Dr. Siddharth Ashvin Shah is a physician and public health scientist. He supports people and programs to become trauma-responsive through expertise in group dynamics, cross-cultural thinking, mind-body science, and preventive medicine. He believes that an appreciation for trauma’s impacts on ourselves provides insight for trauma’s impacts on the people we work with, and vice versa.
Through workshops and retreats, Siddharth has provided customized consultation to diverse organizations, which include: sexual assault and incest victim advocates (India), nurses (Ethiopia, USA), mental health practitioners (USA), and disaster relief workers (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, USA). His article “Ethical Standards for Transnational Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Do No Harm, Preventing Cross-Cultural Errors and Inviting Pushback” continues to be cited by development practitioners to advance positive international work.
In 2008, Siddharth established Greenleaf Integrative in 2008 to “operationalize wellbeing” with interdisciplinary colleagues all dedicated to the cause of preventing and mitigating trauma. For Siddharth, wellbeing is not only about building resilience to tolerate trauma better, but counteracting trauma’s impact by incorporating practices of integration + resilience. Siddharth sees operationalizing wellbeing as an ethical endeavor, always starting with the Hippocratic Oath—“First, do no harm”—and then incorporating a sense of history, honor for culture, and a blending of individual strengths.
Siddharth’s ongoing work with Greenleaf focuses on stewarding organizational vision while engaging with sector leaders to drive innovation in trauma-responsive models. In his free time, he enjoys cooking with his family, playing ping pong, trekking with his dog, and coaching youth sports. When you meet Siddharth, ask him about laughter yoga.