The Raksha, Inc team is a vibrant and diverse group of professionals, united by a common mission and guided by organizational values. The Raksha team is deeply committed to the healing, empowerment and justice of survivors and strives to empower and serve the South Asian community.
Raksha’s Board of Directors are accomplished professionals and leaders, who deeply care about our mission. Each one of our Board members brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise that augments the impact of our work.
*For confidentiality and safety reasons, the names of some staff and board members may not be published on this page.
Aparna Bhattacharyya, Executive Director
Aparna has served as Executive Director of Raksha since 1998.
Aparna graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. She has volunteered and worked as a Victim Advocate for 5 years for the city of Atlanta’s Victim Witness Assistance Program (VWAP). She also worked as a Project coordinator/Employment Specialist for the Newcomers’ Network’s Refugee Family Violence Prevention Project (where she developed and implemented the License to Freedom Project).
As a representative of Raksha, Ms. Bhattacharyya has served as founding Task Force member and Board Secretary for the International Women’s House and a founding member of Tapestri, the Immigrant and Refugee organization that addresses domestic violence and human trafficking. She has served as a member of the Georgia Advisory Committee for the U.S Commission on Civil Rights, Board Vice President for Tapestri, Inc, an Advisory Board member for the National Network to End Violence against Immigrant Women and Advisory Board member for Georgia State’s School of Social Work. Aparna served as a Board member for the Dekalb County Domestic Violence Task Force (2006-2012, Chair in 2012) and Vice President for the Cross Keys Foundation in 2011-2012.
Awards & Recognition: She was awarded the Indian Professionals Network (IPN) award in 1997 and 1998 for her service to the community. Ms. Bhattacharyya was awarded the Director’s Eagle Award from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in 2006, the Georgia Commission on Family Violence Gender Justice Award, and the Dekalb County Domestic Violence Task Force’s Deborah C. McDorman Award in 2008. She was recognized by the Indian American Cultural Association for Excellent and Continued Contribution to the Community in 2010. She was the Chair of VIDA legal Assistance until June 2013 and is on the Board of National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project and the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
She was a White House Champion of Change in May 2013 with a number of other Asian American Women leaders and named by Georgia Asian Times as one of the 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia in July 2013. In April 2014, Aparna was recognized by the Georgia State University with The Distinguished Alumni Service Award by the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and by Desi Express Magazine for her Community Services. In 2016, Aparna was recognized by the Jeanette Rankin Foundation as “Smart Woman” honoree. In 2017, Ms. Bhattacharyya was named as Glorious Indian during the Glorious Indian Expo for exemplary work in the community and in 2018 she received the Hope for Tomorrow Award from International Women’s House for her advocacy work.
Advocates Team
The Advocates Team
Raksha advocates work towards helping individuals and families cope with life’s problems by providing confidential support services. Specifically, our advocates work with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. Our advocates are particularly concerned for those who are vulnerable or are unable to speak up for themselves.
Education: Raksha’s advocate team consists of staff members with Masters degree in counseling, international studies, psychology, social work and english literature. Advocates participate in continuing education, training and workshops to increase their knowledge and capacity to serve clients.
Experience: Raksha advocates have a combined total of 55+ years of professional experience. Our advocates have worked in different settings including, out-patient clinics, non-profit organizations, schools and hospitals. Our advocates have trauma-related and conflict management experience and work with both adults and children.
Specialities: Raksha advocates complete intakes and assess client needs, which includes safety planning and developing personalized case management plans specific to each client. Our advocates are non-judgemental and never tell clients what to do. Instead, advocates empower clients to make their own, informed decisions. Specifically, our advocates provide support and referrals for legal, housing, career, medical, transportation and other services as needed. In addition, advocates coordinate outreach activities such as training, workshops and support groups.
Languages: Raksha advocates can speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Tulu.
The Counseling Team
The Counseling Team
Education: Our therapists’ education and degrees range from Masters in clinical counseling psychology, clinical mental health counseling, to masters in social work to masters in professional counseling and a doctorate in counseling psychology.
Licensure: The therapists’ practicing licenses range from associate professional counselor (APC) to Licensed professional counselor (LPC) to licensed psychologist (LP) in the state of Georgia. Some are on track to become licensed masters social workers.
Experiences and Interests: Our therapists have worked in a variety of settings including different university counseling centers nationally as well as community mental health centers, hospitals, non-profit organizations as well as private practice. Our therapists also well-experienced in working with adult victims of sexual abuse/domestic violence/victims of crimes; ptsd; anxiety, depression, families and children.
Training: We at Raksha value the importance of ongoing learning and training and thus engage in continuing education to stay well informed about the latest most effective ways to serve our clients’ needs. Majority of therapists are trained in providing crisis assessment, safety planning, counseling assessment and treatment planning in addition to providing competent therapy services based on their specialized approaches. Some of the training our staff has undergone include: mandated reported training, suicide assessment, EMDR, Leadership, Communication, Domestic Violence, Telemental Heath, Advocacy services, psychological assessment and intervention, and support for sexual assault survivors.
Certifications: Additionally, some of our therapists are nationally board certified counselors (NCC) as well as certified in QPR (an approach to risk assessment).
Approaches to Counseling: All our therapists are trained to be integrative in their approach to counseling. Some of the approaches include: Person-Centered, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), Solution Focused, Family systems, Motivational Interviewing and Mindfulness based approaches.
Specialties: Collectively, the therapists at Raksha specialize in working successfully both as advocate and counselor with survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, victims of crime, mood disorders, anxiety, adjustment issues, ptsd, self-care, safety planning, and mental health evaluations. The therapists are well engaged with the referring sources in order to provide the best care for the clients we serve.
Languages: Our therapists are equipped to provide therapy in multiple languages including: Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Arabic, and English.
Professional Affiliations: The counselors at Raksha have professional memberships with American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, and National Board of Certified Counselors.
Outreach, Events, Community Engagement & Communications
The outreach team at Raksha assumes a diverse but intersecting set of roles including events, community engagement and communications. Raksha outreach staff are community connectors, committed to supporting Raksha’s mission with events and initiatives aimed at community education, awareness and action.