{"id":323021,"date":"2025-11-30T21:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/323021\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T21:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:34:17","slug":"amanda-ackbarali-mental-health-healer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/323021\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Ackbarali, mental health healer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tFeatures<\/a><\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\tNewsday
\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n

13 Hrs Ago<\/p>\n

\"MentalMental health therapist Amanda Ackbarali offers help to survivors of sexual assault and children harmed by those meant to protect them. – Photo by Faith Ayoung<\/p>\n

BAVINA SOOKDEO<\/p>\n

EVERY year, from November 25-December 10, the world observes the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence \u2013 a call for unified global action to end violence against women and girls in all its forms.<\/p>\n

For mental health practitioner Amanda Ackbarali, the campaign speaks to the lived experiences of many of the people she supports.<\/p>\n

For 15 years, Ackbarali has sat with survivors of sexual assault, children harmed by those meant to protect them, trafficked people seeking safety, incarcerated youth fighting for dignity and families navigating unspeakable trauma.<\/p>\n

At 44, the San Juan-born counsellor describes her work not as a profession but \u201ca deep sense of purpose, like an internal compass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ackbarali\u2019s earliest lessons in care came not from textbooks but from her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the way I grew up, watching compassion in motion in my family,\u201d she explained. Ackbarali said people were always drawn to her mother, the most caring person she knows.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur front porch was like a little sanctuary. Neighbours and friends would stop by, sit and talk with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom early on, she taught me a simple truth: if you can be kind, then be kind. That became the frame through which I saw the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But her own childhood was not without pain. Ackbarali suffered from severe atopic eczema from age three, and learnt early what it meant to be treated differently at school and even at times with her own extended family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you experience that kind of vulnerability as a young female,\u201d she remembered, \u201cyou learn to see the world from the margins. You understand the underdog, the quiet child, the person who feels less than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose early experiences planted something in me: a deep desire to make people feel safe and understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ackbarali eventually followed those urges academically, and got a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology and a master\u2019s in mediation studies from UWI. She became board-certified as a civil and family mediator in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mental health therapist Amanda Ackbarali offers help on her virtual platform via the Opening Lotus. – Photo by Faith Ayoung<\/p>\n

But it was her work with frontline institutions that cemented her commitment. They have included the Rape Crisis Society, the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Children\u2019s Authority and the Prison Service. She has trained police officers, hotline counsellors and prison staff \u2013 often in spaces where the air was thick with trauma.<\/p>\n

At the Children\u2019s Authority from 2015-2018 \u2013 its startup phase \u2013 she played a pivotal role in setting up and building the Child and Family Services Unit and developed protocols for helping child victims of trafficking, focusing on victims\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

She carried out training for the Counter-Trafficking Unit in hotline and self-care skills and served on a governmental committee responsible for securing safe housing for trafficked people.<\/p>\n

Ackbarali said one of the most sobering lessons she learnt in child-protective work was recognising the weight of the responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild protection isn\u2019t just paperwork and procedure: these are decisions that can change the course of a child\u2019s entire life,\u201d she emphasised. \u201cYou are often the person standing between danger and safety, between chaos and stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of trust is humbling. It forces you to hold both urgency and care at the same time, even when the circumstances are overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when asked what the hardest aspect of her work has been, she said, \u201cThe most emotionally challenging part has never been the people I serve, but rather the systems around their care and treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat often creates emotional strain for practitioners is navigating structures that are overburdened and under-resourced, that are moving more slowly than the urgency of the situation demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, she says, is where practitioners often burn out. She stressed that as a result, caring for caregivers is not optional \u2013 it\u2019s essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want protocols that actually work in the real world, they must include the wellbeing of the people doing the work, their safety, their emotional health, their access to supervision and support,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou cannot protect children effectively if the adults protecting them are running on empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over time, she has learnt to advocate within the system, while supporting colleagues who are also doing their best under pressure.<\/p>\n

She said maintaining compassion comes from recognising that everyone \u2013 clients and practitioners alike \u2013 is navigating something, and empathy is essential in both directions.<\/p>\n

Some of the cases she encountered have left permanent imprints. At the Rape Crisis Centre where she worked from 2010-2015, Ackbarali confronted cases that changed her.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes very young children, only three-five years old, were brought in by nuns, community leaders or caregivers because they had been sexually harmed. Some cases were so severe that ongoing medical treatment was needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose moments remain imprinted on my mind and heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

But hearing about events like this, devastating as they were, did not drive Ackbarali away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was then that my conviction for this work became written in stone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Seeing that level of vulnerability, and the courage it took for the adults around these children to seek help, deepened her belief that mental health care must be accessible and compassionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt strengthened my desire to work in prevention and with offenders, because supporting survivors also means addressing the systems and behaviours that harm them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a response to everything she had witnessed \u2013 the broken silences, the small triumphs, the need for accessible, compassionate care \u2013 Ackbarali founded The Opening Lotus in 2018, which operates on a virtual platform. It\u2019s a mental health practice rooted, she said, in culturally grounded care. Ackbarali is the main therapist but she often hires a multidisciplinary team for special projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a space where therapy wasn\u2019t rushed, where services were accessible, and where practitioners lifted each other, instead of competing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She aims to offer therapy, she explained, in a way that feels familiar and aligned with how people naturally relate to one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur culture is warm, expressive and story-driven. When therapy allows that, people can feel safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sessions often include small rituals, like ringing a bell when a client experiences a breakthrough, because, she explained, a ritual of this kind \u201cmakes the invisible visible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt signals: something important just happened here. It helps the brain encode the shift, and it gives the client a concrete way to recognise their own growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lotus flower, which rises through mud to bloom, is an image of Ackbarali\u2019s philosophy. It guides how she sees every person, she said: not for the \u201cmud\u201d they\u2019ve come through, but for their ability to rise in their own time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealing, like the lotus, is a slow unfolding. It doesn\u2019t ignore the difficulty, it grows through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In honour of the 16 Days of Activism, Ackbarali reflected on the emotional burdens faced by women, particularly in Caribbean societies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest emotional struggles women face today is the pressure to achieve balance and the constant feeling that they are falling short.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that cultural expectations, especially in developing countries, still put heavy caregiving and household responsibilities solely on women, even when they are juggling careers or studies.<\/p>\n

The result, she said, is exhaustion, self-doubt and an internal conflict between personal growth and traditional roles. For many women, she added, the real struggle is granting themselves permission to rest, ask for help, and redefine what balance truly means.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mental health therapist Amanda Ackbarali, left, greets a client on November 26. – Photo by Faith Ayoung<\/p>\n

Having trained police officers, prison staff and even counsellors, what does she see as one major misconception?<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often expect trauma to look a certain way \u2013 sadness, withdrawal, low energy \u2013 and they interpret that as weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, she stressed, trauma doesn\u2019t have a single way of presenting itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people move into hypoarousal and appear low, or shut down. Others shift into hyperarousal and look highly functional, organised or emotionally detached.\u201d<\/p>\n

These, she said, are both adaptive responses of the nervous system to overwhelming experiences. \u201cThis is the misunderstanding: you can\u2019t read trauma from the outside. You understand it by listening to the person\u2019s story and noticing how they\u2019ve learned to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ackbarali firmly believes that healing is always possible. The proof, she said, lies in the people she has met along the way: women rebuilding after violence, children reclaiming safety, incarcerated youth discovering worth, families surviving crisis and choosing to persevere. She remembers one woman vividly \u2013 an educator who survived a brutal gang rape and the subsequent falling-apart of her marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe often spoke about the first-year students she taught, and the light she found in them to keep living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Examples like this reinforce Ackbarali\u2019s belief in human resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stands out is not the brutality of the stories, but the courage in their choices. They showed up on days when they didn\u2019t want to. They pushed through triggers to learn new ways of thinking, new patterns of behaviour, new possibilities for themselves. Even in their most fragile moments, they carried a quiet yearning: \u2018I want to be better. I want to get past this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Ackbarali said, TT is still in the early stages of building a strong mental health system, with many foundational pieces still being put in place \u2013 she noted there are gaps in education, service delivery, assessment and treatment options, and referral pathways.<\/p>\n

She stressed the need for better emotional literacy for children, and also highlighted the importance of training community gatekeepers \u2013 teachers, police, coaches and faith leaders \u2013 who are often first to spot distress. Underserved groups, including men, rural communities and people with disabilities, also require more intentional support, she feels.<\/p>\n

But while progress may be slow, she said the work being done now is essential to creating a more inclusive, responsive system for future generations.<\/p>\n

Through her years in crisis response, education, child protection and social work, she said, she has witnessed a truth that guides her: \u201cPeople are capable of rising through things that should have broken them. Each chapter of my career has shown me a different face of human strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ackbarali said being allowed to walk beside these people changed her forever.<\/p>\n

She had words of encouragement for those who are facing obstacles: \u201cPeople don\u2019t just survive their challenges. With the right support and compassion, they find a way to bloom again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Features Newsday 13 Hrs Ago Mental health therapist Amanda Ackbarali offers help to survivors of sexual assault and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-323021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}