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Dr. Nimisha Kumar
Upskilling Mental Health Professionals with evidence-based Psychotherapy in a Low Resource multi-cultural setting: Preliminary results from a Mixed Methods study as well as clinical and research implications
Biography
Dr. Nimisha Kumar is a Senior Consultant Psychologist and trained Cognitive Behavioural Therapist based in New Delhi. She has a PhD in Psychology from University of Delhi and an MSc in CBT as well as a PG Cert in Clinical Supervision from University of Derbyshire, UK. Dr. Kumar is the Founder-President of the Indian Association for CBT (www.iacbt.org), President-Elect of the Asian CBT Association (www.acbta.org) and Founder-Director of Ascend-PsyCare (www.ascendpsycare.in), a private mental health enterprise based in Delhi. She is also Associate Professor at the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, SGT University, Gurugram.
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Dr. Kumar has over 15 years of experience in clinical practice, teaching and research at prestigious institutions in New Delhi. She has written papers in Indexed and refereed Journals, presented papers at National and International conferences and mentored a number of Masters and Doctoral research dissertations. One of the special focus areas of research for her has been the Cultural Adaptation to CBT in the Indian context. Dr. Kumar has her own practice in New Delhi where she uses CBT for a number of mental health concerns and provides training and supervision to students and professionals from diverse backgrounds.
Abstract
The WHOs definition of 'health' has acknowledged that it is a state of complete wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease. However, mental wellbeing in particular continues to be neglected, especially in developing countries where both awareness and infrastructure are lacking. The social stigma associated with mental health as well as the lack of attention to mental health facilities and infrastructure has kept this important aspect of health neglected for far too long. This has led to a mental health epidemic especially in the post Covid-19 world. Closely tied to good quality mental health services and patient outcomes is the training of mental health professionals. In developing countries like India, training and supervision facilities are still extremely limited and not at par with global standards. This has added to the scarcity of evidence based psychological interventions, thereby creating a vicious cycle of neglect. The Indian Association for CBT (IACBT) has been making concerted efforts for bringing good quality CBT training and supervision facilities at par with global standards for Indian mental health professionals.
This paper will highlight these efforts and in particular present the preliminary findings of a study based on the evaluation of the skill development of trainee CBT therapists done through analysis of their session recordings at different stages of enrollment in the IACBT certificate program in Cognitive Behavioral Interventions which was launched in 2020. The paper will highlight both quantitative data in the form of Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS) scores as well as qualitative data in the form of therapist, client and supervisor feedback. This study clearly demonstrates how a high quality standardised training program along with supervision can upskill therapists in a short frame of time thereby improving client outcomes, lessening stigma and making therapeutic practice ethical and professional in a low resource, culturally diverse context. Implications for capacity building and research in the field will also be discussed.