Our Staff

Ram Lal Shrestha is an experienced development and organizational leader who has served as executive director of the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling – Nepal (CMC-Nepal) since May 2003, a tenure of over 22 years. He is a founding life member of CMC-Nepal and has been instrumental in building it into a leading mental health and psychosocial support organization in Nepal.

Academically, Mr. Shrestha holds an MA in Sociology from Trichandra Campus, Tribhuvan University (2008), an MBA from Shankar Dev Campus (2001), a B.Com. from Prithvi Narayan Campus (1996), and an I.Sc. in Forestry from the Institute of Forestry (1994). Before joining CMC-Nepal, he served as administrative and finance manager at the United Mission to Nepal (2002–2003) and as ranger at the Dhading Resource Management Project under the United Mission to Nepal (1998–2002).

Dr. Pashupati Mahat is a senior clinical psychologist with decades of experience in mental health, psychosocial support, and academic areas in Nepal. He holds a PhD and has served as senior clinical psychologist and technical director at the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling—Nepal (CMC-Nepal) since August 2013, where he leads psychosocial reintegration projects for ex-combatants, supports empowerment programs funded by the Swiss Development Agency for Cooperation (SDC), and provides clinical supervision to counselors and psychologists across project areas.

Beyond his clinical role, Dr. Mahat has a distinguished teaching career spanning over two decades. He previously held the position of clinical psychologist and research coordinator at the United Mission to Nepal (2001–2003), where he developed mental health project documents and organized psychosocial training programs for government and NGO staff.

Dr. Mahat has also contributed to school mental health programs, psychosocial support for conflict-affected women and children, and guided over a dozen master's-level research dissertations. He is a recognized expert in integrating psychosocial approaches into development work, peace-building, and community programming across Nepal.

Bishnu Prasad Prajapati is a long-serving mental health professional with over two decades of experience in community mental health, clinical supervision, and psychosocial service delivery. He has been with the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling – Nepal (CMC-Nepal) since August 2007, where he currently serves as mental health coordinator since July 2013.

In his current role, Mr. Prajapati is responsible for project planning and reporting, managing mental health training programs, clinical supervision, psychotropic drug management in health institutions, advocacy and coordination with government bodies, and supporting self-help group (SHG) activities. His counseling work has included suicide intervention, therapeutic interventions for conflict survivors, support for gender-based violence survivors, and psychosocial first aid for disaster survivors.

Mr. Prajapati holds a postgraduate diploma in counseling psychology from Tribhuvan University (2008) and a bachelor's degree in humanities and social sciences.

Indira Pathak (Dhakal) is a finance and administration professional who has dedicated over two decades of her career to the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling – Nepal (CMC-Nepal).

Ms. Pathak holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) from Tribhuvan University (2009) along with an intermediate in commerce (I.Com.). She joined CMC-Nepal in 2004 as an office secretary cum accountant and progressively advanced through roles including part-time accountant (2005), accountant (2005–2013), and admin finance officer (2013–2018) before being promoted to her current managerial position. Her extensive organizational tenure reflects deep institutional knowledge and unwavering commitment to CMC-Nepal's financial and administrative operations.

Laxman Nath is a dedicated psychologist and development professional with over 11 years of progressive leadership in mental health, disability inclusion, and humanitarian response. He currently serves as Program Manager at the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling – Nepal (CMC-Nepal) since January 2025, having previously held the role of Programme Coordinator from November 2020 to December 2024.

In his leadership roles at CMC-Nepal, Laxman has successfully conducted major disability-inclusive MHPSS projects, including the Karnali Mental Health Programme, Jajarkot Earthquake Response, Karnali Recovery Project, and the Manko Sathi Child and Adolescents Mental Health Project. He is a certified trainer in Six-Month Psychosocial Counselling, WHO Quality Rights, and Student Counselling. He also played a key role in drafting Karnali Province's Mental Health and Psychosocial Strategy Action Plan and supporting MHPSS data integration into national health management systems.

Himal Gaire is a development and policy professional with expertise in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), migration, transitional justice, child protection, and project cycle management. Currently serving as Policy, Strategy, and Governance Lead at CMC-Nepal since February 2025, he leads the organization's policy and governance functions and oversees multiple projects, including the PRABARDHAN project (funded by MFA/FELM) supporting migrant workers and their families; a disability inclusion project; and psychosocial support to conflict victim families funded by the Swiss Embassy.

Mr. Gaire's experience at CMC-Nepal spans several key roles. As Provincial Coordinator from January 2022 to January 2025, he led the PARBARDHAN project across Sudurpachhim and Karnali provinces and managed GBV prevention and response programs in Madesh and Karnali provinces with a budget of over NPR 72 million.

With a strong background in training, advocacy, and stakeholder coordination across federal, provincial, and local government levels, Mr. Gaire is recognized for his ability to drive policy change and ensure inclusive, rights-based approaches in all programming.

Smriti Ghimire is a highly experienced psychosocial counseling practitioner with over 15 years of dedicated work with individuals from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds. Based in Kathmandu, she currently serves as Senior Psychologist at CMC-Nepal under the GBVPRII/EWPN Program (since July 2024) and as a Wellness Counselor for Global Press (since November 2023), where she provides individual and group wellness sessions to journalists.

Ms. Ghimire holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from Tribhuvan University (2014) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Counseling Psychology from Tri Chandra Campus (2006). Her career at CMC-Nepal includes roles as a psychologist and project coordinator under the SaMI Program (2019–2024) and as a psychologist and psychosocial supervisor (2015–2019). She also provided emergency MHPSS support with ACF-Nepal (2015).

A skilled trainer and bilingual document translator (English-Nepali), Ms. Ghimire has developed group counseling manuals and success case story books and provided supervision and capacity building to frontline psychosocial counselors.

Deepak Sharma is a dedicated psychosocial professional. He holds a master's degree in clinical psychology from Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University (2015–2017).

Mr. Sharma currently serves as Psychosocial Coordinator for the Karnali Mental Health Program under CMC-Nepal (since July 2024), working across Karnali Province. His earlier experience includes working with Ashadeep's free mental health camp (2017); Economic Empowerment Centre as project assistant (2016–2017); and volunteering with the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) as volunteer coordinator (2013–2014).

A trained facilitator, Mr. Sharma has conducted advanced and basic psychosocial counseling trainings, MHPSS identification and referral trainings, and Training of Trainer (ToT) programs. He completed his master training of trainers on psychosocial counseling (2021) and holds training from the Nepal Health Research Council in research proposal development (2019).

Dr. Shaligram Bhattarai is an expert clinical psychologist holding dual doctoral and master's-level qualifications in both clinical psychology and English literature. Dr. Bhattarai currently serves as Project Coordinator with CMC-Nepal for a Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response (GBVPR) project funded by UNFPA, SDC, and the EU (since February 2018). In this role, he provides clinical supervision to case managers and psychosocial counselors, ensures technical quality across GBV response components, conducts field monitoring, leads capacity-building activities for frontline workers, and contributes to donor reporting and advocacy. He also serves as a part-time lecturer in psychology at Apex College (since 2018).

Prior to joining CMC-Nepal, Dr. Shaligram Bhattarai served as project manager and clinical supervisor at TPO-Nepal for a UNHCR-funded psychosocial support project for Bhutanese refugees in Jhapa and Morang (2011–2017). He is registered with the Nepal Health Professional Council (NHPC No. Psych14) and was honored with the Nepal Bidhya Bhusan "Ka" award on Education Day in September 2018.

Sumesh Bhattarai is a public health professional and monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) specialist currently serving as MEAL Coordinator at the Centre for Mental Health and Counselling – Nepal (CMC-Nepal) since October 2024. He holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India (2013–2015).

Before joining CMC-Nepal, Mr. Bhattarai served as Program Coordinator for the Women Reproductive Rights Program at CAED (November 2016–September 2023), Field Officer at SOLID Nepal for adolescent sexual and reproductive health programming in Gorkha (October 2016), and Nutrition Specialist at KIRDARC under a PCS project (June 2012–September 2013).

In his current MEAL role at CMC-Nepal, Mr. Bhattarai is responsible for strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems, ensuring accountability to beneficiaries, and supporting organizational learning across CMC-Nepal's diverse programs.