About Me
Hi! My name is Saloni Sawnani. I live in Mumbai, India with my husband, in-laws and an adorable 5yr old son. I’m a clinical psychologist by profession and have been practicing for over 9yrs now. Helping people is not only my profession but also my passion.
I found that people in India are hesitant to come to a psychologist as they take it as a sign of weakness or madness when they have to do so. As a result of this a lot of us who would benefit from a little guidance on how to tackle themselves and others in various situations lose out on it. I believe this may also be the case with a lot of people across the globe. This blog is designed for all of you out there who do want to seek the help but find it difficult to go out and get it.
For all of you who would like to know me and my family a little better…
My father, a very organised and conscientious man, retired as a senior officer from the Indian Railways. As a result of the nature of his job, we frequently moved cities and I completed my education from 9 different schools. The last of my schooling was in a boarding (the best time of my life!). After that, my father stayed in Mumbai for a while and I finished both my graduation and masters from here.
My mother, a perfect home-maker took great care of me and made each transfer feel like fun and something to look forward to. She helped me become a more adaptable and flexible person so each new institution and city felt like a welcome change.
My elder brother is my inspiration to know and learn of how to use the internet as a tool to reach my goal of touching lives of many. He himself is a management consultant.
My husband runs his own business in the diamond industry in India. He lost his father at the age of 3yrs and is a self made man. I find that there is always a lot to learn from people who have had a tough upbringing and achieve great success. My husband is a fine example of the same.
My mother in law has taught me that ‘tough times don’t last… tough people do!’ She has brought up her 3 children single-handedly with very little resources and support at the start. All her children today are well placed and successful in their own right.
My 5yr old… teaches all of us a thing or two every day. He teaches us how little things can give lots of happiness, how jumping, smiling and playing adds value to life and lots more… He also helps me practice what I preach of how to disciple children to bring out the best of their potential and self worth.
As a person I love new experiences and challenges. I’ve learnt that one can always make wrong choices in the beginning and correct them into more effective ones later. For example: I did my graduation in commerce and then figured that working in a corporate environment might give me lots of money but won’t fulfill my intrinsic desire to help others. So I changed my career path and completed my masters in psychology. Life always gives another chance!
I love children so I also took up a franchise of a well known pre-school chain in the country. I spent 3 years of my life pursuing the dream I had of doing stuff for children with them. It gave me a lot of joy and satisfaction to be doing that but I also found that my passion was and is still counseling. As most of us can do only one thing well at one time I decided to once again focus my energies on my practice and moved away from school.
I have my own private practice and work with a well known psychiatrist of Mumbai. I handle major psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and so forth. I also help people with their marital problems, in-law problems, children problems, boss problems, self doubt problems and so on and so forth…
Am I qualified enough to help you? You decide… I’ve shared in brief with you some of what I’ve learnt formally and informally in life. I also know I’ve positively touched the lives of a lot of people who know me personally. Would you want to be one of them?
