Meet Deesha
Deesha Narichania, LCSW (NY)
Aries
they/them
I am a first generation, South Asian, non binary femme-ish, queer. I am neurodiverse and highly sensitive. I am a politicized, somatic and relational healing practitioner. I care deeply about my queer friendships and chosen family, and I am a new parent striving to do my part in healing intergenerational trauma. I am a sucker for beautiful and cute things such as oceans and googly eyes. I am a retired dancer, but remain a mover. I love to cook and I often grieve. I laugh more now than ever before, and I also still cry often.
I created my practice as a politicized healing space for QTBIPOC. I care deeply about queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color getting to move beyond coping with trauma to reclaiming their curiosity and joy. I specialize in somatic, trauma-focused therapy with extensive experience in sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, relational ruptures, intergenerational trauma, racial trauma, and burnout among healing practitioners, activists, community organizers, social justice movement leaders, and artists. I am a new parent, and I enjoy working with queer and trans* folks who are trying to conceive, pregnant, postpartum, and parenting. I also work with somatic experiences such as chronic illness and pain, disordered eating, gender dysphoria, and fatphobia-- generally, I am a nerd about all things body. I am comfortable holding space for big emotional states such as grief, despair, and shame.
While I primarily work with individuals and couples or small groups, our work together always has in mind the larger forces that seek to shape us, and that we as individuals can shape back. As a somatic therapist, I work with a view towards bodies: individual bodies, collective bodies, systemic bodies, and the space beyond bodies (nature, ancestors, imagination). I support individuals in learning to love and respect their survival reactions, while also growing their nervous system to act in alignment with current day desires and commitments.
I come by this work through my personal healing journey; activism in anti-violence, pro-survivor movement spaces; training in generative somatics, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Brainspotting; and a healthy critique of individualistic approaches to mental health. I first stepped into the “professional field” in 1999. I completed a Bachelors in Psychology and Visual Art in 2004, a Masters in Social Work in 2007, and worked in various community, hospital, and crisis settings prior to earning my License in Clinical Social Work in 2019. My views are heavily shaped by ongoing learning in healing justice, disability justice, and reproductive justice.
https://www.centeringhealing.com