Meet the Founder-Director

Lead Facilitator, Therapist and Mentor

Sandy is the Founder-Director at Just Being and is a Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Psychotherapist, MBCT Facilitator, Lead Trainer and Teacher for the Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Psychotherapy and Mindfulness Based Counseling : Listening with Embodied Presence courses, Mentor for Mindfulness Based Trainings and curator and mentor to the applied mindfulness based programs.
She is passionate about merging mainstream psychological processes with wisdom approaches. Through Just Being, she runs training programs for mental health professionals, offers individual psychotherapy, group process work through deep listening and other programs for the community.
With over nineteen years of experience in the field, she has trained in a number of approaches. She has an international certification in facilitating Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) from the Center of Mindfulness, University of California, San Diego, USA. She has trained with Zindel Segal who developed MBCT and received further mentorship from Susan Woods. She is listed on the international directory of MBCT - therapists (www.accessmbct.com). She has also received training in Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT). She has trained extensively in Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP), Cognitive Therapy, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST), Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing. She is an accredited practitioner in Craniosacral Biodynamics from the International Institute of Craniosacral Balancing (IICSB), Switzerland and certified in Focusing Skills from the British Focusing Association (BFA). She is also trained in trauma resolution work through her training in somatic approaches and EMDR. Her work is also informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS) and attachment work. She has vast experience in designing and executing trainings for mental health professionals, educationists and others. Her trainings are experiential and comprehensive.
She contributes to Connecting, an NGO involved in suicide prevention, where she is a trustee, trainer, mentor and volunteer. She also contributes to many other social organizations and schools. She established Connecting’s helpline service in Pune city and designed and co-developed Mindfulness Based Active Listening, a course for volunteers for providing listening support that now runs independently. She has contributed extensively to RBA School, Pune and contributed to their Life Skills Orientation program. She is currently associated with Swadhaa Waldorf Learning Center, Pune and Aman Setu School, Pune.
She has designed, developed and teaches a two year training for mental health professionals in Mindfulness and Presence Oriented Psychotherapy – Integrating Compassion and Wisdom that is jointly certified by Just Being and CLL-TISS, Mumbai and has designed, developed and teaches a one year post graduate diploma program open to all on Mindfulness Based Counseling: Listening from Embodied Presence that is jointly certified by Just Being and St. Mira’s College, Pune.
She is invited as visiting faculty to teach the applications of Mindfulness and Presence on many other courses like the Buddhist Psychology and Psychotherapy course offered by the Pali Department at Pune University. She teaches modules on Mindfulness, Presence and Listening at a course by Seeds of Awareness and TISS Mumbai and takes a module on Deep and Active Listening for psychology students at St. Mira’s College, Pune. She has also taught modules on Mindfulness and Presence to students of Dance Movement Therapy. She supports counsellors working in social organizations and in the social developmental sector like Akanksha, to bring Mindfulness for themselves as counselors and with their clients. She provides regular mentorship to psychotherapists and counsellors in applying Mindfulness and a Presence Orientation with individual clients and in group work and encourages a more inner-oriented process for counsellors that focuses on their own ‘Being’ or ‘Presence’ while supporting clients.
Sandy curated and organized through Just Being, India’s first ever conference for mental health professionals on Mindfulness and Presence and its applications in mental health, education and community. She has also been invited as a speaker and panelist and contributed to a number of conferences on mental health and education. She has also been invited as a TEDx speaker. She is currently writing her book `Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Psychotherapy’ for mental health professionals and others in the field.