Our Leadership & 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 (family law and immigration), housing, career, medical, transportation and other services as needed. In addition, advocates coordinate outreach activities such as training, workshops and support groups. Advocates engage with other immigrant/refugee organizations as well as ally organizations that work with underserved populations to collectively address the intersectional issues that impact survivors.

Languages: Raksha advocates can speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Tulu.

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, immigrants, 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, cultural competency, Diversity and Multiculturalism, 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 providing substantial support for immigration relief letters of support through 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.

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.

Nisha G. Kapil, President,  is a public health analyst, employed through Total Solutions, Inc., with the Office of Environmental Health Emergency Management within the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR).  She began her work with CDC after working as an ORISE Fellow in the Division of Toxicology’s Emergency Response section.  For the past 14 years, Nisha has been working at CDC/NCEH/ATSDR in emergency preparedness and response. Her responsibilities currently include project management, fiscal allocation process and performance measurement/evaluation lead, strategic alignment, and course coordinator for the Agents of Opportunity: Medical Management of Chemical and Radiological Emergencies course.  She has traveled in the United States to deliver the course to vulnerable cities and most recently to New Delhi and Mumbai in conjunction with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).  Nisha holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University and a Master’s in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan.  She was raised in Massachusetts and North Carolina, then lived in Michigan and Ohio for 12 years before moving to Georgia in 2002.  One of the first NGO events that the Kapil family attended after moving to Atlanta was Ek Shaam RAKSHA ke Naam! Nisha’s involvement with Raksha has grown from regularly attending the Ek Shaam events to helping coordinate the Ramp it Up for RAKSHA event and to now proudly serving as a Board Member. She enjoys volunteering with schools and service organizations, traveling, supporting the arts and especially spending time with family.  Though having grown up in the United States, Nisha is strongly connected to her Indian heritage and is passionate about encouraging RAKSHA’s work in supporting healing, empowerment and justice in the community.

Bidisha Sinha, PhD, MPH, Vice President,  is a seasoned public health professional with extensive strategic leadership, program and policy development, operations and management experience in nonprofits and the federal government. 

Currently, Bidisha serves as a Senior Program Officer at the CDC Foundation where she oversees a diverse portfolio of non-infectious disease programs. Previously, Bidisha was the Director of Tobacco Control Initiatives for the Center for Tobacco Control at the American Cancer Society where she directed the programmatic and operational aspects of a national center; and a Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, in Region V, where she oversaw programs related to tobacco control and childhood obesity prevention. 

Bidisha’s interests in health and human rights drove her to focus her entire career on achieving health and social equity for groups that are traditionally disenfranchised. She is especially passionate about working with/for women and children and on issues that disproportionately affect the poor. Fueled by a commitment to prevent violence against women and children, Bidisha has been intimately involved with organizations that change social norms through advocacy and education and help survivors and their families after trauma, like Raksha.

Bidisha resides in Atlanta, with her husband, and her handsome cat, Zander. A “foodie” who is also a huge travel, music and dance enthusiast, if she’s not trying the newest restaurant or traveling the world with her husband, she can be seen teaching and performing music and dance around town. Bidisha received her B.A. from Rutgers University, Masters of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Loyola University, Chicago.

Karina Deochand, Founder of Deochand and Jayswal Law Group.  Ms. Deochand graduated from Georgia State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Philosophy. Ms. Deochand graduated from Georgia State University College of Law with high pro bono distinction. While there, she was a member of the Vis Moot International Commercial Arbitration team.  

Before founding Deochand & Jayswal Law Group, Karina K. Deochand was an associate at a local boutique law firm. During her time there, she practiced complex civil litigation with a focus on white-collar crimes. Ms. Deochand worked with a Special Assistant District Attorney on civil and criminal RICO cases, filed on behalf of the State of Georgia. These cases focused on racketeering allegations within the gaming and timber industries, including but not limited to, money laundering, structuring, fraud, tax evasion, commercial gambling, and theft.

Before that, Ms. Deochand worked at a boutique personal injury firm in Norcross, Georgia for over 5 years.

Ms. Deochand is a member of a number of local and national associations, including the Atlanta Bar Association, the South Asian Bar Association of Georgia, and Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Sangeeta Sheth, Treasurer has worked for over 20 years in the financial industry most recently in the areas of Regulatory Compliance and Audit. She has also spent a good part of her career as a wedding coordinator, decorator and designer.  Sangeeta has a passion for the Arts and her Indian culture and heritage and has had several years of training in Bharatnatyam and Indian Folk Dance. She has been a dance instructor for over twenty years for children ages 5-18 and has taken her dance groups to several national folk dance competitions.  Sangeeta grew up in North Carolina and attended North Carolina State University for her Bachelor’s Degree. She moved to Atlanta in 2012 and has been an active part of the Atlanta community. In North Carolina Sangeeta served as an elected member of the United Arts Council of Wake County NC, a charitable organization focused on enhancing arts education in schools and the community.  As a member she was involved in organizing annual events, fundraisers, galas and formal dinners.   She has served as Youth Group Advisor / Mentor for a period of over 10 years for the Triangle Gujarati Association of NC. There she organized efforts to involve pre-teen and teens in activities to serve the community locally and internationally. The organization also held annual fundraisers to benefit CARE organization.  Sangeeta was involved with the Helping Hand Mission and spearheaded efforts which involved getting together large groups of individuals in assisting families who needed food, clothing, furniture and shelter. She has also spearheaded efforts at the Food Bank of North Carolina assisting with providing food for the underprivileged.

Sangeeta has always been passionate about serving the community, especially activities centered around helping children and the elderly. She believes that it is her moral obligation to support and empower the people of the community in every way she can.

Bhavya Chaudhary, is the Founder and Managing Attorney at Bhavya Chaudhary and Associates Law Firm, located in Atlanta, GA with satellite offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Macon, Georgia. She practices U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law. Bhavya graduated from Delhi University School of Law with an L.L.B degree, and from Emory University, Atlanta, GA with Master of Laws degree. She is licensed to practice law in Tennessee, USA and in India. Ms. Chaudhary practices U.S. Immigration Law specializing in investment and employment-based immigration including National Interest Waivers, EB-1/EB-2 petitions, and EB-5 visas, family-based immigration, removal defense, federal and appellate court litigation, and represents clients in Immigration Courts throughout the country to obtain relief from removal. She has expertise with representing victims of violence and abuse in VAWA, U, and T cases. Ms. Chaudhary does active pro bono work as well. She is a speaker and an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and serves as a member of Liaison Committees of AILA Georgia-Alabama Chapter. Bhavya Chaudhary is fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu and several other Indian languages. Bhavya Chaudhary began her career in U.S. Immigration Law in 1997 when she consulted with owners of small Software Consulting Companies in filing H-1B Petitions, L-1s and TN filings, extensions, transfers, change of status, dependents’ filings and related matters. In 2004, she moved to Romania and joined the Law Firm of Musat and Associates in Bucharest, Romania. At Musat and Associates, Bhavya worked in the areas of Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate law and Business Transactions. At the time Romania was undergoing the process of privatization of government-owned industries, where the Romanian Government was giving up control of many sectors so as to join the European Union as scheduled for 2007. This corporate law experience provided her with valuable experience with multinational companies. Mrs. Chaudhary was admitted to Tennessee Bar in 2008. Bhavya worked as an Immigration Lawyer at The Chugh Firm, with offices in the United States and affiliates in India. Mrs. Chaudhary started and established its immigration practice in Atlanta, GA. She wrote articles on current news topics for the firm’s monthly newsletters.  Mrs. Chaudhary also authored a chapter on ‘Transfer Pricing’ for companies planning to conduct business in India. Mrs. Chaudhary has written for local Atlanta publications such as Atlanta Dunia and Khabar. Bhavya Chaudhary is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. She serves on Atlanta Chapter of the AILA Liaison Committees. She volunteers her services for charitable organizations such as RAKSHA and GAIN, and other organizations. She contributes to small ethnic community organizations. She uses her personal experience as an immigrant to advise individuals and companies.

Tina Thapar is a long time Atlanta resident and currently works as Associate Counsel at Novelis in Atlanta. Tina is admitted to the Georgia State Bar and the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia. She was previously on the Board of the South Asian Bar Association of Georgia. Tina began volunteering for Raksha in 2016 and is extremely passionate about working on issues that directly impact women and girls. Tina is fluent in Hindi and Punjabi. When not working, she enjoys playing soccer, traveling, and dancing.

Mary Ann Kim, Board Member is the SCM and Data Analytics Manager at Southern Company Services. She has a BBA in Finance from Georgia State University.   Mary Ann was the President of Georgia Power’s Company’s (GPC) Asian Pacific American Resource in 2016.  She is a founding member of Southern Company’s First Employee Finance Council.  She has served as a  We Heard You (WHY) Team Leader for GPC tasked with leading the sub team investigating and presenting recommendations to GPC Management Council on the “employees minimizing cultural identity to fit in or protect themselves at work “ topic.  She Developed the Inclusion Excellence Framework and Inclusion Connector Program.

Email the Board at board@raksha.org.