Today we’d like to introduce you to Neha Agrawal.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up in LA, I always wanted to move away. I did ‘t appreciate what I had around me…or…maybe I did, but I needed to get out of what I thought was the box that I grew up in. At 18, I moved for the east coast for undergrad and thought I had become a convert. I went to undergrad and grad school in Boston and NYC respectively, and built an incredible community of friends and coconspirators. I fell in love with film not in the West but on the East! I wanted to become a documentary filmmaker and travel the world, but eventually my intrigue in storytelling and healing led me to clinical psychology. When I was 30, I moved back to LA to complete my postdoc in Clinical Psychology at Harbor UCLA. I moved in the fall of 2019 at the height of the fires– when the sky over Venice was a combination of ashy grey, orange, and pink. Reluctantly I moved back to the inferno. As I started to reacquaint myself with the city, COVID-19 struck, and I was confined to my apartment in Venice. I built a relationship with the city in a completely different way– mindfully, with caution and curiosity.
As I finished up my requirements to be a clinical psychologist, I also explored ways to integrate mental health in communities outside our mainstream prospects — out of the office or hospital into gardens and streets. I currently have a private practice focusing on serving first-gen folx and families, but more importantly, I started to connect with people I met around me during our period of global loneliness. I currently serve as a Board Member at GrowGood — an urban farm on the property of the Salvation Army Bell Shelter where I aid in the Food-For-Life initiative — a program to bring mind-body wellness to shelter residents and veterans. I also have recently adopted the position of the Director of Camera for Kids at the Venice Photo Club which is a program designed to pair up kids 10-17 with mentors who are photography professionals to experience their city through the lens of photography to nurture creativity, connection, and empowerment through the arts and media literacy. My return to Los Angeles has been both fiery and grounded. I’m excited to re-weave myself into the fabric of this city and continue to collaborate with characters I meet.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m always wondering where I belong and no wonder I became someone who is fascinated by exploring identity, purpose, and connection. Those have been constant struggles and I am continuing to work through them, recognizing that the “self” is always in flux. Los Angeles is a perfect place to remind you that anything can change in a minute.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a clinical psychologist who was burnt out at the height of COVID-19 doing virtual trauma therapy. As the world started to open up, so did I. I opened my own practice to see people in person, but I also decided to focus my efforts into bringing mental health into nontraditional spaces– such as gardens and creative endeavors.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Connection. Everything is connected, and once we can feel it, nothing else really matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.grow-good.org/food-for-life; https://www.venicephotoclub.com/cameras-for-kids
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grow_good/; https://www.instagram.com/venicephotoclub/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neha-agrawal-psy-d-64072978/
