Shraddha has Indian heritage and was born and grew up in Kenya, before moving to Wadjuk Noongar Boodja (Perth). She received her PhD and Master of Clinical Psychology from the University of Western Australia (2018), and in 2016, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to work at the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT) as a visiting researcher.
Shraddha then moved to Sydney, where the traditional owners are the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. She worked at the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program at the University of New South Wales. Her program of research focused on exploring how the wellbeing of refugees and asylum-seekers is influenced by environmental and psychological factors, in countries of resettlement, and during periods of transition. Shraddha currently works as a researcher at the UWA School of Indigenous Studies, and as a Clinical Psychologist at The Swan Centre (a specialist eating disorders clinic).
Her understanding of mental health and wellbeing, and life in general, is evolving based on what she has learned in these roles, and especially from her current role. What continues to inspire her to work in mental health today is the opportunity to learn from pioneers in Aboriginal mental health, Professors Helen Milroy and Pat Dudgeon.
