Volunteering led Raiza Khan to counselling practice
helping them go through the scholarship process…”
She also wants to see her clients move out of toxic environments and become independent by getting their own apartments or learning to drive as she noted that there are a lot of small victories to be won by going into therapy.
“I want to be able to help people through those needs. Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t help everybody… I am not trained in everything and we need to be honest about that. As a psychologist you must be aware of what you can emotionally manage or competency-wise manage…,” she said.
When she works with clients, it is not just for them but for those with whom they are close as once they start to change and bloom then there should be a ripple effect through the family system.
There are days when clients make the smallest movement and it is a big thing. She spoke of a client who was working on leaving an unhealthy marriage which took two years of therapy and she finally got to a place to do it and that was a huge deal.
And then there was another who had to end a codependent relationship with a toxic partner and that was achieved through learning to drive and getting back into the work industry.
One of the reasons she has taken a step back from dealing with minors, Khan said, is because of their “terrible, toxic, unhealthy abusive parents that I have a very hard time working with. It makes it very hard to make change happen when your child is 14, and 10 and 16… and you are just killing their selfesteem... at any point and time. The emotional abuse is too unpredictable, too unstructured, too haphazard…,” she disclosed.
She likened it to trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. There are times when she is overwhelmed by minors’ parents.
Khan said she has boundaries when it comes to her work. She does not accept calls or respond to messages after 9.45 pm and tries not to check her business phone before 9 am.
She stressed that psychologists have to have emotional and cognitive boundaries.
Revamp
Looking towards the future, Khan said she has the short-term goal of revamping her office and making it better. In another two years she also wants to add two psychologists to her practice. She continues to do presentations, research and workshops. She does not want to have another job outside of psychology such as lecturing as she wants to focus on giving clients sessions between 9 am and 7 pm and she would be unable to do this if she had another job.
“I want to be able to focus on my clients,” she said.
She does not have a sign outside of her office and only gives the location to clients once an appointment is made as she pointed out that while she is not afraid of the stigma that sometimes comes with mental health, it is about people’s comfort.
“And until we as a country deal with the stigma and get past the stigma then I would prefer the client feeling comfortable. So there is no signage… it is kept confidential…,” she said adding that it is for her own safety as well as persons cannot just show up without her first saying where she is located.
Khan is the second of two children and while she has no children she said she has “two lovely nephews”.
She said an additional perk of being a psychologist is that you can help even family members through things. She believes she is a better friend and family member because she listens and shows empathy.
Khan is also part of EQUAL Guyana, a human rights organisation that promotes the engagement, education and empowerment of LGBTQ persons through the arts.