Trigger Warning: This conversation discusses issues related to alcoholism, grief and therapy. Please consider these points before continuing.
The below is a short piece intended to accompany a longer audio conversation with Manpreet Dhuffar-Pottiwal.
LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION VIA LINKS BELOW (SUBSCRIBE OR FOLLOW THE “LONDON WRITING GUY” PODCAST FOR FUTURE EPISODES)
Did you know that by 2040, multi-generational households are set to triple? The stigma that can come from living in this way can be difficult. In addition, the passing down and passing on of traits, from one generation to another, can be traumatic. Someone that knows a thing or two about this is Dr. Manpreet Dhuffar-Pottiwal. A Chartered Psychologist with a background in clinical and academic settings, Manpreet runs an independent therapy and consultancy practice, specialising in behavioural addictions and intergenerational trauma. With a PhD under her belt, not to mention a Doctorate and being in the middle of a second Doctorate, you’d be forgiven for thinking Manpreet was always a straight A student.
Growing up in Southall, West London, a turbulent home life, stemming from her dad’s alcohol addiction, Manpreet was suspended from school on her 13th birthday. Having failed her Math’s GCSE, a 6th Form teacher once told Manpreet that she would never amount to anything. That teacher couldn’t have been more wrong. Manpreet took that teacher’s words by the scruff of the neck and propelled herself all the way to standing on the famous TEDx red spot. On September 28th, 2024, Manpreet officially became a TEDx speaker, at TEDxNHS, a national stage founded to enable the voices of NHS staff and patients to be heard.
Manpreet is on a mission to decolonize therapy by challenging traditional norms and advocating for public engagement with psychological interventions. “What are we doing to help support multi-generational households?” Manpreet asks in our conversation. This is exactly why she’s setting up her own social enterprise called Multi-Gen Zen. The idea came 4 years ago. While sitting in the home of her in-laws, about to move out after 7 years, Manpreet reflected on how different things could have been if they’d all shared their vulnerabilities through conversation. Manpreet is not only advocating for the conversation to take place but is making it happen. “[My work], I think it’s my lifeforce. I see it as an honour.”
We discuss all of the above and so much more. Our conversation is an honest one and that is down to Manpreet’s own desire to change the narrative. It’s hard-hitting, wonderful and thought provoking, all at the same time. We discuss Manpreet’s upbringing and what led her into psychology. We talk about the reasons for why her focus shifted from behavioural addictions and Counselling Psychology to wanting to bring her cultural identity into her work…the deep need to tell her own story. “Fortunate are those people who tell stories. That is their therapy. The impact you have of telling your own stories and being vulnerable…wow! That is the real therapy in our culture.” From within this came a realisation. The power of storytelling and how that would make her work more accessible to those that really needed it.
This is Manpreet’s story and I am grateful for being able to share it.
WATCH MANPREET’S TEDxNHS TALK HERE>
FOLLOW MANPREET ON INSTAGRAM HERE>
FOLLOW TEDxNHS HERE>
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