Dr. Kunle Adewale

Global Development Lead, Global South Arts and Health Initiative

Dr. Kunle Adewale is a Nigerian-born, UK-based multimedia artist and internationally recognised leader in arts and health. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Arts in Medicine Projects and the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship. Through his fellowship program, he has trained more than 1,000 professionals across 60 countries and impacted over 60,000 individuals worldwide. He also serves as the Global Development Lead for the Global South Arts and Health Initiative.

A Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Adewale's humanitarian work spans children, individuals with chronic illnesses and disabilities, people living with dementia, refugees, and communities affected by conflict. His work has been featured by BBC Africa, Africa54 Voice of America, Reuters, DW, TRT World, France 24, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian UK among others.

He is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a recipient of the UK Commonwealth Youth Worker Award, Founder/Executive Director of Young Leaders for Arts and Health, and a Global Talent Exceptional Leader recognised by Arts Council England. He currently leads one of the world's largest arts and health networks. Dr. Adewale is the 2025 recipient of the Social Impact Award for Community Development and Inclusion from the world's largest entrepreneurship festival. He has served as a guest lecturer and speaker at University College London, King's College London, the University of Edinburgh, and Edge Hill University, contributing to international arts and health initiatives, festival activations, convenings, research collaborations, and global capacity-building efforts.

Palak Mehta

Festival Director · HCPC-registered Art Psychotherapist, Counselling Psychologist

Palak Mehta is an HCPC (UK) registered Art Psychotherapist, Somatic Stress Release Practitioner, and Counselling Psychologist. She is the founder of Sambhaavnayein Wellbeing Space, where she provides virtual therapy, experiential workshops, professional trainings, and clinical supervision. She is also an active member of the South Asian Narratives Group within the Black African Asian Therapist Network (BAATN).

Palak's clinical experience spans work with non-profit organisations in India supporting children and young people from deprived and low socioeconomic backgrounds through both individual and group interventions. She has also worked within acute adult in-patient units in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), offering therapeutic support to patients and staff in high-intensity clinical environments.

Her professional interests include community mental health, research, culturally responsive practice, and the integration of arts-based and somatic approaches to promote emotional and psychological well-being.

Surbhi Jain

Co-Festival Director · Certified Dance/Movement Therapy Practitioner, Mental Health Advocate

Surbhi Jain is a certified Dance/Movement Therapy Practitioner and a dedicated Mental Health Advocate. After establishing a successful career in advertising and media, she transitioned into the mental health field, driven by a deep commitment to integrating creativity, embodiment, and emotional well-being.

She holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the Delhi School of Communication and a Diploma in Dance Movement Therapy from Pune. A lifelong dance enthusiast, Surbhi has performed in multiple stage productions during her time in the United States. Her introduction to Movement Therapy began in Rochester, New York, where she first encountered the transformative potential of movement as a therapeutic modality.

Surbhi is the founder of Anahata – Space for Being, a creative and healing space in Jaipur that fosters expression, self-awareness, and community connection. Through her practice, she collaborates with children across various NGOs, using movement-based interventions to support learning, emotional development, and holistic growth in safe and nurturing environments. Her work reflects a commitment to accessible, embodied, and community-centred approaches to mental health.

Ashita Songara

Counseling Psychologist & Mindfulness-Based Counselor, Resting in Awareness

Ashita Songara is a counseling psychologist and mindfulness-based counselor practicing at Resting in Awareness, her private practice based in Delhi, India. She holds a Master's in Applied Psychology from the University of Delhi and has trained in Emotion-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Counseling, and Applied Buddhist Psychology, drawing deeply from Eastern philosophy and psychology in both her worldview and clinical practice. Practicing since 2022, Ashita began her journey as a school counselor before going on to work with adolescents, young adults, and adults navigating anxiety, life transitions, grief, attachment-related concerns, and building self-awareness among various other concerns in a mental health organisation and subsequently in her private practice.

While not formally trained in art therapy, Ashita's own relationship with creative expression — through painting, craft, and dance — has long been an anchor in her personal healing and growth. She has been formally trained in Contemporary dance and over the years, she has built her own informal systems for leaning into art and mindfulness as tools for groundedness, creativity, and inner expansion, and these practices continue to inform the presence she brings into the therapy room. She is currently drawn to the intersection of community and creative practice, an interest that also brought her to the Jaipur Arts and Health Festival, and is deepening her own practice through yoga, creative practices, and nutrition, moving toward a more holistic way of living and working so she can show up more fully for the lives of those she works with.

Kanupriya Mody

Art Psychotherapist (AThR) & Artist

Kanupriya is an Art Psychotherapist and artist based in Mumbai, India. She holds a Master's in Art Therapy from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, and is a registered Professional Member of the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA). She also serves as an Executive Board Member of The Art Therapy Association of India (TATAI) and as the Managing Editor for the annual magazine Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, published by the International Journal of Neurolinguistics and Gestalt Psychology (IJNGP).

Anchored in a trauma-informed and psychodynamic framework, Kanupriya's approach emphasizes a rhythmic attunement to the client. She strives to cultivate therapeutic spaces where a person's unique pace, voice, and story are deeply honored, an approach further enriched by a person-centered and strengths-based lens.

Kanupriya has journeyed alongside diverse populations across both international and domestic landscapes. Her work has a significant focus on maternal and perinatal health, where she supports women navigating high-risk pregnancies and the complex emotional transitions of early motherhood. She has also worked extensively with displaced families, children facing acute medical and developmental challenges and non-accidental injuries, and individuals navigating life transitions, neurodivergence, and complex trauma. These experiences have profoundly deepened her commitment to being a grounding, compassionate presence.

Kanupriya's own artistic practice serves as a vital anchor to her therapeutic presence. Exploring themes of identity, she utilizes various mediums and is currently exploring a "soil to studio" approach, harvesting natural materials to build her artist's toolbox.