Hi. I AM GARIMA MALIK, AN ACTIVE SOCIAL WORKER. I have a strong background in psychology and social work. I am a post-graduate in Masters in Social Work and am currently pursuing M.A. in Psychology (Clinical Psychology) from IGNOU Open University. I bring with I have an experience of 4+ years. My current profile is Mental Health Counsellor with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). I have been working with them for the past 4+ years now. It has been an extremely challenging, insightful and a deep learning experience working with them; especially the patients. The patients are most commonly victims of ‘sexual and gender based violence’. My goal is to understand the issues of these patients (many of them belonging to ‘high risk groups), their traumas and then counsel them to develop coping mechanisms. At times I am also required to refer them to external resources/ organisations if and when the help required is beyond my domain knowledge. Besides this I have been actively involved in Psycho Education groups and Community Awareness Programmes. Through these initiatives I have also gained experience of working with different schools and hospitals to spread awareness on Mental Health. As well as the experience of conducting group counselling with children, women and parents. Often these groups contained people from the refugee/migrant population. Prior to this I did several internships with Aroh Foundation (children’s education awareness), Chetnalaya (environmental self-help groups), Udayan Care (children’s home), Delhi Commission of Women (legal aid and counselling). The experience of doing these internships strengthened my interest in the different areas of social work and also to understand the psychology behind these tragic scenarios of human condition/behavior. All of this professional experience is built on the foundations of my personality which constitute of honesty, approachability, strong communication, solving complex problems with a creative-solutions approach. I am used to dealing with people, in high-pressured situations, most of the times which are a consequence of physical/verbal abuse or torture. Maintaining a calm and clear intellect in such situations is a virtue and I am blessed with it.