Psychologist Anju Vivekanandaraj and her family have made Guyana their home and for the first time she has been able to practically utilize her area of study by attending to the mental health of others; she relishes the freedom women are allowed and that is one of the many reasons she is happy here.
Born in India, Vivekanandaraj has been living in Guyana for the past few years. She told Stabroek Weekend that while she has a master’s degree in health science and a post graduate diploma in psychology studies, she was an assistant professor at a university. While she longed to become a practicing psychologist, she was discouraged from taking that route.
Moving to Guyana, it seems, has been a good decision by the family.
“I find the other good thing… is the freedom and independence that you feel, or you get as women in this country,” she said about living in Guyana.
She said while in India the cultural changes are being made and the younger generation’s experiences are better when it comes to freedom and women’s rights, there are limitations and frustrations which she does not feel in Guyana.
Giving an example of the freedom here, Vivekanandaraj said in India she could not work until 7 pm or 8 pm because there are certain expectations placed on women and it is frowned upon if they stay out late even if it is for work. Even if a woman works late, she is still expected to take care of the household chores and she said it is different for each family, while adding that she could not speak for everyone.
“The freedom that I can find here… I can feel that kind of thing from other women too. There is that support system, one woman supports another woman in their progress and development. And yes sometimes I have heard people say there is all this backstabbing going on and that is always going to be there. But overall I can say that this kind of support system I don’t see over there [in India],” she said.
And while in India women might quietly support each other, in Guyana, she said, there is tangible evidence of women “being there for each other, they encourage, and they push… So that womanly support and being there for each other that is something that I find here in Guyana and that is something different from our culture over there.”
Counselling
Vivekanandaraj is the consulting psychologist at Caribbean Surgeries Inc and since last year she has also opened a private practice, Inner peace Counselling and Psychotherapy, which she finds fulfilling. The mother of one, who is reading for PhD in Psychology with a focus in Psychotherapy at Central University of Nicaragua, teaches a Cambridge University course in psychology at School of the Nations. She is also a certified EQ (Emotional Intelligence) Practitioner and regional network leader of EQ (6Seconds) in Guyana. It is a worldwide network which focuses on creating emotional awareness. As the regional leader she is focusing on creating an emotional and social well-being curriculum for school-aged children, which she believes is needed as it would teach children emotional and social skills from an early age. The curriculum is now being taught as a pilot project in two classes at School of the Nations.
After she got her daughter, Vivekanandaraj left her teaching job to spend time with her child and she found those years fulfilling as she also spent time learning foreign languages and pursuing other interests.
While she had interest in psychology and mental health, Vivekanandaraj said in India it is not an encouraged profession and people do not easily accept they have a problem and would not want to openly seek help. Some people, she said, also feel that those who work in the area have mental health issues.
“Because of certain restrictions and everything from the family side, I was moved towards to the teaching side over there even though I had my interest towards this [counselling] early on,” she said.
Describing her husband as a mentor, friend and great influence in her life, Vivekanandaraj said when she moved to Guyana he supported her becoming a counsellor.
Her husband came to Guyana first and started working. Their child was just about one year old, and she followed in 2018 when their daughter was about four years old.
It was only after her husband made a move here that Vivekanandaraj learnt more about Guyana and she has found “a lot of things compared to India that we feel really good about.
“The first and foremost thing I would say is the natural resources here. When I say natural resources, I would say back in my hometown even right now we have serious difficulties with drinking water… That’s just one example. I am saying how blessed the country is when it comes to natural resources,” she said.
The small population of Guyana might have also been a pull factor for the family; the population in India is large and this adds pressure to citizens even as it relates to education as it is very competitive, Vivekanandaraj said. She added that this places a lot of stress on the children and their parents and even in workplaces there is huge competition, which comes with pressure.
“Everywhere there is competition, so you feel like you in pressure always,” she shared.
She said while she understands there will be competition in any country, for her it is too much not only in India, but other Asian countries like China and Japan.
On a more personal level, they have found that their daughter’s asthmatic symptoms have decreased greatly since moving to Guyana. The mother recalled that their daughter’s symptoms acted up every month and when she moved here she was using an inhaler and medication.
“The difference is that when I came to Guyana I had that pile of medication that I carried around for her with all these breathing difficulties and the inhaler and everything I brought here and after just four months in Guyana she was completely off the inhaler and everything just gone even the wheezing sound that she made when she breathed…,” Vivekanandaraj said.
This has been a relief as back in India they had tried “everything” including herbal medicine. Now that they are in Guyana, the child no longer has those troubles and so they feel “in many ways this country is very, very good”.
Inner peace
Vivekanandaraj said she opened her private practice early last year just before COVID-19 became a reality in Guyana and while she initially had a brick and mortar office, the restrictions eventually forced her to close those doors and make the practice virtual.
Through her practice she provides counselling and psychotherapy, addressing illnesses caused by mental health problems such as depression, anxiety disorders and to a lesser extent people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and bi-polar disorder. She also does couple’s therapy.
While she believes that online counselling is good, Vivekanandaraj said having in-person sessions is a plus as she gets to observe the person’s body language, see their facial expressions and even the client will feel that they have actually made an effort to get help. She also noted that everyone does not have a comfortable, safe place to share their personal experiences and so she encourages at least some in person sessions. These she holds at the Caribbean Surgery Inc office.
She has found that there is much need for mental health services in Guyana and over the months she has seen more clients.
And even though she makes a living from counselling Vivekanandaraj said she is also committed to giving back to Guyana and she always tries to find ways to volunteer her service.
“This is a land that is now giving us everything and if it was back home I could have said okay but I am here and giving back is important. So I always tend to be on the lookout on how I can provide that,” she said.
And so apart from her practice she leaves herself open to being called upon to provide volunteer service wherever needed and she never hesitates. While she is not a member of any organisation, she has responded when called by the Lions or Rotary clubs. She also gives some of her weekends at the St John Bosco Boy’s Orphanage in Plaisance and another one in Prashad Nagar. Late last year as well, through a project, she got the opportunity to work with prison officers at the Mazaruni, Timehri and New Amsterdam prisons. She said the training was with the officers for them to in turn to help the inmates and there were times when she also worked with the prisoners. She is certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher and that is the aspect that she focused on in the prisons and she found that it is a population that needs a lot of help with mental health.
She was quick to state, however, that she is aware that other populations, such as children who are abused or trafficked and domestic violence victims, are in need of counselling as well, but she finds that the prison population is very neglected.
Vivekanandaraj finds her career switch fulfilling as she sees how through her work others are helped and she sees the progress they make in their lives.
“I find with this profession I feel more connected to people’s lives that is the most that I treasure or value in this profession…,” the psychologist said.
So for now, Guyana is home to the Vivekanandaraj family. She shared that in 2019, she went back to India when her father died and after a while she was anxious to return to her new home. Because she is an only child, Vivekanandaraj has since moved her mother, a retired doctor, to this country as well.
