Kishwar uses a unique approach to psychotherapy in India, involving not just a feminist questioning of patriarchal constructs, but also using Buddhism, Sufism, and other local traditions as resources.

Kishwar Ahmed Shirali (born 1937) was set on the road to becoming an activist as she grew up: she moved toward the mental health of women when teaching at universities in the USA and, later, in India. Along with her involvement in several organizations, Kishwar has done most of her work in the villages of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir, where she lives among disturbed and distressed women and children, raising their self-esteem through literacy and a host of unique programs.

Kishwar Ahmed Shirali was born into a middle-class, traditional Muslim family. While growing up, the communal riots she witnessed, and the feeling of insecurity about her Muslim background, led her to suppress her Muslim identity and move toward a secular one-she married a Hindu Brahmin, with whom she had two sons and a daughter before their separation. Kishwar became a feminist psychotherapist and activist. After completing her doctorate in 1980, she taught in universities in India and the USA. During these years, she also wrote extensively on women's mental health, and spoke on these issues at various conferences. She decided to move to a village near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh soon afterward, to live with disturbed and distressed women and children. She set up the NGO Atma Swastha Kendra (ASK) in 1984. What was unique was that until 1993, she would live with, and provide therapy to a single woman and her child at a time. From this work followed outreach programs in local villages, raising women's self-esteem through literacy programs, combined with efforts to break down caste differences. Kishwar's work in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh followed this singular track. She has since been involved with the Voluntary Health Association of India, Human Effort for Love and Peace in Srinagar, and Nishtha, the organization she set up in Himachal Pradesh which works on women's concerns in the area. Kishwar has also promoted a unique approach to psychotherapy in India, involving not just a feminist questioning of patriarchal constructs, but also using Buddhism, Sufism, and other local traditions as a resource for Indian psychotherapy and approaches to mental health. She has spent her life caring for women and children who are victims of neglect, stress, violence, and oppression, attempting to improve their well-being through studied therapeutic compassion.

Human Effort for Love and Peace Foundation (Help-Foundation) Atma Swastha Kendra (ASK)