Public Bio:
Neha Bhat (ABT, ATR-P) is a licensed Sex and Trauma Therapist who practices psychotherapy from an art-based, creative wellness and feminist lens between India and the USA. Having worked in sexual-assault-trauma care at global institutions like the University of Michigan, the Art Institute of Chicago, Rush Medical Centre and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, among others, she employs trauma-focused therapy from a depth-based, multicultural context for people who have survived and perpetrated sexual violence and teaches therapists to use art as a tool of living and coping against systems of oppression.
Neha began her career in the theatre, art and film industry in Mumbai, where she worked as a dramaturg and performer, which is also where arts-based therapy sparked her interest as an area of further study. Her professional networks in the film and theatre industry both in Mumbai and in Chicago have impacted her work greatly as a sex therapist, resulting in her consulting on various films, documentaries and reality TV shows written around sex and intimacy across various OTT platforms including Amazon Prime, Netflix US and Lionsgate Play.
Neha is currently working on her first book, an empowering work that directly addresses how problems of mental health and questions of sexuality can be tackled in a rapidly changing India. This book is represented by A Suitable Agency.
Note to readers:
Hello!
I’m a clinical art-focused sex and trauma therapist, artist, educator and writer. I use the arts to facilitate meaningful, personal change in individuals, couples, families and communities impacted by various kinds of individual and systemic trauma. I see sexual health as part of mental, emotional and spiritual health. People often choose to work with me to find pathways of empowerment and clarity for themselves to make choices that feel meaningful to them in their specific cultural and social circumstances. I have a tenderness for animal life of all kinds, and believe in the mysticism of existence.
I teach unique perspectives around sexual trauma care, gender-based violence prevention and art-based healing modalities at various institutions across the world including St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, the University of Michigan, the University of Idaho, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and more. I enjoy my specialty in offering Art Therapy, Sex Therapy & Restorative Justice oriented Conflict Coaching in India and the U.S., online & in-person, for individuals, couples, families and work teams, through a culturally sensitive lens.
I’m also known as Indian Sex Therapist (@indiansextherapist) on social media.
My Ethics
(or a few things that might be helpful to know about working with me):
- I practice therapy from a queer, intersectional trauma-informed, depth-focused, anti-caste, social-justice perspective. I work well with clients who are queer, marginalized and/or bicultural in India, in the US, and other parts of the world online and in-person.
- I am spiritually focused and culturally informed. I enjoy working with such complexities in our everyday lives to guide people to arrive at complex, enriching answers for themselves about the many aspects of human life.
- I have a wide range of work experience in working with neurodivergence as powerful uniqueness. I believe that broken systems will shift when we accept our own uniqueness and differences in a less conflicted way.
- I am depth-based, which means any project I take on will have me offer you a deeper insight into what you may not be seeing. I am not open to quick consultation calls by media houses or writers who might want a sex therapist’s advice. If you’d like to have insight on your project, please consider budgeting for the same from the beginning for quality outcomes.
- I am not a sex educator. I do not provide consultations for individuals, companies, schools or colleges on sex education. Here is a list of sex educators I recommend. Sex therapy is part of a larger therapeutic relationship with a trained mental health professional, I’m a trauma therapist who has been extensive training in working with sexual trauma, kink, alternative sexualities and the like.
- I do not endorse health products, or natural healing products in general on my social media. If I occasionally do endorse a brand/show that is spreading a sensible message to a large audience, it comes from my own professional expertise and ethical alignment.
- I have designed my practice in a way that I can offer sliding-scale therapy slots to people in need and relief funds to organizations who do rescue work. I do not accept requests for free labor of any sort and often channel resources from work to areas in need.
- I develop and offer free mental health resources to the public in a few places:
– On Medium
– On Instagram
This is my way of creating open access for more people to do inner work practices for a more mature, emotionally healthy, mentally well society. - If you have benefitted from the same and are not a current client at the practice, please consider buying our practice a book that strengthens our ability to run a sustainable practice: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nehabhat
Education:
I studied Mindfulness-oriented Art Therapy from an Indian Buddhist lens in Pune, India, and Social-justice oriented clinical Art Therapy and Counseling from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I have extensive training and 11+ years of work experience with sexual trauma therapy with supervisors including Sarita Ganesh, Dr. Jayashree George, Dr. Savneet Talwar and Beth Enterkin. I have served children with special needs in India as an art therapist and teacher, adults impacted by sexual violence in the US, couples/families impacted by various kinds of trauma across the world and higher educational institutions in offering better pathways of access to justice and healing to survivors of sexual violence.
With multiple Masters degrees and clinical licensure in India and the United States, I aim to continuously improve my understanding of psychotherapy and serve people better.
Public Bio (short):
Neha Bhat specializes in feminist oriented, trauma-informed art therapy and counseling
between India and the U.S. She employs trauma-focused therapy for survivors of sexual violence, offers crisis-counseling, and uses art as a radical tool of living and coping against systems of oppression. Her work as an interdisciplinary artist informs her professional counseling practice, enabling her to bring into the clinical setting elements of play through visual art, theatre, and movement in the clinical setting.
Public Bio (long):
Neha Bhat (ABT, ATR-P) is a licensed Sex and Trauma Therapist who practices psychotherapy from an art-based, creative wellness and feminist lens between India and the USA. Having worked in sexual-assault-trauma care at global institutions like the University of Michigan, the Art Institute of Chicago, Rush Medical Centre and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, among others, she employs trauma-focused therapy from a depth-based, multicultural context for people who have survived and perpetrated sexual violence and teaches therapists to use art as a tool of living and coping against systems of oppression.
Neha began her career in the theatre, art and film industry in Mumbai, where she worked as a dramaturg and performer, which is also where arts-based therapy sparked her interest as an area of further study. Her professional networks in the film and theatre industry both in Mumbai and in Chicago have impacted her work greatly as a sex therapist, resulting in her consulting on various films, documentaries and reality TV shows written around sex and intimacy across various OTT platforms including Amazon Prime, Netflix US and Lionsgate Play.
Neha is currently working on her first book, an empowering work that directly addresses how problems of mental health and questions of sexuality can be tackled in a rapidly changing India. This book is represented by A Suitable Agency.
WORKING WITH ME:
Thank you for getting in touch with me about:
- wanting individual therapy – please read below
- wanting clinical therapy supervision or an internship at my practice – please click here
- for a workshop/seminar at your institution – please read below
- for a media project – please read below
1. INDIVIDUAL THERAPY:
Please note that I’m no longer accepting new clients for trauma therapy for a few years. Our waitlist continues to be full due to the high crisis needs of the pandemic and post, and my practice’s current schedule is full.
You can find contact information of trusted trauma therapists, sex therapists and art therapists on this page I’ve curated here.
2. CLINICAL SUPERVISION/ AN INTERNSHIP SPOT AT MY PRACTICE:
Please click here.
3. and 4. A WORKSHOP REQUEST OR A MEDIA PROJECT:
Please feel free to get in touch with me/team for consultations/other special projects using this form below. We aim to revert within 4 business days
Go to the full page to view and submit the form.
Please see my social media here: