To kick off our blog, we’re thrilled to dig a little deeper into the Center for Rising Minds as well as founder Dr. Niroshika De Silva’s background and goals for the practice.
The Center for Rising Minds provides mental health services for the whole family, including psychotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.
We believe that treatment is most effective when providers collaborate to meet the needs of the whole individual. With children specifically, we aim to address feelings of low self-esteem, anxiety, school stress, bullying, relationship problems, and social skills as we work together to support their overall wellbeing and independence. While therapy is unequivocally helpful, sometimes, it’s not enough on its own. When children have the opportunity to work with a speech and language pathologist (SLP) and/or an occupational therapist (OT) to focus on co-occurring conditions, it often leads to an “a-ha!” moment that changes their treatment journey for the better.
Taking this comprehensive mental health care approach a step further, we provide services to adults as well. We understand that adults are increasingly experiencing depression, anxiety, distractibility, and a lack of motivation — not to mention challenges like parenting stress, work stress, relationship troubles, and grief/loss. We work with each family to create a sustainable treatment plan that leads to meaningful progress.
The idea for the Center for Rising Minds came to Dr. Niroshika De Silva while she was practicing mindfulness after a busy work week.
She had worked with a couple of patients who were navigating the stress of learning that their child was neurodivergent; they were feeling lost and overwhelmed about even beginning the process of helping their child. Not surprisingly, she had heard similar stories from other parents in the community – parents who were not patients but who she gladly helped navigate the treatment journey.
She had her own “a ha!” moment, realizing that there was a major pattern of parents feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to start. Adding to the confusion, there were usually multiple providers involved in their child’s care, plus the added stress of effectively applying and translating the learned interventions at home. She began to ask herself: Why isn’t there more support for them? Why isn’t care provided with multiple practitioners in one practice? She knew she had a wealth of knowledge regarding how to support these families and wanted to bridge this gap. She decided to pursue opening a new clinic…and here we are!
Dr. De Silva takes a warm, collaborative, and friendly approach with her patients.
She earned her Master of Arts degree in Child Development from Tufts University and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. Dr. De Silva began practicing in 2016 and provided care in a variety of settings, including high schools, hospitals, and outpatient clinics. She also held leadership roles as Clinical Director at Lifestance Health and Virtual Medical Director at One Medical, making her uniquely qualified to serve as CEO and Founder of the Center for Rising Minds.
Dr. De Silva has extensive experience with patients of all ages, treating them for anxiety, depression, panic disorder, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, family conflict, life transitions, and more. She combines strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapies, and mindfulness to truly tailor the treatment to each patient’s needs.
She deeply enjoys working with her patients and their families. Not only does she appreciate seeing their change, but she learns so much from each one, allowing her to become an even better provider. She also enjoys working with her team of providers at the Center for Rising Minds. Over the years, she has learned a significant amount about the brain and body when working with both SLPs and OTs, which has informed how she approaches child development and parenting. This knowledge, in turn, helps her support both her pediatric and adult patients (particularly those who are or want to become parents).
At the Center for Rising Minds, we take a holistic approach to treatment for children, adults, and families, understanding that no individual or family is exactly alike and that we all need personalized care.
Dr. De Silva’s goal is simple: to offer care from various practitioners under one roof and eliminate the uncertainty and stress that often comes with a multi-prong approach to treatment. She wants providers to come together and share their ideas for supporting each patient, combining a variety of invaluable modalities to determine the best plan of action. More importantly, she hopes that providers will come together to prevent mixed messages, allowing them to focus on a collaborative treatment path and achieve meaningful change for each patient and family.
We’d love to help you and your family with your mental health care needs. Please reach out to us today to inquire about our services or join our waitlist.
