Hi, I’m Mrinalini.
Psychologist, psychotherapist, doctoral researcher in clinical psychology. And, professionally and personally, someone who understands minds that refuse to switch off.
The short version
I hold an MSc in Clinical Psychology and I’m currently completing a PhD in clinical psychology, where my research focuses on the mental health of Indian adolescents and young adults, a study involving 373 young people whose inner lives look a lot like the clients I sit with: bright, capable, quietly exhausted.
My practice is fully online, which means I work with clients across India and with Indians abroad. Most of the people who find me are in their 20s and 30s. They are doing well on paper. They are also rehearsing conversations in the shower, apologising for “rambling” four sentences into a story, and treating rest like something that must be earned.
The slightly longer version
Somewhere along the way, I noticed a pattern that research kept confirming and clients kept living: the people who understand themselves the most are often the ones who feel better the least. They arrive in therapy fluent in psychology. They can label the pattern, cite the childhood chapter it came from, and predict their own next move. And yet the 2am replays continue.
Insight isn’t healing. Understanding your patterns is the beginning of the work, not the end of it.
So my work sits exactly at that gap: between knowing and feeling. Between the beautifully written self-analysis and a nervous system that is still bracing. I’m not interested in giving you more concepts to think about at night. I’m interested in what happens when your body finally gets the memo that the emergency is over.
Education & training
- PhD in Clinical Psychology (in progress) · doctoral research on the mental health of Indian adolescents and young adults
- MSc Clinical Psychology · Manipal University Jaipur
- Post Graduate Diploma in Adolescence & Children Counselling and Psychotherapy · Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
- Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling & Family Therapy · Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
- Certificate in Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health · University of Sydney
- BSc Psychology (Hons) · Manipal University Jaipur
Four-plus years of practice, over 1,000 sessions, and more than 250 clients: adolescents, young adults and adults. On the research side, you can also check out my GitHub.
How I actually work: my modalities
My approach is eclectic and collaborative: I draw from a range of evidence-based modalities and choose based on what you need, not what a single school of therapy prescribes. In practice that includes:
- CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy): for the thought loops and the beliefs underneath them
- DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy): skills for intense emotions, distress and relationships
- ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy): less fighting with your mind, more living by your values
- Trauma-informed care: paced, consent-based work with what your body still carries
- Somatic techniques: body-based practices for nervous-system regulation
- Narrative therapy: you are not the problem; the problem is the problem
- Psychodynamic & strengths-based approaches: understanding old patterns, building on what already works in you
I explain what we’re doing and why, because I work with people who feel calmer when things make sense. You will never be told “just trust the process” without the process being described.
What working with me is like
- The first session isn’t an interrogation. You don’t need a prepared summary of your childhood. We start where the noise is loudest right now.
- You can’t be “too much” here. The overexplaining, the “sorry, this is probably silly”, you can bring all of it. Especially that.
- I talk back. I’m engaged, not silent. You’ll get reflections, honest observations, sometimes homework the size of one breath.
- We include your body. Overthinking is not just a thoughts problem, so we won’t only talk about thoughts.
- Progress gets named. Quiet wins (a night you actually slept, a boundary that held) get noticed, because your brain’s default reporter only files bad news.
A few honest disclosures
- I’m a doctoral researcher; the PhD is in progress, so you’ll see “Doctoral Researcher”, not “Dr.”, next to my name. Precision matters to me.
- I’m not a psychiatrist and don’t prescribe medication. When medication might help, I collaborate with psychiatrists and refer thoughtfully.
- I’m not a crisis service. If you’re in immediate distress, Tele-MANAS 14416 (24×7, free) is the right first call.
- If on our intro call I think someone else would serve you better, I’ll say so and help you find them. Fit matters more than my calendar.