Dor | डोर : A Support Group on Loneliness and Reclaiming the Practice of Connection
About the Group
Dor, meaning thread in Hindi, is a reflective support circle. It represents the intermingled nature of our existence: the strings we extend to belong, reach out, and explore, and the shared connections that hold us to life.
Perhaps at different times, we find ourselves wrestling with a quiet trio: loneliness, yearning, and the space between connection and disconnection. When isolation sets in, we might doubt our capacity to connect, wondering if we simply aren’t good at being social. But what if connection isn’t a fixed skill? Rather a living practice, one that we learn, lose, rediscover, and untangle across a lifetime.
Over 4 sessions across 4 months, this circle will explore this possibility through poetry, art, curated children’s books, and collective witnessing. Together, we will reflect on building a “home”, examine our bids for connection, and explore the threads that tie us to our communities and ancestors. The support group will be facilitated by therapists Anoushka Malviya, who is part of the CBA community.
The Facilitators
Anoushka Malviya (she/they) is a psychotherapist whose work is informed by relational-psychodynamic, somatic approaches and viewing mental health from socio-cultural-political contexts. Her interest is in the emotional life of relationships; intimacy, longing, distance, disconnection, dependence, and the struggle many people experience in feeling emotionally met. Many people carry loneliness privately, often with shame, as though it reflects something personal about their worth or ability to connect. But loneliness is deeply relational; it has to do with longing, connection, attunement, belonging, and sometimes grief. Through Dor, she hopes to make room for reflective and supportive space where people can think about loneliness together, speak about it honestly, and explore their relationship to connection, belonging, and emotional presence.
