Decriminalising Minds: Rewriting Mental Health Law With Pride and Empathy | Dr. Kersi Chavda

How do you rewrite the rules of a society with pride and empathy? We often think of mental health as a private journey, but true recovery requires a foundation of public policy. Today on The Listening Commons, we are looking at the legal architecture of care.

​We are joined by veteran psychiatrist Dr. Kersi Chavda, who has spent the last forty years at the forefront of India's mental health revolution—from structuring the first government accommodations for learning disabilities to providing the medical advocacy that helped the Supreme Court decriminalize homosexuality. This is a conversation about the intersection of human rights, medical ethics, and systemic change.

​ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Kersi Chavda is a Mumbai-based consultant psychiatrist at P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and a past president of the Bombay Psychiatric Society. He has worked extensively in child and adolescent mental health, school psychiatry, learning disabilities, professional ethics, and LGBTQ+ mental health. Chavda previously chaired Indian Psychiatric Society task forces on school psychiatry and LGBTQ+ issues and served on Maharashtra’s government panel developing educational concessions for students with learning disabilities across Maharashtra's education system.

​ABOUT OUR HOST

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a journalist, interviewer, and the founder of In-Sight Publishing. As the Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, he has conducted extensive interviews with global experts across medicine, academia, and public policy. He is a frequent contributor to international media outlets including The Good Men Project and International Policy Digest, focusing on complex global challenges, human rights, and social change.

​IN THIS EPISODE, WE EXPLORE:

​The transformation of psychiatry in India, from intense stigma to greater public awareness

​The medical advocacy and timeline behind LGBTQ+ decriminalization

​The systemic development of learning-disability accommodations

​The hidden realities of psychiatric emergencies, burnout, and physician mental health

​Modern challenges: child and adolescent pressures, social media, and addiction

​The ongoing push for insurance reform and the rights of patients and families

​Persistent taboos surrounding psychiatric medication during pregnancy and marriage, and how law and culture shape clinical practice

​Join us for a masterclass in how clinical expertise can drive monumental shifts in human rights.

​Listen, follow, and share to support global conversations on the human mind.