Reimagining Care – Training & Mentorship Program
Most therapists are trained to ask, “What issues/concerns does this person have?”
Few are trained to ask, “What has this person survived?” or “What is this person’s reality?”
That’s the gap Reimagining Care (RC) was built to close. Standard therapy training treats distress like it exists in a vacuum- separate from caste, gender, sexuality, religion, neurodivergence, disability, and class. But distress doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s shaped by the world a person has had to move through.
Created by Karma Care, in partnership with the Keshav Suri Foundation, RC is a training and mentorship programme for early-career mental health professionals. It combines an intensive offline residential learning foundation with months of supervision,online classes and clients referred through RC ecosystem for pro bono practice, so therapists don’t just learn a socio-affirmative lens, they apply it with real clients, while someone experienced is still watching their back.
RC isn’t about producing more “informed” therapists on paper. It’s about therapists who show up differently, with more context, more accountability, and more care for the realities their clients actually live in.
It began as an idea in 2024. It became real in January 2026. Today, it’s one of Karma Care’s flagship programmes, powered by Keshav Suri Foundation and hosted by The Lalit Suri Hospitality School. As we gear up for Season 2, we know for sure that it’s gonna be bigger, better, and more impactful.
Why Should You Be a Part of Reimagining Care
Decenter Authority: Learn to step off the expert pedestal and navigate therapy as an accountable, socio-affirmative practitioner.
Integrate Systems Thinking: Frame client distress as responses to systemic violence and minority stress rather than individual pathology.
Actionable Field Impact: Connect with direct referral pipelines for marginalized communities and engage in active community-level care.
Nationwide Ecosystem: Join an enduring, supportive network of reflexive mental health professionals across India.
Season 1 went deep into five areas that shape real client experience, not as isolated modules, but as a connected way of seeing people fully. Perspectives, lenses, and modalities that often get overlooked in traditional psychology degrees and courses.
- Queer affirmative therapy – working with clients without pathologising their identity or relationships.
- Kink-affirmative therapy – recognising kink and alternative sexuality as valid, not deviant
- Neurodivergent affirming care – therapy that adapts to how a neurodivergent mind actually works, instead of expecting it to conform
- Caste-informed practice – naming caste as a live force in a client’s distress, not a backdrop to ignore
- Disability-informed practice – care that’s accessible and doesn’t treat disability as the problem to be solved
Each area pushed past theory, into practice therapists could actually carry into the room with a client.
Eligibility
Psychologists, Mental Health Counsellors, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, & Psychology Students currently pursuing their Post Graduation.
Impact of RC Season 1
In its first season, RC trained 24 mental health professionals, who went on to conduct 50+ sessions of supervised, affirmative care. Every participant came out equipped to work with marginalised communities. Each eligible participant was allotted a minimum of 1 client or more based on their availability, from marginalized communities through our own referral channels as well as our partnership with The Tweet Foundation.
But the real impact went further than a feedback form.
1. Accessible, affirmative care
Participants extended supervised counselling to residents of shelter homes, bringing affirmative care to communities that rarely get it.
2. Rapid crisis response
After the Trans Bill was introduced, RC participants joined rapid-response therapist directories , offering pro-bono sessions and crisis debriefing for trans individuals in acute distress.
3. On-ground support at Jantar Mantar
Cohort members set up a Grounding Corner at protests in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi , offering somatic regulation, psychological first aid, and emotional support to protesters on the frontlines.
4. A community-led initiative
A cohort of Season 1 participants came together to start a self-sustaining initiative that offers supervised, pro-bono and subsidised mental health support for queer & trans individuals.
This is what makes RC different , it doesn’t stop at training. As the network of trained practitioners grows,this reach multiplies.
We have currently opened the Interest form to help us fine-tune the logistical details. You can fill this form and let us know your preferences as well as get an early access window to sign up before we open the registrations for all.
Testimonials
- “The learnings helped me understand the anxiety one of my queer clients experiences in their relationships. It allowed me to take into account the social systems actively influencing their lived experience and honour it with sensitivity.”
- “The class taken by Manavi on Trans Affirmative Care was extremely thought provoking and helped me nurture a better understanding about the nuances of trans affirmative care, whether it’s being familiar about important terms and laws or which approaches feel the most supportive, when working with queer and trans clients.”
- “It never felt like a learning session but rather a deep conversation which taught me so much… Favourite part from their session was learning about how important it is to step away from neutral practice and shift towards a truly affirmative practice.”
FAQs
By the end of RC, you don’t just walk away with a certificate. You walk away with a lens you can’t unsee the world through and a community of practitioners who see it the same way. And an experience that will guide how you practise for years to come.
Season 1 was just the start. We’re expanding for Season 2! More masterclasses, more therapeutic modalities, more touchpoints throughout your client experience journey and more supervisions.
Venue Partner – The Lalit Suri Hospitality School
