Beyond Gender: The Inclusive Mental Health Mission of The Women's Center with Rachna Prithmin

Transforming mental health access is at the heart of The Women's Center's mission, as revealed in this enlightening conversation with CEO Rachna Prithmin. Despite its name, this remarkable organization serves everyone—women, men, children, teens, and families—with a commitment that sets it apart in today's mental health landscape: providing quality care regardless of ability to pay.

What makes The Women's Center truly special is their comprehensive approach to breaking down barriers. With approximately 60 therapists collectively speaking eight different languages, they serve the culturally diverse Washington DC and Northern Virginia community with exceptional care. Their therapists offer specialized services including EMDR, CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed therapy, ensuring that each client receives precisely the support they need. Unlike many mental health providers, they accept all major insurance carriers while also offering sliding scale fees for those experiencing financial hardship.

Rachna's journey from a successful career in the private healthcare sector to nonprofit leadership demonstrates the profound commitment behind The Women's Center's work. Her leadership during the pandemic earned her the 2021 Northern Virginia Leadership COVID-19 Hero Award, followed by the 2024 David Bratt Nonprofit Leadership Award from the Greater Washington Community Foundation. These accolades highlight not just her exceptional management skills, but the vital importance of making quality mental health care accessible to all. Whether you're seeking support for yourself or a loved one, visit thewomenscenter.org to discover how this organization is redefining what inclusive mental healthcare can look like.

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Episode Transcript

Sandhya Nagabhushan (00:00):
Welcome to the Telewellness Podcast.
I'm your guest host, sandhyaSharma, a licensed professional
counselor, certified substanceabuse specialist and an
EMDR-trained practitioner.
Today, I would like to welcomeour guest, rachna Prithmin, who
is a results-oriented executivewith over 30 years of strategy,
business development andoperations management experience

(00:22):
in the nonprofit hospital,healthcare and management
consulting industries.
She currently serves as the CEOand Executive Director at the
Women's Center.
Ruchner is a strategist leaderwith a proven track record of
delivering growth, new programs,insights and overall success.
Ruchner's leadership during thepandemic has been widely

(00:44):
recognized and she was honoredwith the 2021 Northern Virginia
Leadership COVID-19 here Award,and she is also the recipient of
the 2024 David Bratt NonprofitLeadership Award by Greater
Washington Community Foundation.
These prestigious accoladeshighlight her exceptional
leadership skills and commitmentto making a difference.

(01:04):
Welcome, rachna.
Thank you for being with ustoday.

Rachna Krishnan (01:07):
Oh, thank you for having me, and I think I'm
just like blushing by yourintroduction.
That was so nice, thank you.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (01:14):
It's a very honor to have you on the show
because I would just like tostart by saying I was a humbling
counseling intern at one pointat the Women's Center and and I
can only speak on high accoladesand extremely great training I
received with the practitionersthere and the therapists there.
So I just want to start offwith saying I'm really proud to
have you on the show and to be aprevious intern at the Women's

(01:35):
Center.
It takes a lot of pride in myown personal rhetoric as well.

Rachna Krishnan (01:38):
Oh, that's wonderful.
I'm so glad that part of yourjourney crossed the Women's
Center.
That's fantastic.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (01:45):
Thank you.
So I'd like to start off bytelling us a little bit about
the Women's Center and itsmission.

Rachna Krishnan (01:51):
Sure, the Women's Center's mission is to
significantly improve the mentalhealth and well-being of all
members of the community throughcounseling, education and
support, regardless of abilityto pay, and that's very
important for us, that,regardless of ability to pay, we
really take care of everyoneWomen, of course, and men,

(02:14):
children.
We have a clay therapy room.
We take care of teens and youngadults and we take care of
everyone, regardless of theirability to pay.
We take insurance and we takecare of everyone, regardless of
their ability to pay.
We take insurance.
We do sliding scale reduced feefor folks that are low income
or maybe temporarily unemployed.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (02:37):
We like to take care of everyone.
I would really like to notatethat important distinction there
between the Women's Center anddifferent mental health
counseling services that areoffered at private sectors or
other IOP programs and so forth.
The Women's Center, as Rashahad mentioned, offers quality
mental health services despiteany disability, any inability to
pay for the services.
So I think that's a reallyimportant kind of point of

(02:59):
distinction to make there, howit differs between other mental
health services that are offeredin Washington DC and the
greater Northern Virginia areaand we also take insurance.

Rachna Krishnan (03:10):
I'd like to highlight that, because so many
therapists and I understand whydo not take insurance, but we
also take all the majorinsurance carriers and I think
that's kind of like communityservice too, in a way.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (03:25):
Honestly, yes, and also taking insurance
and people.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the different various
populations served?
You mentioned a little bit inthe beginning, but what type of
populations are being served atthe Women's Center?

Rachna Krishnan (03:41):
Truly everyone, like everyone, can come.
We have I don't even know whoto take out, because really we
have all types.
We see all ages, we see allethnicities, we see all
financial backgrounds, alleconomic backgrounds, all
socioeconomic backgroundsinsurance.

(04:13):
So we have that group.
We have homeless people, wehave single parents, we have the
unemployed, we have veterans.
It's just.
The list goes on and on.
We really take care of everyone.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (04:20):
Excellent hearing how inclusive the
Women's Center is and makingsure that everyone has access to
that quality mental healthservices.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what are the different
types of therapies that areoffered there, and if there's
group therapy, are there otherprograms that people can have
access to?

Rachna Krishnan (04:37):
Sure, so we have, yes, we have individual
counseling, we have groupcounseling, group therapy, we do
couples counseling, we dofamily counseling.
We really do.
You know, do take care of thewhole family, bring yourself,
bring your spouse, bring yourkids, bring your families.
It's really for everyone.

(04:57):
And we also have therapiststhat are specialized in
different types of therapy.
We have therapists that areEMDR trained and all different
types of therapy, because wehave about 60 therapists on
staff.
Wow, a lot of them are parttime, full time and part time,

(05:18):
but across the 60, we prettymuch cover any type of therapy
that anyone could want.
Honestly.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (05:26):
That's amazing, again pointing out
different types of therapy frombbt, emdr, uh, cbt, uh,
psychosomatic, uh, specialties,eft, uh.
It's so important to highlightthat all different types of
therapy services are offered atthe women's center, including
group therapy as well.
I remember there's dbt.

(05:46):
I remember uh having beenoffered there and it's such
great training that I receivedagain, like I mentioned.

Rachna Krishnan (05:53):
One thing I was going to say, one thing that we
do do is the trauma informedtherapy, because we have so many
.
We do have a lot of women, ofcourse, and we have lots of
people that had trauma in somepoint of their lives and they
may have gone to othertherapists or other places, but
we truly have therapists thatare so specially trained in

(06:15):
trauma-informed counseling toreally deal with some of those
root issues, to deal with thattrauma, physically, mentally,
and we train students and wehave resident therapists as well
that then get trained in theseareas as well that then get
trained in these areas?

Sandhya Nagabhushan (06:35):
Excellent, and could you speak a little bit
about how women's centersculturally diverse and the
cultural implications of havingbeen able to see different
therapists from differentbackgrounds and pointing out
that point?

Rachna Krishnan (06:45):
Yes, absolutely so.
We have therapists.
We have eight differentlanguages that our therapists
can speak.
So, like I said, we have 60therapists or so and across that
we have a lot of languages,many different cultures.
We have very a wide variety ofskills and experiences.
Yeah, so we definitely canrelate to people.

(07:10):
We can make a good connectionbetween a client and their
therapist.
We really do look for a goodfit.
When a client called, we reallytry to make a good fit with the
therapist.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (07:22):
And that's such an important element there
is to making the client feelsafe and welcomed.
And having access to differentcultures and different languages
, as you mentioned, is soimportant because Washington DC
and Northern Virginia is soculturally diverse.
It's really like a hub there.
So it's so important to be ableto have the client come into
therapy and feel accepted,understood and develop that

(07:45):
rapport with the therapist.
I'm just curious, because youhave such an extensive history
and background and training inthe private sector, what made
you personally choose totransition from the private
sector to doing the wellnesswork that you do here at the
Women's Center?

Rachna Krishnan (08:01):
Yeah, so you know, to me, I've related to the
mission of the Women's Center,which is mental health
counseling and domestic violenceservices.
I, um, you know, work at inovaactually for like 20 years, 18
years, I don't know, maybe along time and it's an
interesting little story.
I was joining the board of theWomen's Center.

(08:23):
So in summer of 2020, I wasjoining the board or summer of
2019.
I was joining the board and thechair at that time His name was
Greg Barone, and he said, oh,you know, our executive director
is leaving about, you know,about applying for that position

(08:46):
.
And I was like, well, I kind ofwas settled.
I never thought I'd leave, butthe more I thought about it, I
thought, oh gosh, I shouldreally take this opportunity,
because I the mission is sowonderful at the Women's Center,
the staff are so dedicated,we're all aligned to helping
people, and so I think that it'sjust a great place to work.
It's a great place to seeclients and it's a nice, nice

(09:10):
organization.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (09:12):
Excellent.
Thank you for giving us alittle bit of that history and
personally.
How do you stay grounded as youdo this position and you
encounter so many differentpeople in so many different
walks of life?
How do you stay grounded inyour mental health journey?

Rachna Krishnan (09:27):
That's a good question.
You know, since I've joined,it's been one crisis after
another.
It was the COVID isolation, theisolation, and there was like
domestic violence and increased.
Oh, it's just been one thingafter another.
I think for me I, you know, Irely on my team and my at the

(09:49):
Women's Center.
We really support each other.
We help each other.
I never feel alone when I'm atthe Women's Center.
I feel like we're all sosupportive of each other.
You know, outside of work, Itry to exercise.
I kind of like.
I'm not always most consistent,but I do yoga Actually, I, I
walk and I recently startedpersonal training.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (10:12):
So your own coping skills that you
implement in such a busy worldthat we live in today.
And on another note, let me askhow can people learn more about
the Women's Center and how canpeople get, say, a potential
client call in to get services?
How does it work?

Rachna Krishnan (10:33):
Sure.
So the best thing, if you wantto learn more about the Women's
Center, go to our website.
Our website's quitecomprehensive.
It's thewomenscenterorg, soT-H-E-W-O-M-E-N-S-C-E-N-T-E-Rorg
, so thewomenscenterorg.
And if you want to make anappointment, there's a
scheduling line to call to makean appointment.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (10:57):
Excellent.
Well, thank you so much, Rachna, for being a guest on our show.
We're so excited to learn aboutthe Women's Center and the
services that are offered.
It's an excellent program and Ihighly recommend everyone to
check out the website and learnmore about the programs that are
offered.
And again, thank you so muchfor being with us on the show
today.

Rachna Krishnan (11:14):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's been a real pleasure,thank you.

Sandhya Nagabhushan (11:17):
Thank you, Rachna.