M.A. (TISS),
Ph.D. (Mumbai)
shubhada@tiss.ac.in
022-25525463
Shubhada Maitra is Professor at the School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, with more than four decades of experience in the field of Social Work including teaching, research, field action, training and capacity-building. She was Dean, School of Social Work, TISS (2018-21) and Chairperson, Centre for Health and Mental Health (2007-12). She is currently a member of the Women and Gender Development Cell at TISS.
Her areas of engagement and expertise cover the broad domains of mental health, sexual and reproductive health, sexual and gender-based violence, sexualities, child and adolescent mental health, research and HIV/ AIDS with a focus on understanding the lived experiences of women, children and adolescents, and vulnerable populations. Shubhada’s work brings together lived experiences, socio-cultural realities and feminist social work theory to develop interventions that are culturally rooted within people’s contexts. Her work reflects an understanding of socio-structural determinants of health and mental health and inequities associated with marginalisation as a result of gender, sexuality and mental health.
At TISS, Shubhada leads Tarasha, a community-based recovery and reintegration Field Action Project she initiated in 2011 based on her research titled, ‘Status of Women in Mental Hospitals in Maharashtra’, commissioned in 2002 by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. Tarasha incidentally was the first project in the country to operationalise the principles of legal capacity, empowerment, participation and inclusion for women living with mental illness. She is also Faculty-in-charge of Muskaan, the child and adolescent guidance centre of TISS, that offers clinical, promotive and therapeutic services for children, adolescents and their social networks, including interventions at the Family Courts of Mumbai, Thane and Pune.
She has made significant contribution to teaching and curriculum development that includes anchoring the first Winter Institute on ‘Mental Health, Poverty and Marginalisation’, in collaboration with George Warren Brown School of Social Work, St. Louis, USA; UKERI-India travel grant from British Council towards curriculum development on mental health with colleagues from University College London; Teaching Excellence bursary from University College London, Vice-Provost’s office to participate in the Grand Round and deliver a lecture on ‘Negotiating Gender and Caste in Higher Education’ hosted by UCL’s Cultural Consultation Services; teacher-exchange programmes in Finland and UK; and initiation of a Dual Degree in 2012 in Social Work and Mental Health with collaborations with Universities in Belgium.
She has led several national and international projects with funding support from The Ford Foundation, National Institutes of Health (USA), UN Women, USAID, Panos Institute, UK, International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), UN Women, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Maharashtra State Commission for Women, Directorate of Health Services, Goa State AIDS Control Society and Bombay Communities Public Trust among others.
She has mentored students/ scholars pursuing Masters and PhD degrees from International Universities, namely, University of Leuven, Belgium and University of Connecticut, USA, and collaborated with faculty from Universities of Connecticut, Walden, Yale, Texas, and Tulane.
She has served on the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Social Work, India’s leading journal in the field and is a reviewer for several international journals. She has published in national and international peer reviewed journals. Her recent publications include ‘Women, Mental Illness and Human Rights: Operationalising UNCRPD on the Ground’ in Journal of National Human Rights Commission. She was a member of the Institutional Review Board, TISS and serves as external member on Internal Committees of Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace (POSH) of several corporate and government organisations.
Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9977-7159?lang=en
Mental health, recovery and reintegration with a focus on women
Gender-based violence, including child sexual abuse
Sexuality
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Child and adolescent mental health
Research
Journal Special Issue (Edited/ Co-edited)
Maitra, S., Srivastava Anjula, Bharat Shalini (2014). HIV Counselling: Empirical Evidence from the Field. Special Issue. The Indian Journal of Social Work, 74 (2). Mumbai:TISS
Books
Maitra, S., Seshadri Shekhar (2012). Play: Experiential Methodologies in Developmental and Therapeutic Settings. New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan
Mane Purnima, Maitra, S. (1992). AIDS Prevention: The Socio‑Cultural Context in India, Mumbai: TISS
Journal Articles/ Book Chapters
Maitra, S. (2021). (Editorial) Mental health in the context of Covid-19 in India. Indian Journal of Social Work, 82, (1), 5-16, Mumbai: TISS DOI: 10.32444/IJSW.2021.82.1.5-16
Maitra Shubhada (2021) Women, Mental Illness and Human Rights: Operationalising UNCRPD on the Ground Journal of National Human Rights Commission India Vol 20, 2021 pp 161 to 182
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Adhikari, A., Parmar, D., Desousa, A., Shah, N., Maitra, S. Claes, L. (2021). Non-suicidal self-injury and its association with identity formation in India and Belgium: A cross-cultural case-control study. Transcultural Psychiatry, 58, (1), 52-62. DOI: 10.1177/1363461520933759
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Adhikari, A., Parmar, D., De Sousa, A., Shah, N., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2021). Non-suicidal self-injury and identity formation in Indian clinical and nonclinical samples: A comparative study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 67, (3), 219-226 DOI: 10.1177/0020764020943618
Maitra, S., Survase, A., (2020). Tarasha's experience of working with women living with mental illness: Melee tar aamchi, Jagli tar tumchi (“If she dies, she is ours, if she lives, she is yours”). In Anand Meenu (ed). Gender and Mental Health: Combining Theory and Practice; 193-205, New Delhi, Springer, Singapore https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5393-6_13
Maitra Shubhada (2019) Reconceptualising Urban Spaces: Towards Recovery and Reintegration of Women Living with Mental Disorders in Dinesh Bhugra, Antonio Ventriglio, Joao Castaldelli-Maia, Layla McCay (eds) Urban Mental Health (Oxford Cultural Psychiatry series); 322-336, Oxford University Press DOI 10.1093, /med/9780198804949.003.0022
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Molenberghs, G., Baetens, I., Goossens, L., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2019). Maternal and peer attachment, identity formation, and non-suicidal self-injury: A longitudinal mediation study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 13, (7)
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Baetens, I., Kiekens, G., Sleuwaegen, E., Berens, A., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2018). Age of onset of non-suicidal self-injury in Dutch-speaking adolescents and emerging adults: An event history analysis of pooled data. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 80, 170-178 DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2017.10.007
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Goossens, L., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2018). Association between non-suicidal self-injury, parents and peers related loneliness, and attitude towards aloneness in Flemish adolescents: An empirical note. Psychologica Belgica, 58, (1), 3-12. DOI: 10.5334/pb.385
Maitra S., Schensul, S., Hallowell, B., Brault, M., Nastasi, Bonnie (2017) Group Couples' Intervention to Improve Sexual Health among Married Women in a Low-income Community in Mumbai. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. DOI: 10.1111/jmft.12248
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Maitra, S., Kiekens, G., Verschueren, M., Claes, L. (2017). Directionality of effects between non-suicidal self-injury and identity formation: A prospective study in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 109, 124-129 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.01.003
Maitra S. (2017). From childhood psychiatric problems to child and adolescent mental health: The journey of the Child Guidance Clinic of TISS. Indian Journal of Social Work, 78, (2), 181-206. Mumbai:TISS
Adelson, E., Maitra, S., Nastasi, B.K. (2017). Informing sexual health intervention development in India: Perspectives of daughters, mothers, and service providers in Mumbai. International Journal of School and Educational Psychology, 5, (3), 167-177 DOI: 10.1080/21683603.2016.1276814
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2016). Non-suicidal self-injury and other self-directed violent behaviors in India: A review of definitions and research. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 22, 196-201. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2015.09.015
Gandhi, A.,Luyckx, K., Maitra, S., Kiekens, G., Claes, L. (2016). Reactive and regulative temperament and non-suicidal self-injury in Flemish adolescents: The intervening role of identity formation. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 254-259 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.007
Gandhi, A., Claes, L., Bosmans, G., Baetens, I., Wilderjans, T. F., Maitra, S., & Luyckx, K. (2016). Non-suicidal self-injury and adolescents’ attachment with peers and mother: The mediating role of identity synthesis and confusion. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 1735-1745.
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Goossens, L., Maitra, S., & Claes, L. (2016). Sociotropy, autonomy, and non-suicidal self-injury: The mediating role of identity confusion. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 272-277.
Adelson, E., Nastasi B.K., Maitra, S., Ballal, D., Rajan, L. (2015). Sexual Health, Gender Roles, and Psychological Well-Being: Voices of Female Adolescents from Urban Slums of India in Nastasi, B. K., Borja, A.P., (eds.). International Handbook of Psychological Well-Being in Children and Adolescents, 79-86 New York: Springer Science+Business Media. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2833-0_6
Maitra, S., Brault, Marie A., Schensul, S.L., Schensul, J.J.,Nastasi, B.K., Verma, R., Burleson, J.A., (2015) An Approach to Mental Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Case Example from Urban India, International Journal of Mental Health, 44:3, 215-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207411.2015.1035081
Nastasi, B.K., Schensul, J.J., Schensul, S.L., Mekki-Berrada, A., Pelto, P.J., Maitra, S., Verma, R., Saggurti, N. (2015). A Model for Translating Ethnography and Theory into Culturally Constructed Clinical Practices. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 39, (1), 92-120. DOI: 10.1007/s11013-014-9404-9
Gandhi, A., Luyckx, K., Maitra, S., Claes, L. (2015). Non-suicidal self-injury and identity distress in Flemish adolescents: Exploring gender differences and mediational pathways. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 215-220. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.031
Mehrotra, P., Schensul, S.L., Saggurti, N., Burleson, J.A., Maitra, S. (2015). The WHO Concept of Sexual Health applied to an Urban Poor Community in Mumbai, India. International Journal of Sexual Health 27, (1), 57-68. DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2014.942487
Maitra, S. and Seshadri, S. (2014) Response to review of Play: Experiential methodologies, The Psychiatric Bulletin, 38, (6), 308-309 DOI: 10.1192/pb.38.6.308a
Maitra, S. and Srivastava, A. and Bharat, S. (2013) (Editorial) Indian Journal of Social Work, 2013, 74, (2), 151-156
Maitra, S., Achyut, P., Levtov, R. (2012). Campaign as a Methodology to Sensitise Children to Gender and Violence. In Maitra S. and Seshadri S., (Ed). Play: Experiential Methodologies in Developmental and Therapeutic Settings, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan
Maitra, S., Schensul, S. L., (2004). The Evolution of Marital Relationships and Sexual Risk in an Urban Slum Community in Mumbai. In Verma R., Pelto P., Schensul S., Joshi A. (Ed.). Sexuality in the Time of AIDS, New Delhi: Sage
Maitra, S., Ramaswamy Sheila, Sirur Sulakshana (2002). Use of Play and Art Forms with Children in Disasters: The Gujarat Experience, The Indian Journal of Social Work, 63(2), 263-282.
Maitra, S., Schensul, S. L., (2002). Reflecting Diversity and Complexity in Marital Sexual Relationships in a Low-Income Community in Mumbai, Culture, Health and Sexuality, 4(2), 133-151.
Maitra, S., Italia Freny (1996) Need and Scope for using Family Measures in Child Guidance Clinic in Family Measurement in India, Shalini Bharat (Ed.) New Delhi: Sage 185-201.
Book Reviews
Stolen Tomorrows: Understanding and Treating Women’s Childhood Sexual Abuse, by Steven Levenkron with Abby Levenkron in Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol. 11, No. 5, June 2009, 573-575
Listening to Women Talk about their Health: Issues and Evidence from India, 2nd ed., edited by Joel Gittelsohn, Margeret Bentley, Pertti J. Pelto, Moni Nag, Saroj Pachauri, Abigail Harrison and Laura Landman in Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol. 14, No. 5-6, June 2012, 593-595
Reports
Social Soundness Analysis for AIDS Prevention and Control, for USAID, New Delhi, March 1992
Communication and Sexual Decision-Making among Underprivileged Married Muslim Women and Men: Determinants and Consequences for Reproductive Health,Funded by The Ford Foundation 1999
Communication Needs Assessment for HIV/AIDS in Goa. Funded by Goa State AIDS Control Society 2000
Facing the Fear: HIV/AIDS Related Stigma and Discrimination. Consultancy Project for Panos Institute, UK, 2001
Status of Women in Mental Hospitals in Maharashtra. Funded by The Maharashtra State Commission for Women 2002
Documentation of Use of Play and Art Forms of Working with Children. Funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust 2003
Divorce Trends and its Implications for Children's Well-being in the Family Court, Mumbai, 2015 Funded by Bombay Communities Public Trust
Field Action Projects
Tarasha, initiated in 2011 with collaborations with the Directorate of Health Services, Maharashtra, Day Care Centres, Working Women's Hostels and Vocational Training Institutes.
Tarasha works with women living with mental illness with an aim to help them in recovery and reintegrations through psycho-social support, safe shelters and livelihoods. Tarasha has also initiated the casregiver support programme and mental health at the workplace programme.
Muskaan, (earlier The Child Guidance Clinic of TISS, initiated in 1937 and renamed in 2000) was administered by the erstwhile Department of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work, TISS, (Now Centre for Health and Mental Health). Conceptualised and established only a year after the establishment of TISS or the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work in 1936, the CGC was started to respond to children experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties as a result of the communal riots in pre-independence India.
Muskaan now offers clinical, developmental and therapeutic services through municipal schools, aanganwadis of M ward, Children's Home and the family Courts of Mumbai,Thane and Pune.
Both the projects serve as teaching-learning spaces and provide fieldwork opportunities for students of Social Work and allied disciplines.
Research Projects
Engaging providers, community members, and young women to adapt and pilot a youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health package in low-income communities in India, funded by NIH, in collaboration with University of Texas (2021-24) and Yale School of Public Health (2020-21)
Divorce Trends and its Implications for Children's Well-being in the Family Court, Mumbai, research funded by Bombay Communities Public Trust (2013-15)
Promoting Emotional and Social Competence among Economically Disadvantaged Children in BMC Schools in Mumbai, an action research funded by Bombay Communities Public Trust (2010-13)
Prevention of HIV/STI among Married Women in Urban India, a multi-centre research project funded by NIH (2008-13)
Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS), an action research funded by International Centre for Research on Women, to reduce gender-based violence through gender transformative research and interventions (2008-14)
Status of Women in Mental Hospitals in Maharashtra, funded by The Maharashtra State Commission for Women (2002-03)
Documentation of Use of Play and Art Forms of Working with Children, funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (2001-2004)
Facing the Fear: HIV/AIDS Related Stigma and Discrimination. Consultancy Project for Panos Institute, UK (2001)
Communication Needs Assessment for HIV/AIDS in Goa, funded by Goa State AIDS Control Society (2000)
Communication and Sexual Decision-Making among Underprivileged Married Muslim Women and Men: Determinants and Consequences for Reproductive Health fFunded by The Ford Foundation, (1997-99)
Social Soundness Analysis for AIDS Prevention and Control, funded by USAID, (1991-92)
Past and Present:
Human Growth and Behaviour
Seminar in Advanced Psychiatry
Qualitative Research
Health Research
Personal and Professional Issues in Counselling
Introduction to Social Theory
Mental Health, Marginalisation and Human Rights
Mental Health, Human Rights and Ethics
Communication Theories and Applications in the Field of Health
Feminist Social Work Practice
Gendered Body, Sexuality and Violence
Therapeutic / Counselling Interventions
Research Methodology I
Research Methodology II