At Brilliant Read Media, it is our constant endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this, we invited Nayamat Bawa for an interview with Brilliant Read Media. To say it further, Nayamat is an Entrepreneur and Founder at La Esperanza Mental Health. Let’s learn more about her background, inspiring journey so far and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Nayamat:
What inspired you to establish La Esperanza Mental Health, and what personal or professional experiences shaped its philosophy?
La Esperanza was born in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, at a time when many mental health spaces had closed, and the need for psychological support was immense.
I felt there was a very human need to be able to meet another person to have a space where you could sit with someone, be heard, and not have to navigate difficult experiences entirely alone.
I started La Esperanza as a small clinic in Chandigarh, initially working entirely on my own. The intention was simple: to offer thoughtful, quality psychotherapy in person to people who were seeking emotional support.
Over time, that small space has grown into something much larger. Today, La Esperanza Mental Health brings together a team of therapists and a psychiatrist, offering both in-person and online mental healthcare.
But while the space and the team have grown, the underlying philosophy has remained the same: mental healthcare should be deeply human, thoughtful, and rooted in understanding the person rather than simply managing their symptoms.
For me, La Esperanza has always been about creating a space where people can slow down, understand themselves more deeply, and find meaningful ways of living.
Your approach emphasises going beyond symptoms and addressing the root emotional struggle. What does “going to the root” truly mean in psychotherapy?
As a therapist, I believe our earliest experiences play an important role in shaping who we are and how we understand ourselves, others, and the world around us.
These experiences often become the lens through which we interpret relationships, respond to situations, and make sense of our emotions even long after the original circumstances have passed.
For me, “going to the root” means becoming curious about where a particular emotional pattern began, rather than only trying to manage how it appears in the present.
If someone experiences a deep fear of abandonment, for example, we may need to look beyond the fear itself and understand what shaped that experience of abandonment.
What was their childhood like? What were their relationships at home? What did their family system look like? Were their emotional needs consistently met, or did they learn that certain needs were unsafe or unacceptable to express? When and where did the fear find its origin?
Therapy is not about blaming childhood or the family. It is about giving context to the emotional history that a person carries with them.
When we understand where a pattern comes from, we can begin to understand why it persists, what purpose it may once have served, and whether it is still serving us today.
That deeper understanding creates the possibility of change not just at the level of behaviour, but at the level of how a person experiences themselves and their relationships.
For me, psychotherapy is therefore not simply about asking, “How do we make this symptom go away?” It is also about asking, “Why does this exist in the first place, and what is it trying to tell us?”
Every symptom carries a deeper meaning.
Many people find themselves repeating the same emotional or relationship patterns despite being aware of them. Why are these patterns so difficult to break?
We often find ourselves returning to patterns that are familiar, even when those patterns are painful. This can be understood through the idea of repetition compulsion: our tendency to unconsciously recreate aspects of earlier emotional experiences in our present lives, despite sometimes knowing how painful they are.
We may find ourselves choosing similar partners, entering similar kinds of relationships, or repeatedly occupying the same emotional position. Sometimes, we may even choose people who remind us, in subtle ways, of our parents or early caregivers.
The difficulty is that awareness alone does not necessarily create change.
We can intellectually know, “I keep choosing unavailable people,” or “I always end up feeling abandoned,” and still find ourselves drawn to the same dynamic.
These patterns are often rooted in emotional experiences that operate beneath conscious thought. What is familiar can feel strangely safe, even when it isn’t healthy.
There can also be an unconscious hope that, by returning to something that resembles an old wound, we might finally get a different ending to be chosen this time, loved this time, or understood this time.
Therapy creates an opportunity to slow that process down and understand what is being repeated and why.
The goal isn’t simply to stop choosing the same kind of person. It is to understand what makes that person feel familiar and what emotional need we may be trying to fulfil through the repetition.
Once we begin to recognise the pattern at that deeper level, we can gradually develop the freedom to choose something different.
How does EMDR help individuals process trauma that traditional talk therapy may not fully address?
Trauma isn’t always stored as a story we can simply talk about. It can live in our body, our senses, and our emotional responses. It can feel as though a part of us is still frozen in that moment.
EMDR allows us to gently access a past traumatic memory while remaining grounded in the present. This is sometimes described as a two-pronged approach, holding the traumatic experience while simultaneously maintaining awareness of present safety.
Through bilateral stimulation, the experience can be processed in a safe, structured, and non-judgmental space.
The aim isn’t to erase the memory. It is to help the mind and body process it so that the past can remain in the past, rather than continuing to shape the present.
In couples therapy, how do you help partners look beyond conflicts and understand deeper emotional wounds or unmet needs?
In couples therapy, I often say that we need to learn how to fight better.
The goal isn’t to avoid conflict but to communicate in a way that allows the other person to actually hear and understand us.
This means moving beyond blame and dismissal towards accountability and empathy understanding where your partner’s feelings or reactions may come from without using their vulnerabilities against them.
Understanding your partner’s history shouldn’t become a weapon.
Saying, “You behave this way because of your toxic childhood,” as an accusation isn’t understanding; it is another form of attack.
True understanding means being able to say, “I can see where this comes from, and I can understand your experience, even when I don’t agree with your response.”
This shift from blame to empathy can fundamentally change how couples navigate conflict.
Once we learn to communicate better, we can understand our partner’s needs more deeply and become more capable of being there for them.
What role does psychoanalysis play in uncovering unconscious beliefs, fears, and behavioural patterns that may be holding a person back?
Psychoanalysis creates a space where people can speak freely, but it also pays attention to what remains unsaid.
It isn’t only about what a person is talking about or what their story is, but also about how they are telling it: the pauses, contradictions, repetitions, what they avoid, and what doesn’t make it into the room.
We look at the patterns a person keeps returning to and what might be unconsciously motivating them to hold on to those patterns, even when they are causing distress.
For example, with problematic alcohol use, there can be biological, genetic, and environmental factors. But psychoanalysis can also help us explore what the addiction may be doing for the person emotionally: what it helps them avoid, numb, regulate, express, or cope with.
Psychoanalysis is about expanding the conscious by bringing what is unconscious into awareness.
As we understand ourselves more deeply, we can develop a different and more compassionate relationship with ourselves. This can ultimately give us greater freedom to make different choices.
You describe mental health as relational, deeply human, and not surface-level. What do you believe is often missing from conventional conversations around therapy and healing?
I think one of the most important things to understand about therapy is that there are two people in the room.
Both bring their own emotions, experiences, and responses into the therapeutic relationship.
In psychotherapy at La Esperanza Mental Health, we pay attention to what the therapist experiences in the presence of the client as well. This is often referred to as the “person of the therapist.”
The therapist becomes part of the relational experience, and that relationship itself can become a vehicle for emotional understanding and change.
What I think is often missing from conversations around therapy today is the expectation of quick results, constant availability, and immediate solutions.
With AI and digital mental-health tools becoming increasingly accessible, there is a growing expectation that emotional difficulties can also be resolved quickly.
But therapy is fundamentally relational.
A therapist is not simply providing answers; they are another human being who listens, responds, feels, notices, and is affected by what happens in the room.
That human presence brings a depth to therapy that cannot be reduced to information or advice.
Healing takes time, and it is the relationship itself that makes that process possible.
As a supervisor and mentor to early-career mental health professionals, what qualities are essential for becoming an ethical, emotionally aware, and effective therapist?
If I had to name five qualities essential to becoming a “good enough therapist,” I would say curiosity, self-awareness, the ability to resist jumping to solutions, honesty, and a commitment to continuous learning.
Self-awareness is particularly important because therapists bring their own emotions, experiences, and biases into the therapeutic relationship.
This is why I strongly believe in self-therapy.
Therapy for therapists allows us to understand what a client makes us feel, where those feelings come from, and what they may bring up from our own past.
Supervision is equally important. It isn’t just a sounding board but a safe space to reflect on our work, develop our skills, build capacity, and become more self-reliant as therapists.
A good enough therapist also needs to be comfortable sitting with uncertainty and discomfort without constantly trying to fix the client.
And finally, we need to keep reading, learning, and evolving.
Being a good enough therapist isn’t about knowing everything; it is about remaining curious, reflective, and willing to keep growing.
Through La Esperanza Mental Health, what larger change do you hope to create in the way people understand trauma, relationships, emotional healing, and mental health?
As a founder, I hope to create greater understanding and less stigma around mental health.
I want to help people recognise that it is normal to struggle, but our emotional experiences also deserve to be understood and processed.
I believe that when we are more emotionally aware and regulated, it naturally reflects in our relationships, our choices, and the way we relate to ourselves.
Seeking help should be seen not as a sign of weakness, but as an important part of emotional wellbeing.
At La Esperanza, I also want to build a culture where mental health professionals are not just trained, but well supervised and engaged in their own self-work.
My aim is to provide psychotherapy that is thoughtful, ethical, and holistic where the quality of care comes not only from clinical knowledge, but also from the therapist’s own depth of understanding.
Ultimately, I hope La Esperanza can contribute to creating a culture where people feel more comfortable talking about mental health, seeking support, understanding themselves, and recognising that healing is not about becoming someone else it is about developing a deeper understanding of who we are.
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