Dr Porpavai Kasiannan

DPM, MD, FRANZCP, Cert Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, DPMSA (London), MA Philosophy and Mental Health (UCLAN, UK)

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Founder and Director, Pathways Foundation Kovai

Dr Porpavai is a child, adolescent and family psychiatrist with more than twenty years of experience in the field. After completing MBBS at Coimbatore Medical College she studied Diploma in Psychological Medicine and MD in Psychiatry at Christian Medical College, Vellore. She furthered her interests in child and adolescent psychiatry at Melbourne, Australia and received the Fellowship at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2000. She was the recipient of the awards of best outgoing student in MBBS and DPM. She has worked in India, Australia and the UK. She currently works as a senior consultant child psychiatrist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She has further qualifications in ethics and philosophy of medicine and a masters degree in philosophy and mental health.

With the aim of extending the benefits of her experience to her native place, Dr Porpavai started the NGO, Pathways Foundation at Coimbatore in December 2014. Dr Porpavai has been conducting workshops for parents for a number of years to improve their skills in managing the ever increasing challenges they face in raising children in the twenty first century. Dr Porpavai also has been conducting workshops for professionals to improve knowledge and skill base in child and adolescent mental health.

Dr Porpavai is passionate about her work and is dedicated to informing parents, teachers and professionals about the changes that can be done to improve the quality of life for our children and youth. With this in mind Pathways has developed a new training program in child and adolescent mental health. Dr Porpavai will coordinate the program.

Dr Tejas Golhar

MD PDF FRANZCP Cert. Child Adol. Psych.

Psychiatrist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Goulburn Valley Area Mental Health Service Honorary Fellow Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences The University of Melbourne VIC 3010 Australia

Originally from Nagpur, Maharashtra. Since 2012, Dr Golhar lives in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia and work here as a consultant Child and Youth Psychiatrist. MBBS – Govt Medical College, Nagpur Maharashtra

MD Psychiatry – National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore

Dr Golhar completed three years of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship and senior residency in 2012 at Dept of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP), NIMHANS, Bangalore. Following this he completed Fellowship of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (FRANZCP) and Advanced Training in CAP in Victoria, Australia.

Dr Golhar is interested in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Mood and Anxiety disorders, Autism vs. Schizotypal disorders, Adolescent pre-cursor borderline personality traits, Attachment and Parent work. He regularly hold education sessions for GPs, Pediatricians, counselors and schools. He is also a teacher for Medical students and Psychiatry trainees at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Golhar believes in empowering the system of care around young people to support the development and mental health this vulnerable population.

Prof. S M Manohari

DPM, DNB, MRCPsych

Professor- Department of Psychiatry St John’s Medical College and Hospital Bangalore, MBBS from Coimbatore Medical College, Coimbatore 1987, DPM & DNB from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore 1991 and 1993, MRC Psych from Royal College of Psychiatrist London 1996. Also underwent training in child and adolescent psychiatry in premier institutes in England

After working as lecturer and assistant professor at Devaraj Urs Medical College and Bangalore Medical College and Victoria hospital, is currently working as Professor of Psychiatry and Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at St John’s Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore.

Areas of special interest include

• Eating disorders
• ADHD
• Work in the area of adolescence and sexual behaviour in typically growing children and in intellectually disabled people

Dr Meenakshi Sundaram Shanmugam

MBBS, M.D, FRANZCP, Cert C&A Psych

Dr Sundar is a senior staff specialist in Queensland health and is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland

Sundar, as he is known as, trained as a Child and Adolescent psychiatrist in Australia (Mindful – Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, 2008) and in India (National Institute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences, NIMHANS, Bangalore, 2005). He has been working as a Consultant Child Psychiatrist in Australia since 2009. Dr Sundar is a senior staff specialist in Queensland health and is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and a valued teacher to medical students, psychiatry registrars, and allied health clinicians in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

His special interests include:

• Long term therapy with children and adolescents experiencing anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and other emotional/ conduct problems
• Family therapy to improve parent-child relationships and to prevent and treat childhood problems
• Diagnostic assessments of Developmental Disorders like Autism, ADHD, language disorders and mixed conditions
• Safe use of needed medications with comprehensive monitoring and education.
• He shares his expertise and collaborates with other professionals, GPs, schools, psychologists, speech pathologists or Occupational therapists working with the family to achieve better outcome for his patients and families.

Dr Chidambaram Prakash

MBBS, DPM

Authorised Psychiatrist RCH Melbourne Principal Hospital Psychiatrist RCH MH, The Royal Children’s Hospital 50 Flemington Road Parkville 3052 Vic Australia

Dr Sowmya B

MBBS, MD Psychiatry, DM Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Dr Sowmya pursued her M.B.B.S training at Mahatma Gandhi Mission’s Medical College, Mumbai. Her keen desire to serve and insightful understanding of people fuelled her desire to pursue Psychiatry as a career choice. She studied her M.D. Psychiatry at Madras Medical College, Chennai. During this period, she discovered her inclination and love for working with children and youth with mental health concerns. This led her to write a competitive national level examination in which she stood first and went on to pursue D.M (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. In clinical practice, she works exclusively with children, adolescents (0-18 years) and their families. She specialises in diagnosis and treatment of psychological, behavioural and developmental disorders affecting this population.
She provides psychotherapy, medication management and parental guidance.

Dr Seetha Gopalakrishna

Dr Seetha was trained in psychiatry in CMC ,Vellore. and has about 18 years experience in both child psychiatry and adult psychiatry. She has worked in Australia  and in India in child Psychiatry and is currently working in Adult Psychiatry in Australia.

Dr Seetha is based in Tiruvannamalai in India and can speak Tamizh ,Kannada and Malayalam fluently and can manage someTelugu. Her special interests include Perinatal, Infant mental health, relevance of  inter generational PTSD in the context of Indian marital dyad, family arrangements  and domestic violence. Her general,interests are  gadgets,books, Malayalam movies,  Women, Children and Environmental health.