Alumni Around the Globe

Tanya Percy Vasunia completed postgraduate study with the Anna Freud Centre in 2013 and has been working in the field of mental health since then. A published author, Tanya has both academic and non-academic publications in a variety of spaces such as Huffington Post, Vogue and Business World. She has worked in the not-for-profit as well as the private sector in India. In 2021, in the middle of the global pandemic, Tanya launched her private practice and website (www.tanyapvasunia.com), both of which are currently thriving. Apart from psychology Tanya is passionate about food, yoga and her dogs.

Martha Isaza is a Colombian woman living in Bogotá, Colombia. Martha completed the Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology (PDP) course in 2015–2016 and has since been working therapeutically with children, families and adults. Martha has worked in educational institutions and two years ago decided to start working independently and start training as a Psychoanalyst with the Colombian Psychoanalytic Society (Socolpsi). Aside from work, Martha has started a psychoanalytic-oriented mother group in order to think and work through experiences related to motherhood, specific to this intricate context she lives in. 

"I graduated from the Developmental Psychoanalytic Psychology MSc in 2001. Studying at the AFC was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and has had a big influence on what I’ve done since. My dissertation research was based on Miriam and Howard Steele’s intergenerational attachment study and – after a few years doing research and working with young people in the child welfare system in the US – I went on to complete my PhD based on another of their projects. This was looking at how infant-caregiver attachments develop (or often do not develop) in orphanage settings in China. With spells in the UK, China, and Malaysia, I’ve become increasingly involved in mental health oriented projects, ranging from increasing access to services for men, supporting military veterans and their families, and the needs of dementia caregivers. I’ve spent the last couple of years as a lecturer and now directing the Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, which is a collaboration between HELP University and the Malaysian Mental Health Association. Our current research includes an ACT-based interventions for humanitarian aid workers, the impact of working amidst pandemic on frontliners, and the differential effects of digital media on adolescent mental health. We also launched the My Mind On Film youth mental health film festival last year and will be running it again from October 2021!"