Between Friends: Conversations with Maitri

In this episode, Flavia Agnes joined us to share her journey from a survivor to a trailblazer. Flavia Agnes is a women’s rights advocate, legal scholar, and one of the central figures of the women’s movement in India. Her own experience with domestic violence inspired her to become a women's rights lawyer. As co-founder of MAJLIS, a legal and cultural resource center in Mumbai, India, her prim...

In this episode we discussed inter-generational cultural conflicts that many South Asian parents and teens face. Three South Asian teens, Tara Sardana, Alina Shah and Kaushal Namuduri shared their thoughts on how this cultural conflict can be damaging for individual, family and community well-being. If you are a parent or a teen, then you must listen to this episode to learn what can be done to re...

Did you know that between 2000 and 2018, an astonishing 23,588 children were married in California alone? This sparks the question as to why it continues and who opposes the reform initiatives. In 2023, SB404 was introduced by lawmakers to prohibit marriages before the age of 18; however, it was changed to only make it a misdemeanor to arrange non-legally recognized child marriages without actuall...

Marital rape has been a crime in all 50 States in the US since 1993. The current California criminal code makes no distinction between rape by a stranger and an intimate partner or spouse. The non-consensual sexual relations within a marriage are subject to the same penalty and consequences resulting in registration in the sex offenders’ list among others. As an agency primarily serving immigrant...

While men have always played an important role in shaping public policies and community awareness in many areas, domestic violence prevention often remains ignored within this group. How do we engage South Asian men in the movement? Maitri's long time advocate Zakia Afrin sits down with S Suresh, a past member of Maitri leadership and outgoing Board member in the Statewide organization CPEDV t...

Immigration status based on marital relationships often creates barriers for a victim and survivor of domestic violence to address the abuse. Yet there are rights and resources available for individuals in those situations and many opportunities to advocate for policies focused on immigration reform. In this episode, we hear about Maitri's immigration assistance program observing its 12 years...

A shift is taking place in our community as the stigma that has always surrounded mental health is beginning to fade. RCoz is providing a platform in normalizing our conversations around mental health. Many community members are sharing their stories openly to let others know that it is necessary to take care of our emotional wellbeing. Listen to this podcast to know why people are talking about m...

In this podcast South Asian youth are talking about different stress factors that impact their mental health, how they need support from their families, community and system to take care of their emotional well being and community's role in breaking the stigma associated with help seeking. After listening please take this short quiz to help improve our podcast! https://shorturl.at/mzQ03 Resour...

Listen to this powerful narrative from Shamita Das Dasgupta about the South Asian Gender Justice Movement. In the seventies and eighties, South Asian women across the nation started addressing feminism that was different from white feminism where issues faced by immigrant women were raised. This momentum led to the growth of the South Asian gender justice movement which impacted South Asian surviv...

This month, the Maitri podcast was able to bring on four UCLA students to discuss what a healthy partner relationship means to Gen- Z. What does a healthy relationship look like for young college students? What do they expect from their partners? All of this and more is discussed during this months episode of Between Friends.  This project was made possible by funding provided by the County o...

Maitri joined  South Asian SOAR  in a remembrance campaign to honor and remember 10 beautiful souls who we lost to disturbing acts of gender-based violence in 2022. And we are dedicating our first episode of the new year to show our grief and frustration toward these senseless acts of gender based violence. Representatives from  South Asian SOAR   joined us in th...

Sharing a powerful story of a survivor. She suffered violence and abuse inflicted by someone she loved and trusted. Her life has been a continuous struggle during and after the abuse yet she didn’t give up. She turned her pain into purpose and started a new journey to find her peace. #SurvivorSpeaks, #MaitriPodcast, #EndDV This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa C...

South Asian youth are doing their part in breaking the stigma associated with mental health. In this episode students are discussing some common issues that can affect emotional wellbeing of community youth, how generational and cultural gaps can impact their mental health and what can be done to uphold the message that our mental health is too precious to risk. To find resources and information p...

PurpLE Health Foundation, a non-profit transforming healthcare for survivors of gender-based violence through comprehensive healthcare, research, and economic opportunity. A wonderful initiative from health care professionals in treating women who have endured intimate partner violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. Dr. Anita Ravi, the CEO and co-founder of this nonprofit shared her experi...

Archaic expectations in a marriage, playing to reasoning fallacies like "appeal to tradition," enforcing strict gender roles, these and some other similar narratives can be used as justification for perpetrating domestic abuse. These abusive tactics can be particularly hard to prove as they border on emotional abuse and can be damaging to a victim's psyche.    In this podcast, we ar...

The stigma of divorce in South Asian communities is real. Divorce is viewed as a failure for women. In this episode, we're joined by Neha Gill form Apna Ghar ( www.apnaghar.org/ ) and Kavita Mehra from Sakhi for South Asian Women ( www.sakhi.org/ ) to discuss the impact of divorce, its stigma within the South Asian community and community’s role in destigmatizing divorce. We all can play a key rol...

Reproductive coercion can be used as a control mechanism against survivors of domestic violence. In this episode advocates from Maitri, Daya Houston and Rakhsha Inc. are sharing their experiences working with survivors facing reproductive coercion, how the recent Supreme Court decision on overturning Roe v Wade can add more problems for these survivors and organizational strategies to educate comm...

A Maitri podcast with Rennu Dhillon, an entrepreneur, educator, motivational speaker and author. Rennu suffered domestic violence yet she didn’t give up, with her courage, dignity and hard work she has rebuilt her life. Listen to Rennu’s unbelievable life journey. www.maitri.org | 1-888-8MAITRI @ maitribayarea : Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn This project was made possible by...

In this episode Dr. Preet Kaur Sabharwal and Dr. Sheetal Siledar-Lee discussed the stigma associated with mental health in South Asian communities. Also, they talked about what can harm the emotional well being of South Asian youth and elderly populations and what they can do about it.   #maitri #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness

Victims of child marriage face severe lifelong damaging consequences including physical, sexual and economic abuse; denial of education; and a loss of freedom to make their own futures. In this episode Sasha K Taylor, a former FBI analyst and an advocate to end child marriage is sharing her own experience of being a victim of child marriage and discussing community role in preventing this oppressi...

In today’s world abusive partners are increasingly using digital platforms to threaten, control and abuse their victims. How to be safe online? What are the red flags one should be aware of to know that their devices are bugged? Where to report tech abuse? To discuss these important questions, we invited an internationally recognized digital safety expert, Adam dodge. Listen to this podcast a...

Our host sat with Rachna Khare, Executive Director of Daya, a Houston based nonprofit to discuss the unique challenges that both Maitri and Daya see their clients face. Also, how we see a huge need and scope for community engagement in preventing gender based violence. Listen to this interesting discussion and a client testimony from Daya. This project was made possible by funding provided by the...

Our guests are commemorating Women’s History Month by sharing their thoughts on women’s status in today’s world from their personal lens and how to identify and break obstacles to gender equity. Listen to this thought provoking discussion.  Maitri helpline: (1-888-8MAITRI) | Free & Confidential | Mon – Fri (9 am to 3 pm PST) This project was made possible by funding provided by the County...

A conversation in Bangla with Indira Chakravorty and Zakia Afrin about the past, present and future of domestic violence prevention work.  Both the speakers are social activists, authors and veteran advocates to end domestic violence. In this episode they have shared their experiences working with domestic violence survivors, unique challenges immigrant survivors face and what can be done to...

A group of college students joined our podcast host in analyzing the root causes of dating violence and abuse. They addressed the harmful cultural conditions, norms and practices that enable partner violence. They shared wonderful tips in ending toxic culture that support dating violence and abuse. This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Bas...