Queer affirmative therapy, in Mumbai and online across India

You should not have to spend the first session explaining yourself. This page exists so you can decide before you book.

The short version. Queer affirmative practice means your orientation or gender is not treated as the thing to be fixed, explained or worked around. Three of our psychologists hold QACP certification and the approach is built into how the whole team is trained. Sessions are in person in Lower Parel, Mumbai, or online anywhere in India, and the first fifteen minutes are free.

What the words actually mean

Affirmative is a word that has been used loosely enough to stop meaning much. Plenty of practices put it on a page because it reads well. It is worth being precise about it.

Queer affirmative practice is not a specialism in queerness. It is a position the clinician holds before you arrive: that being queer or trans is not a disorder, not a phase and not a symptom, and that most of the distress people bring to the room comes from the world around them rather than from who they are. It also means the therapist has done the work of noticing their own assumptions, which is the part that cannot be signalled with a rainbow on a website.

The test is not what a practice says. It is what does not happen once you sit down.

What you will not have to do here

  • Explain what the words meanYou will not be asked to define non-binary, or to describe what asexual means, or to give a short history of pronouns before you can get to the thing you actually came in with.
  • Prove itNo one here needs a timeline of how you knew, or evidence that it is not a phase, or a test of whether you are queer enough to say so. If you are questioning and have no word for it yet, that is a starting point, not a gap.
  • Accept that this is the problemYour orientation or gender is not treated as the cause of your anxiety by default. Sometimes it is entirely beside the point and you have come in about your job. That is allowed.
  • Come out to get helpYou can be out in this room and nowhere else. Nothing said here reaches your family, your workplace or your friends, and you are not being quietly prepared for a disclosure you have not asked for.
  • Pretend the family is simpleMost of what arrives here is not about identity. It is about a mother who has stopped asking, a marriage being arranged in the next room, a cousin's wedding in four months, and the exhausting arithmetic of who knows what.

The training, and who holds it

Certified, and not only by the people who say so

QACP is the Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice certification, a structured course for clinicians rather than a workshop or an afternoon of sensitisation. Three of our psychologists hold it.

  • Priyanka Kartari
  • Zena Yarde
  • Malvika Lobo

Following our external training and certification, we have now incorporated this as a mandatory requirement in our internal training for all therapist. Thus all therapist at The Thought Co. are Queer Affirmative Therapist

What are you bringing?

Pick the one closest to yours. None of these is the wrong thing to walk in with.

I am not out to my family

This is the most common thing people bring, and it is rarely a decision waiting to be made. It is a daily translation job that has been running for years and has started to cost something. We work on the cost, not on a coming out schedule.

I am questioning and I do not have a word yet

You do not need one to book. A session is a reasonable place to think out loud without the conversation immediately becoming a label, and without anyone in the room being invested in which one you land on.

There is a marriage being planned

Arranged marriage pressure, a wedding date moving closer, a partner who does not know. This is one of the heaviest things people carry into an Indian therapy room and it needs a clinician who will not flinch at it or rush you.

We want to come as a couple

Couples work is available for queer couples with the same training behind it. Say so on the intro call and we will point you to the right person.

I am out at home but not at work

A specific kind of tiredness that most people around you will not name. If your employer covers therapy through us, your company still sees nothing about who booked or why.

It is not about being queer at all

Good. Bring the breakup, the job, the panic at 5am, the grief. Affirmative practice means it does not become about your identity unless you make it about your identity.

tap one

Most of what arrives in this room is not about identity. It is about the arithmetic of who knows what, and how tiring it is to keep the sums straight.

How to start

Book the free fifteen minute call. It is there for you to work out whether you can talk to this person, not for us to sell you a package. You can ask on it whether the therapist has done queer affirmative training, and you can ask whether they are the right fit for what you are bringing. If the honest answer is someone else on the team, we will say so.

Questions people ask before booking

What does queer affirmative therapy actually mean?

It means the therapist works from the position that being queer or trans is not a disorder, a phase or a symptom, and that the distress people bring usually comes from the world around them rather than from who they are. In practice it shows up as what does not happen in the room: no explaining, no proving, no quiet steering toward a straighter life.

Who at The Thought Co. is certified?

Priyanka Kartari, Zena Yarde and Malvika Lobo hold QACP, the Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice certification. Because three of the team hold it, the approach is built into how the rest of the team is trained rather than sitting with one person.

Are the therapists themselves queer?

Some of our clinicians are and some are not, and we do not publish that as a credential. If it matters to you that your therapist shares your experience, say so on the free intro call and we will be straight with you about who is the better fit rather than selling you the first available slot.

Will anything I say reach my family?

No. Sessions are confidential and we do not contact family members. The only exceptions are the ones that apply to every client, where there is a serious and immediate risk to life, and we would talk to you about it first wherever that is possible.

What does it cost and how do I start?

Sessions run from 1,500 to 8,000 rupees for sixty minutes depending on the psychologist. The first fifteen minute call is free and is there for you to pick the person, not for us to pitch. Sessions are in person at Lower Parel, Mumbai, or online anywhere in India.

Fifteen minutes, free, no notes taken.you can ask us anything on it.

Find a therapist and a time

Written and reviewed by a psychologist at The Thought Co. Last reviewed 27 September 2026.

The Thought Co. is a psychologist led mental health service. Booking and enquiries run seven days a week, 9 am to 8 pm IST. Sessions are in person at Lower Parel, Mumbai, or online. We are not a helpline or a crisis service. In an emergency, call Tele-MANAS 14416 (24 hours) or 112.