Service to Humanity is Service to God
Mānava Seva is Mādhava Seva
Healthy Minds Strong Lives – A Mental Health Information Session
Chinmaya Somnath and the Mental Wellbeing Team are hosting a mental health informational on Sunday, Jan. 21st at 4pm(EST). The goal of this event is to:
It will be a moderated session by Dr. Richa Agarwala, and attendees will be able to ask questions anonymously during the session. For those who are unable to attend in person, there will be a web stream option during registration.
Contact the mental wellbeing team at mentalwellbeing@chinmayadc.org if you have any questions.
Healthy Minds Strong Lives
A Mental Health Information Session
A moderated session by Dr. Richa Agarwala, and attendees will be able to ask questions anonymously during the session.
Ami Patel
Ami Patel is a third-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UMD.
Ami received her B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015 and her M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Temple University in 2017. Upon graduation, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) on IES and NIMH-funded research grants focused on anxiety mental health interventions in schools as well as organizational skills training (OST) for those with executive functioning difficulties. Ami’s research interests and focus include the cultural adaptation and cultural responsiveness of mental health interventions both in schools and in the community, particularly for South Asian youth and families. She received a grant from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing to investigate the cultural adaptation of Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) for Asian American parents and youth.
Niku Singh
Involved in medicine since 1995, Dr. Singh is a dedicated psychiatrist with extensive experience in inpatient and outpatient settings and an experienced psychiatry administrator who continues an active clinical practice.
A Virginian and Washingtonian by education, Dr. Singh received his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in both Biological Chemistry and in Religious Studies. He went on to obtain his Medical Degree at George Washington University School of Medicine and continued at George Washington University to complete his internship and residency.
Following his appointment as Chief Administrative Psychiatric Resident at Fairfax Hospital of Virginia, Dr. Singh not only continued his hospital-based work in both clinical and leadership capacities but began taking initiatives within the community. He founded and established Tysons Psychiatry, P.C. in late 2008, a selective private practice in Tysons Corner, Virginia. His expertise and leadership skills have been sought out by many organizations. In addition to serving as Medical Director of Tysons Psychiatry, Dr. Singh serves on the Board of Directors and as Medical Director of Hopewell House for Independent Living, Medical Director of Integrated Clinical Concepts, and maintains a relationship with Sagebrush Holistic Residential Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Dr. Singh has brought access to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to the area as he serves as the Medical Director of the Tysons Corner Center for TMS and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of TMS NeuroHealth.
Combining his understanding of neurobiology and chemistry to philosophical and psychological theories of the mind, Dr. Singh lectures nationally and is a requested speaker at the major medical centers on the topics of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and psychopharmacology. He also maintains faculty appointments at two schools of medicine: The George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Singh’s services have been requested by recognized VIP’s in politics, journalism, and the media. He is an active member of the American Psychiatric Association and formerly on the Board of Directors of the Washington Psychiatric Society. He gives back to his community via many philanthropic efforts and has given his time pro bono for asylum seekers and multi-cultural integration efforts.
As a winner of The Patient’s Choice Award for four consecutive years and named as one of Washingtonian Magazines “Top Docs,” Dr. Singh and his staff offer a personal connection to all of the people they treat.
Sharada Baharani
Dr. Sharada Baharani is a board-certified family medicine physician who works at Johns Hopkins Community Physicians in Fulton, MD. She is passionate about listening to her patients and working with them to take care of their health in a holistic manner. She cares for patients of all ages from newborns to the elderly. She manages preventative health and treatment of chronic medical conditions. Dr. Baharani takes pride in her role as a primary care provider in helping her patients navigate the healthcare system and helping them understand medical care with various specialists.
She grew up in Bel Air, Maryland with her parents and twin younger brothers. She attended University of Maryland College Park where she studied biology. She received her medical degree from Ross University School of Maryland. She completed her residency at West Virginia University with their rural family medicine residency program in Harpers Ferry, WV.
She lives in Clarksville, Maryland with her husband and her 3-year-old black lab mix named Miles. She enjoys cooking, baking, watercolor painting, being outside with her dog and spending time with friends and family.
Sonia Kotecha
Sonia Kotecha (she/her) is a well-rounded Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Sonia received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Ethnic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin (1998), and her Master of Social Work from the University of Houston (2001).
She has over 20 years of professional experience from being on the frontline working directly with children and families involved in the child protective service system to managing and leading others in organizational and community-based settings. Sonia has spent many years volunteering in activities centered around the Asian American community including encouraging civic engagement and bringing attention to behavioral health issues. Currently, Sonia has a private practice and provides mental health counseling to adults struggling with anxiety, low mood, difficult familial relationships, and life transitions. She specializes in working with adult children of immigrant parents from the Asian diaspora. As a South Asian American who grew up with immigrant parents of Indian origin, she understands the impacts of racial trauma and the nuances of belonging, identity, overcoming stigma, and navigating family and cultural expectations. She conducts sessions via telehealth and is licensed to practice in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Texas.
Sree Gogineni
Sree Gogineni, MD, is an internist who practices in the Washington DC/Metro area. Her clinic, Capital Area Internal Medicine, is in both Vienna and Ashburn. With a goal of mentoring patients in dealing with day-to-day health issues, Dr. Gogineni blends modern technology and traditional medicine to practice preventive health care. She focuses on both mind and body as a way to help people become fit and happy. Dr. Gogineni believes strongly that by listening to her patients, she will hear and understand their concerns while helping them to achieve better health.
A graduate of the prestigious Guntur Medical College in India, from which she graduated in 1994, Dr. Gogineni completed her internal medicine internship and residency at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Patients appreciate her warmth, dedication and high quality of care, as well as familiarity with other languages and customs (she speaks English, Hindi, and Telugu). She is board-certified in internal medicine and currently affiliated with Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and Inova Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia.
Sudhita Kasturi
Sudhita Kasturi is a Certified ADHD Life Coach who has enjoyed successful careers as an entrepreneur, program manager, educator, and now a Certified ADHD Life Coach. As the founder and owner of Leverage Your ADHD, Sudhita uses a strength-based approach to partner with her clients to navigate the challenges of ADHD and leverage its positive attributes to design a happy and fulfilling life.
She serves as the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO) and as one of the facilitators for the Attention Deficit Disorder Association’s (ADDA) South Asians + ADHD Virtual Peer Support Group. Through her volunteer efforts, she hopes to raise greater awareness of ADHD in underserved and underrepresented populations.
Thanjina Ahmed
Dr. Thanjina Ahmed earned a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the APA-accredited program at the American School of Professional Psychology (ASPP), Washington, DC. Dr. Ahmed earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the ASPP and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Since 2008, Dr. Ahmed has had a wide range of clinical experiences and has completed extensive training at: community mental health centers, private practices, the Veteran’s Health Administration, the Department of Defense military treatment centers, the Arlington Department of Human Services, geriatric care facilities, secondary schools, and in completing neuropsychological evaluations.
Dr. Ahmed works collaboratively with her clients and utilizes empirically supported treatment modalities and techniques. She integrates techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other Mindfulness based treatments. For individuals experiencing changes in cognitive abilities (e.g., due to brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, etc.) she utilizes a combination of appropriate cognitive rehab techniques and CBT. In treating clients who have experienced trauma she utilizes Prolonged Exposure and she is certified in Cognitive Processing Therapy.
Dr. Ahmed’s treatment specialties include: pre-natal and post-natal depression or mood related distress, (including Postpartum Depression and the adjustment to motherhood) trauma/post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders/insomnia, health psychology/chronic pain, questions regarding identity, military readjustment, attention deficits, anxiety, depression, and grief and loss.
She has also completed extensive research on family conflict due to acculturative differences amongst South Asian Americans, South Asian American Identity Development, and the implications of Ethnopolitical Psychology. She has provided consultation and education on the impacts of identity for Muslim American Soldiers in combat roles in predominantly Muslim countries. Dr. Ahmed has been featured on the news (Good Morning Washington) in her expertise managing work related stress, and on health blogs (Wondermind) regarding treatments for chronic pain.
Contact the mental wellbeing team at mentalwellbeing@chinmayadc.org if you have any questions.
Coming soon!