Rupa Parthasarathy

Rupa Parthasarathy is a cultural artist, art psychotherapist, counsellor, clinical supervisor, educator and social entrepreneur based in Western Sydney, Australia. She is the founder of Mindkshetra, a creative wellbeing studio located in Wentworthville and a social enterprise dedicated to nurturing wellbeing through art, culture and conversation.

As a first-generation Indian Australian and native Tamil speaker, Rupa’s work sits at the intersection of identity, cultural memory and mental health. Through art psychotherapy, counselling, supervision and community programs, she creates spaces where individuals, practitioners and communities can explore emotional wellbeing in culturally meaningful ways. Her practice integrates creative arts, psychotherapy and psychoeducation to help young people and adults build resilience and self-awareness through everyday creative rituals.

While Mindkshetra’s studio is based in Wentworthville on the traditional lands of the Dharug people, much of Rupa’s work happens beyond the therapy room. Through workshops, community art initiatives and wellbeing programs, Mindkshetra regularly facilitates creative spaces across Granville, Auburn, Merrylands, Parramatta, Pendle Hill, Toongabbie, Penrith and the city areas including Kogarah. These gatherings take place across the lands of the Dharug and Dharawal peoples, where Rupa is proud to activate conversations about mental health, culture and creativity within community spaces.

Rupa has been practicing art psychotherapy since 2018 and works closely with youth, families and community organisations. She also supports emerging practitioners through clinical supervision and in her role as Academic Placement Coordinator at Western Sydney University, where she assists Master of Art Therapy students in navigating their professional placements.

Her professional journey spans corporate learning and development, youth mentoring and community mental health initiatives, experiences that inform her pragmatic and culturally responsive approach to wellbeing. She has collaborated with local councils and organisations to deliver initiatives such as Arts for Wellbeing during Mental Health Month, bringing creative mental health conversations into accessible public spaces.

Rupa is also the co-host of the podcast Mindkshetra Talks: Lost in Translation, created with her daughter, where two South Asian women from different generations unpack identity, culture and the unspoken dynamics of growing up between worlds.
Her work has received several recognitions, including being shortlisted among Australia’s Top 50 Small Business Leaders, being a finalist in the Western Sydney Women Awards, and receiving the 2025 South Asian Women in Business Award for Mindkshetra.

At the heart of Rupa’s work is a simple belief: creativity is not a luxury — it is a deeply human instinct. Through art, culture and storytelling, she invites people to reconnect with their inner world and create what she calls a mind kshetra — a sacred inner space where wellbeing can grow.
Outside her professional work, Rupa enjoys dancing, writing about the cultural histories woven into sarees, and continuing her lifelong attempt to paint the world a kinder shade.