Dhritiman Ray

Thesis Title: Designing Culturally-relevant Narrative Interventions to Spread Awareness About Complex and Intergenerational Trauma in Marginalized Populations in India and the UK.

Complex and Intergenerational trauma are marked by long-term disruptions in relationships, affect, self-concept, and other domains. Help seeking and disclosure in these phenomena are often hindered by stigma, lack of information, and trust. Educational interventions are commonly used to counter stigma and spread mental health awareness; however, reviews have highlighted the need for contextually-adapted strategies developed via stakeholder participation. Narratives that use culturally-relevant metaphors, and are designed using community feedback, can simplify, humanise, and avoid biomedical stigma about trauma. This study aims to design culturally-appropriate narrative interventions to spread awareness about Complex and Intergenerational Trauma in vulnerable populations in India and the UK.
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis will be used to explore the subjective experiences of the stakeholders to allow in-depth, and contextual exploration of individual experiences. The Stanford Design Thinking process will be utilised to develop an intervention in an iterative, participative, and empathic way. A prototype narrative intervention will be developed by consulting academic, clinical and popular narratives from the UK and India. This will be further modified using data from interviews with stakeholders, specifically focusing on marginalized communities.
The study outcomes will include a workshop manual, two narratives, and a record of the design process that can be applied to other contexts.

Biography

Dhritiman is an interdisciplinary PhD scholar, mental health practitioner, and a writer. He completed his BA in English from the University of Delhi with distinction. He also has two postgraduate degrees related to psychology and mental health. In 2021 he finished an MSc in Global Mental Health from the University of Glasgow under the Commonwealth Scholarship. His Dissertation was a meta-ethnography about how safety was negotiated in inter-cultural trauma therapy. Back in 2017 he completed his MA in Psychology from the University of Delhi. There he took part in multiple qualitative research projects with marginalised communities. As a practitioner, he is a trauma-informed counsellor who has worked with diverse people belonging to the queer community, youth from urban villages in Delhi, and adults from different cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds.

Metal health & Wellbeing

University of Nottingham

2023 Cohort, +3

dhritiman.ray@nottingham.ac.uk

Supervisory team

Dr Paul Crawford

Dr Charley Baker