Art therapy and systemic change in South Asia’s mental health landscape.

Before 2025 comes to an end, we want to pause and celebrate someone truly extraordinary: Lajja Dixit, Jaya Mental Health’s incredible art therapist and one of the quiet drivers of deep, systemic change in Nepal’s mental health landscape.

Lajja has been working closely with the nursing staff at Nepal’s only mental hospital — professionals who show up every day in an incredibly harsh and hierarchical environment, with limited resources and immense pressure, yet who continue to provide care with strength and dedication.

Through thoughtful, creative therapeutic spaces, Lajja is supporting nurses to reconnect with themselves. Together they explore their own needs, their beliefs about mental illness, and the powerful role they hold as carers and agents of change. These sessions are helping staff reflect on how they can nurture a more resilient mental health service — one that looks after its workforce and delivers care rooted in dignity and human rights.

This is the kind of work that doesn’t always make headlines, but it shapes the future. By caring for those who care, Lajja is helping to build a system that is stronger, kinder and more sustainable for everyone.

Thank you, @lajja_dixit @arttherapystories, for the heart, vision and leadership you bring to this essential work.