyst for facilitating personal growth and expansion. Insiya looks at mental health symptoms and concerns from a space of curiosity and openness. This has helped her develop appreciation for the strengths, resilience and creativity with which individuals and collectives grow from hardships