My practice focuses on helping people who are feeling anxious, disconnected or stuck to build a more authentic, compassionate relationship with themselves and then with others. I believe that real change happens when we are able to meet all parts of ourselves, including those we’ve learned to hide or silence. I work with men and women, parents and with children who have experienced difficulties in  life including transition from careers, loss, bereavement and separation. I especially enjoy working with people who are open to innovative ways of working; people who are drawn to creativity or the media and perhaps have not been able to engage to this aspect of themselves. I offer opportunities to explore image making alongside talking therapy to explore the unconscious and uncover deeper patterns that may lead to greater clarity, deeper resolve and a reconnection to self before being able to serve and create deeper and richer connections with others.  

In a session with my client I might begin by offering some space to reflect on the immediate challenges of the moment. This could be a reflection prompted by images or an invitation to work with art materials to make marks on paper using pens, pencils or perhaps we’ll work with your photographs – ones that you could make or ones that have meaning for you. Each session is a unique journey to explore the experiences, both the challenges and the joys which have brought you to this moment. Over time, as you deepen your trust in me, and as I learn more about you, I will share my observations and find ways support you as you seek your way towards exploring the things you seek. Perhaps on occasion, I may offer a tool, strategy or insight that might be helpful as you meet yourself in new ways. And so we go on, with me by your side as you navigate the challenges and celebrate the journey of your life.

Background and approach

Before retraining as a therapist, I worked as a filmmaker for the BBC and Channel 4, producing documentaries about many topics including race, migration and identity. I was part of the team behind the BAFTA award-winning series The Tower: A Tale of Two Cities.

Working on these projects gave me a rare and humbling insight into people’s lived experiences – moments of both courage and pain – and helped me understand how often trauma and silence are carried beneath the surface. I noticed experiences of people taught to “be strong” rather than to feel. I recognised patterns of oppression, experiences of being silenced and stories of powerlessness.  During the filming of Operation Landslide, an international investigation into online child exploitation, I was deeply affected by the stories of survivors and the scale of suffering I encountered. Seeking therapy for myself for the first time became a life-changing experience, revealing the power of reflection, empathy and creative self-expression. Eventually, it led me to as an Art Psychotherapist at Goldsmiths, grounding my creative background in psychodynamic theory and clinical practice.

Therapeutic work

I have been working in the voluntary sector offer community emotional wellbeing support for 13 years, and over time have found myself becoming more curious about the role of image making and stories as a way to understand the lives and relationships we find ourselves in. I have spent a good deal of this time working with children and the adults who support them in order to improve mental health outcomes for children and young people.

Within the NHS, I offered support to adults with learning disabilities through art psychotherapy. My work focuses on enabling self-expression, communication and emotional regulation through creative and sensory processes. Many of my clients have experienced profound loss, trauma and isolation. Through the art-making process, they can express feelings that may have no words, reconnecting with themselves and others in ways that foster confidence, dignity and emotional integration. This experience has strengthened my belief that creativity transcends language and ability – that expression is a human right, not a privilege.

Alongside my NHS role, I am Co-Director of deep:black, an arts and health organisation that has worked across schools, communities and cultural institutions for over a decade. Our work uses creativity and dialogue to improve mental health outcomes and strengthen emotional resilience. I have developed partnerships with schools, NHS trusts and charities, designing therapeutic and educational programmes that bring art into everyday life.

A key part of my work at deep:black has been developing projects for children and young people who have experienced trauma, exclusion and systemic inequality. My programme Photographing Feelings invites young people to explore emotions through photography, supporting reflection on themes such as violence, racism, isolation and neurodiversity. Through these projects, I have witnessed how creativity offers a pathway to self-understanding, belonging and agency – particularly for those whose stories have been marginalised or misunderstood.

Shadow Work, teaching and facilitation

My therapeutic approach is rooted in a person centred and pragmatic approach that always centres my clients. A psychodynamic training has enriched my practice, by allowing me to draw attention to unconscious processes.  My training as a Shadow Work facilitator has added a further dimension to help people explore and integrate the hidden or disowned aspects of themselves – the parts we often judge, fear or suppress. Together, these processes can be deeply transformative for those who feel caught in patterns of anxiety, anger or self-doubt. With these tools available, I can offers an open and responsive and compassionate practice as a way to reclaim inner strength and authenticity.

I have also served as a Director at Women in Power UK, an organisation dedicated to supporting women’s personal and collective empowerment through embodied practice, community and ritual. This work continually informs my understanding of leadership, trauma, belonging and gendered experience – and how these intersect with race and cultural identity.

In addition to my clinical and facilitation work, I am a partner on an integrative psychotherapy training course, Homa Psychotherapy Training. I design and deliver course content to support trainee therapists to learn best practice and develop confidence, self-awareness and creativity in their practice. I am passionate about helping future practitioners work with complexity – integrating body, mind and imagination in their understanding of human experience. Teaching keeps me grounded in reflection, ethics and lifelong learning, as I believe good therapy begins with my own willingness to grow and continue to evolve and learn.

Research, writing and published work

My work has been featured in conferences, publications and professional journals focusing on arts, health and social justice. I have contributed writing on the use of photography and film in therapeutic practice, on creative approaches to conflict and belonging, and on anti-racist practice within psychotherapy. I continue to explore how visual and narrative methods can bridge the gap between inner experience and social change – and how creativity can make the unseen visible, both within individuals and across communities.

I have published the following: 

Power and Young Refugees:  Trupti Magecha, Dr Shamser Sinha, Prof. Back and Alex Sutton Forced Migration Review, 2012 

Photographing Feelings – Working alongside young people to enable emotional expression through photography: Trupti Magecha & Nick Barnes, Art Psychotherapy and Innovation: New Territories, Techniques and Technologies, ed. Helen Jury & Ali Coles, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2022

Links to films are available on request.

Values and philosophy

At the heart of all my work – whether in therapy, training, or facilitation – is a commitment to creating spaces where people can feel safe enough to be fully themselves. I work relationally, and by acknowledging the role of unconscious processes, with compassion and curiosity. I believe that even the most painful emotions carry valuable information about what matters most to us.

For people who have learned to survive by keeping emotions contained, therapy can offer a vital space to breathe, to question inherited stories, and to discover new possibilities and create new stories. My approach is collaborative, creative and culturally sensitive. It is about moving beyond survival – towards authenticity, purpose and connection.

Whether through art, conversation or shadow work, my aim is not to “fix” but to support transformation – helping people rediscover the creativity, clarity and strength that have always been within them.

About me 

I am acutely aware of the intersections of identity; the many labels I inhabit include female, mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, director, partner, trustee as well as photographer, author, art therapist, supervisor, advocate and mentor. I am a Gujarati speaking woman born in Malawi of Indian heritage and have chosen London as my home.  

Qualifications

Continued professional development is important to me and I always stretch myself to learn. Each year I update and renew safeguarding training. The following are relevant qualifications:

• Clore Social Impact Leadership Training (current)
• Deep Democracy Training – Level 3 (2024)
• Supervision in Art Therapy Training – (2024)
• Shadow Work: Leadership Training, Advanced Facilitator Training, Basic Facilitator Training (2018 – 2023)
• MA Art Psychotherapy (2019 – 2022)
• BA (Hon) Film & Video (1992 – 1995)
• Mental Health First Aid (2023)
• Mindful Photography (2022)
• 3 A levels – English, Maths & Sociology
• 9 GCSE’s

Summary – Relevant Work Experience

deep:black From 2012 – current 

Clinical Lead –designing and delivering NHS commissioned services for children in schools to improve mental health outcomes; Art Psychotherapist through individual 1:1 sessions

Partner & Tutor – Homa Psychotherapy Training – From 2022 – current

Designing and delivering course content on postgraduate psychotherapy training

Art Psychotherapist Hertfordshire Mental Health Trust, Specialist Learning Disabilities and Forensics 2023 – 2025 Delivering 1:1 art therapy sessions

Director Women in Power Designing and delivering a volunteer personal leadership and self development initiations for women 

Art Psychotherapy trainee Resources for Autism – Supporting children with a diagnosis of autism 2021- 2022

Art Psychotherapy trainee Heathcote School 2020 – 2021

Director/ Photographer – Kush Digital Photography – Lifestyle photography 2007 – 2014

Producer BBC Documentaries and Factual – television documentaries for BBC1 and BBC2 1997 – 2007

Facilitator – Praxis Community Projects – supporting unaccompanied minors 2010 – 2013

Strategic Director – Trinity Centre – supporting community programmes in Newham 2006 – 2011