Dr Porpavai is a child, adolescent and family psychiatrist with twenty-five 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 has completed a Diploma in ethics and philosophy of medicine and an MA 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 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 loves dabbling in a lot of art and craft, gardening, bush walking, spending time with her family and travelling.

Dr Shilpa completed her MBBS at Fr Muller’s Medical College in Mangalore and an MBA in hospital management at Anna University. Apart from that she holds a Diploma in maternal and child health and Post-Graduate certificate in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. She works as a consultant at ICC charitable hospital and at AJ Medical Centre in Coimbatore. Dr Shilpa also offers voluntary service as an honorary doctor at Don Bosco Anbu Illam for orphans and street children. She has experience in running health camps for children, lactation counselling and maternal and child health issues.

 Dr Shilpa was in the first cohort of PG-CAMH course and was a very enthusiastic participant. She is passionate about all things related to child and youth mental health, particularly parent education and counselling. She is a great organiser and team participant and has already organised and facilitated a summer camp at Pathways in May 2019 along with Mrs Srividhya. Dr Shilpa completed the facilitator training in Pathways to Effective Parenting (PEP) program in June this year. She enjoys organising events, writing poetry and trying her hands on international cuisines.

Mrs Srividhya is a counsellor, born and brought up in Coimbatore. After completing B.Com and MBA she was busy raising her son and supporting her entrepreneur husband. However, she recollects that while doing her MBA she was greatly drawn towards psychology, a subject in human resources management. She has been pursuing studies in psychology through Transactional Analysis since 2004. She has also completed certificates in basic counselling skills, child and adolescent mental health (PG-Cert-CAMH through Pathways) and Pathways to Effective Parenting Program.

 Mrs Srividhya’s association with Pathways Foundation Kovai began while doing her course in child and adolescent mental health. She gained immensely from this course taught by experts in various branches of mental health from India and Australia. She organised and facilitated the summer camp for children along with Dr Shilpa. Mrs Srividhya has now associated herself with all activities of Pathways and looks forward to creating greater awareness in child and adolescent mental health and promoting skills in managing these issues in the community. She is a self-taught portrait artist and an accomplished singer.

Ms Tharageswari holds an integrated post graduate degree in clinical psychology, M.phil in applied psychology and PG Diploma in Yoga. She started her career as a clinical psychologist and lecturer in Saveetha Medical College & Hospital in Chennai. She has rich experience in teaching psychology for nursing & physiotherapy students. She worked as a clinical psychologist in Balaji Neuro Psychiatric Centre, Coimbatore for more than 2 years.

Ms Tharageswari is well trained in various areas of counselling, de-addiction & mental health issues in adolescence and adults. She is passionate about training young minds with learning problems in a positive way. She is a master trainer in the police wellbeing programme organized by Tamil Nadu Government & NIMHANS and has been running the program for the past 9 months. She is an excellent team participant and is happy to be a part of Pathways.