Deepti Ramaswamy
About Me
Trauma-informed psychotherapy, supervision & applied research
I am a trauma therapist, supervisor, and practitioner-researcher working at the intersection of trauma, narrative, identity, and social context.
I have always been struck by how inventive people are in the face of adversity — how creatively and courageously they find ways to protect themselves when life asks too much of them. My work is about honouring that ingenuity, while gently helping people discover that they no longer need to live behind the defences that once kept them safe.
I think of it sometimes as helping people turn dams into bridges — so that more of who they truly are can begin to flow.
What Draws Me to This Work
I see people as human first — before diagnosis, before role, before history. In practice this shapes everything: how I listen, what I notice, how I understand difficulty, and what I think is possible.
I believe that trauma does not happen in isolation. It is psychosocial — shaped by context, relationships, systems, and history. Which means that healing, too, is rarely just an individual matter. When people begin to change, something shifts in the communities around them. This is what draws me to work that moves between the therapy room, supervision spaces, dialogue tables, and research.
I am interested in rights, in balance, and in possibility — in meeting people where they are, and opening doors, when the time is right, to show them what might still be available to them.
How I Work
My approach is trauma-informed, relational, and collaborative — grounded in both clinical practice and psychological research.
I work carefully, at a pace shaped by your history and your nervous system. I aim to create a space that feels steady and honest — one where it is safe enough to be open, and open enough to discover what is possible.
I am curious, direct, and genuinely collaborative. I will not always get it right. I will not pretend to have answers I don't have. But I will stay alongside you in the looking.
My Work & Professional Path
Before training as a psychotherapist, I worked with children and young people experiencing social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. That early work taught me something I have never forgotten: that even the most difficult behaviour usually contains a logic, and that underneath it is almost always someone trying, in the only way they know how, to be safe.
Since then, I have worked across NHS services including eating disorders, CAMHS, community and forensic services, a specialist Veterans' Complex Treatment Service, and services for survivors of torture.
Internationally, I have worked in Iraq, Syria, Myanmar, and India, providing therapy, supervision, and training in humanitarian contexts shaped by conflict, displacement, and prolonged adversity. This work has profoundly shaped how I understand trauma — not as a private wound but as something that forms in the space between people, histories, and systems.
I am completing doctoral research at The Open University exploring how trauma, narrative, and psychological recovery support people to disengage from harmful behaviours and reintegrate into communities — and what this might teach us about reducing conflict and building the conditions for peace.
Research & Publications
My doctoral research at The Open University explores trauma, narrative, and psychological recovery in the context of violent extremism and reintegration.
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Ramaswamy, D. (2026). Trauma-Informed Narrative Inquiry: A Dual-Role Method for Reflexive, Relational Research. Methodological Innovations. [Click here]
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How does trauma influence identity and engagement with extremism? (2022) OpenLearn, The Open University. [Click here]
Looking Forward
The thread that runs through all of my work — clinical, supervisory, and research — is a belief that what we learn about trauma, narrative, and human behaviour at the individual level has implications that reach far beyond the therapy room.
When people heal, they relate differently. When they relate differently, something changes in the systems and communities around them. This is not incidental to peacebuilding and social repair — it is foundational to it.
This is the work I am most curious about, and the direction in which I am heading.
Working Together
If you are interested in working together — in therapy, supervision, research, or dialogue work — I welcome a conversation about how we might do that well.