Aligned Self

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide identity-affirming, culturally responsive care to all people with all abilities in all bodies. We strive to honor and respect the uniqueness of each person.

Our Vision

Our vision is to be able to provide the most incisive care we can to our clients. We are an open and affirming practice celebrating acceptance, diversity, and collaboration with clients and colleagues. We strive to help clients expand their inner strengths and skills to work toward improved emotional health and well-being to become their aligned self. 

About the founder

Nirmala Bijraj

LMHC, NCC, She/Her/Hers

Nirmala is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York and Florida. Nirmala’s style of therapy is eclectic drawing from different theories and modalities which centers on what works best for the client. She has a lot of experience to draw from, having worked for hospitals, non-profits and private practice in the past. 

She is an immigrant who moved from Guyana, South America to Toronto, Canada, then to Queens, New York before relocating to Orlando, FL and credits these life experiences to being able to navigate, connect, communicate, and build relationships with different people which highly informs her clinical work now. She now works primarily with adults navigating how to improve communication in their daily lives specializing in working with polyamory, open and non-monogamous relationships. 

Image of relationship therapist, Nirmala Bijraj, smiling and starting towards the camera. Get support through online counseling from the comfort of your home in NYC or Orlando and anywhere in the State of New York and Florida.
Image of online therapist, Nirmala Bijraj, smiling and starting towards the camera. Get support through online counseling from the comfort of your home in NYC or Orlando and anywhere in the State of New York and Florida.

about

Belief

Nirmala believes in tailoring the therapeutic orientation to the needs of the clients, and that all individuals are multifaceted, thus, needing different approaches for different struggles. She will help you to feel at one with your body and no longer feel as though you are functioning on auto-pilot. She will equip you with the tools to regain control over where your mind takes you, reminding you that it is you that is writing your story.

She believes in forming an authentic human relationship wherein you feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure; to create a relationship built on trust, understanding, and mutual respect navigating the therapeutic relationship through a relational-cultural, anti-oppressive lens.

Nirmala’s therapeutic aim is to help you tap into your inner-resilience, practice radical acceptance, and mobilize change to create the life you envision.

Nirmala received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from Queens College, and a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Long Island University.

Nirmala is trained in the following:

EFIT: Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy

CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

Various modalities of Grief and Loss Treatment 

 

Land Acknowledgement ​

As a virtual practice we are located on various stolen Lands that are sacred to a number of Indigenous Peoples, within the states we operate including but not limited to Tribes, Nations, and Peoples such as:

Florida:

Acuera, Aguacaleyquen, Ais, Alabama, Amacono, Amacapiras, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Calusa, Caparaz, Chatot, Chiaha, Chilucan, Chine, Creek,Fresh Water Indians, Guacata, Guale, Hitchiti, Icafui, Jeaga, Koasati, Macapiras or Amacapiras, Miccosukee or Mikasuki, Mococo or Mucoco, Muklasa, Muskogee, Ocale or Etocale, Ocita, Oconee, Onatheaqua, Osochi, Pawokti, Pensacola, Pohoy, Pooy or Posoy, Potano, Saturiwa, Sawokli, Seminole, Surruque, Tacatacuru, Tawasa, Tekesta or Tequesta, Tocoboga, Ucita, Utica or Timucua, Yamasee, Yuchi, Yufera, Yui, and Yustaga.

New York:

Delaware or Lenni Lenape, Erie, Iroquois, Mahican, Mohegan, Montauk, Neutral, Oneida, Onondaga, Saponi, Seneca, Tuscarora, Tutelo, Wappinger, and Wenrohronon.

We thank the Indigenous Peoples for stewarding these Lands for generations. We pay respect to the Elders, past, present, and future. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work here and we thank all the generations of people who have taken care of this land – for thousands of years. We recognize and deeply appreciate their historic connection to this place. As an organization, we advocate for Land Back and Indigenous Sovereignty. (Give the Land back). 

As a community we consider our roles in the liberation, and restoration of Land, language, and culture for Indigenous Peoples globally. We also invite thoughts and comments regarding this statement, especially if there’s any supplemental information that should be included.

Are you committed to take consistent action to get the results you want in your life? If you are and you commit and take consistent action, the compound effect of those actions will begin to show up in your life and before you know it, you will be living the life you want.