We were lucky to catch up with Payal Sud recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Payal thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

As a south Asian female, I started my mental health private practice to help medicaid, medicare, Queer, Kink and ethical non monogamy communities. I took the risk as a POC female to start this. These are all communities that my own community turns away.

Payal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My parents are both doctors. I didnt feel like the medical field was for me. However I still wanted to help people. While in my search, I was introduced to social work. I took a class and 2 years later decided to go for my master’s in social work despite my parents not agreeing. In my journey in social work and non for profit world I was burnt to many times. 11 years ago when I had my last straw of being burnt, I decided to take a risk and start my own private practice. 11 years later, I am helping marginalized communites that others may not help. The biggest thing that I that sets me apart is that I am a POC who provides services that managed medicaid clients and to communties that are underserved can not access. Holistic care like energy healing, vibrational sound massage, EMDR techniques, etc.
I am not just providing services but I also try to advocate for these communities by providing sliding scale and having conversations within sessions that others may not have, etc.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Years ago, I was assigned a white male client. When the client spoke to the intake person and found out my name the first thing the client asked was will I be able to understand her with her accent and will she understand my english. The intake person told me this and despite my various feelings, I still met with the client.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think the thing that has helped me in my field is being open minded with my clients. Letting them know that I am not the expert, they are. They are the expert in their life. I just happen to know skills that can get them to their next step in their journey. I let my clients know that I may not know everything but I am willing to learn from them and on my own. And we can learn together.  

Contact Info:

• Website: ps-itscounseling.com
• Other: linktr.ee/payalsud