Jun 19 2025 to Jun 19 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

The years between ages 10 and 19 are marked by intense physiological, psychological, and social change. Adding to the challenges of this already turbulent phase are mobile devices and social media. These platforms often exploit insecurities, creating echo chambers and negative feedback loops. While digital life can connect us, it also has the power to isolate. The TV series Adolescence highlights the potentially dangerous consequences of these overlapping forces.

In this conversation, a panel of experts, drawing from both professional knowledge and lived experience, explores what adolescence looks like in the age of social media, particularly in urban India. Taking the TV show as a starting point, the discussion will look at the realities young people face today and consider how parents, schools, and other adults can help support individual and collective well-being.

Speakers

Shekhar Seshadri
Child Psychiatrist
Dr. Shekhar Seshadri is a child psychiatrist with over four decades of experience in the field of child mental health. As the former Senior Professor at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS, his work has spanned beyond clinical settings to include extensive engagement with children, childcare institutions, and service providers across India and the South Asian region.

His areas of special interest include childhood trauma, gender and sexuality, and life skills education. A multidisciplinary practitioner, Dr. Seshadri also brings his passion for the arts—particularly theatre and music—into therapeutic and developmental interventions for children.

Based in Bangalore, he most recently served a four-year term as an advisor to SAMVAD (Support, Advocacy & Mental Health Interventions for Children in Vulnerable Circumstances and Distress), a national initiative supported by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

Neena David
Clinical Psychologist & Head of Counselling, Mallya Aditi Intl. School
Dr. Neena David is a certified Clinical Psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. Alongside her private practice, she leads the Counselling Services at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore.

She has played a key role in establishing mental health and learning support programs in various schools, and was part of the National Task Force on Learning Disabilities (Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists). She also served on the National Advisory Board for the Teacher Foundation and WIPRO’s project on Social and Emotional Standards for Schools.

Dr. David teaches at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and has held consultant roles at CMC Vellore, Christel House, and other organizations. She holds an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS and a PhD from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Saurabh Shashi Ashok
Policy & Law Team, SAMVAD
Saurabh Shashi Ashok was previously a Senior Project Officer in the Policy and Law Team at SAMVAD, which concluded its five-year project in 2025. Established in 2020 at NIMHANS, SAMVAD is a national initiative focused on child protection, mental health, and psychosocial care, supported by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

Saurabh holds a B.A. from Christ University, an LL.B. from Jindal Global Law School, and an advanced LL.M. in International Children’s Rights from Leiden University. In 2024, he was nominated for the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Prize. His policy and research expertise covers child justice—especially the criminalisation of children involved in serious offences—child sexual abuse with emphasis on forensic interviewing and adolescent sexual decision-making, child custody in matrimonial disputes, and the integration of child protection and mental health services in Gram Panchayats.

Committed to evidence-based policymaking, Saurabh was part of the SAMVAD team that conducted a rapid assessment of child protection and mental health needs across Meghalaya. He later joined the drafting sub-committee for the Meghalaya Mental Health & Social Care Policy (2022).

Sansita Nambiar
Undergraduate Student, FLAME University
Sansita Nambiar is an undergraduate student at FLAME University, pursuing a major in Psychology and a minor in Digital Marketing. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of adolescent neurobiology and the algorithm-driven digital environments that shape identity and behaviour. She has published work on topics such as work-life balance, and helped organise the Creative Lab Festival, an open-science event on psychology, art and neuroscience in collaboration with ARISA. Currently interning at Compathy Health, she assists and trains under psychologists and psychiatrists. An aspiring psychologist and researcher, Sansita is driven by curiosity and a commitment to making conversations around mental health more informed, empathetic and future facing.

Maitri Gopalakrishna
Drama Therapist & Founder, FAHI
Dr. Maitri Gopalakrishna is a drama therapist, counselling psychologist, and founder of the Foundation for Arts and Health India. With nearly two decades of experience, she has worked across institutional and community settings, focusing on community building, mental health support, psychotherapy, and training.

Her early work involved arts therapies in psychiatric care, and her current practice centres on gender, sexual trauma, and childhood sexual abuse, through a social justice lens. Maitri has worked extensively with children and adolescents in schools, communities, and one-on-one settings.

Before founding FAHI, she spent 15 years at Parivarthan Counselling, Training and Research Centre. She has designed and taught courses in arts therapies and counselling, and her work has been presented at international conferences, cultural forums, and in publications. She is co-author of the Arts Practice and Ethics of Care guide commissioned by the WHO and was named Global South Arts and Health Envoy in 2023.