Pradhan Thandra is a counselor-in-training pursuing his M.A. in Clinical Mental Health
Counseling at Wheaton College. He has worked for over a decade across public health, research,
design, and training. These experiences shaped his ability to listen deeply, think systemically, and
approach people’s stories with curiosity, empathy, and care.

He brings a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and cross-cultural lens to his work with
clients. He is eager to support individuals navigating grief, trauma, identity formation, and
intergenerational or systemic wounds. Being from a marginalized community in India, Pradhan
brings a personal awareness of how culture, identity, injustice, and belonging shape our mental
health. He is attentive to how early experiences, relational patterns, beliefs, emotions, family
systems, and larger cultural contexts shape a person’s inner world and present concerns
His theoretical orientation is integrative, drawing from psychodynamic, person-centered, and
family systems. Pradhan is passionate about modalities to address various issues from trauma
through Sandtray and Child-Centered Play therapy. He values the therapeutic relationship as
central to healing and seeks to create a space where clients can feel seen, understood, and
respected.

When working with children, Pradhan values developmentally appropriate and expressive
approaches that allow children to communicate through play, creativity, symbolism, and
relationships. His approach is reflective and collaborative, helping clients develop insight, build
emotional awareness, strengthen coping skills, and move toward meaningful change.
In the counseling room, Pradhan hopes to offer a grounded, compassionate, and nonjudgmental
space where clients can slow down, explore what they are carrying, and reconnect with
themselves. He considers it a privilege to walk alongside clients as they seek healing, meaning,
resilience, and a deeper sense of agency in their lives.

Pradhan loves art; he dabbles in mixed-media design and photography and has vowed to attend
as many concerts as he can in Chicago and parts of U.S.