back to December 2024 newsletter
by Liliana Ramos, LMFT and Vidur Malik, LMFT
Many Marriage and Family Therapists transition from another career field. This can make them stronger as clinicians. Read how Vidur Malik continues to find ways to combine his passion and helping people find theirs.
Liliana: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. Can you introduce yourself by telling us about yourself?
Vidur: I really appreciate you thinking of me for this interview. I am Vidur Malik. I’m an LMFT. I’ve been licensed for three years. I work at Mindful Practices, which is a group practice in Campbell. My specialties are working with clients who are either healing from childhood trauma or are recovering from substance use addiction. I am also an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University’s Counseling Psychology program. I teach biological basis for behavior and will be leading one of the group labs.
Liliana: What led you into your specialties?
Vidur: After I graduated, I went to work at an inpatient dual diagnosis. I was leading groups and working individually with clients who had severe mental health issues, and struggled with high substance use needs. I saw firsthand how shaming and isolating it was to experience homelessness. I saw the wisdom and reliance that the clients had to get through their life experiences. It was cool to give them the opportunity to share their intelligence that they have learned from dealing with people and getting through tough times. This helped me decide to keep working with people who are in recovery because of the richness and intelligence that they have to offer. Moreover, when you’re experiencing addiction, your life gets overtaken by that substance and other people stop seeing your strengths or your gifts. It was meaningful to help people feel like there’s more to them than what they’re using.
As far as childhood trauma, my appreciation for this specialty came from working with children and young adults who disclosed trauma to me during sessions. There were heavy situations in terms of reporting abuse that hadn’t been reported in the past, having to inform families for the first time, and helping the children understand how these experiences impacted them. Helping these children understand what happened to them impacted them, but it doesn’t define them and it doesn’t write the book on the rest of their life. When people go through trauma, especially when it’s relational-based, when someone has hurt them in some way, they start to think that everybody will do that to them. The clinician’s job is to help them see that although there are people in the world who do terrible things, they deserve to be around people who respect them. Also to let them know that it is not inevitable that every relationship will end the way that some have in the past. It is scary to take a leap into the unknown with somebody new, but it can be worth the time and risk when one feels that fulfillment of being with somebody or just being in a situation that feels safe and worth the risk.
Liliana: I hear the passion in helping your clients whose lives you’ve touched. I’m wondering what it is like for you to teach at the university that you graduated from?
Vidur: Working at the university has been awesome. It’s like being back home, being in the same building, and working with the faculty, many of whom were there when we went through the program. I’m there in a new context. It’s great to have the opportunity to build a curriculum, classes, and plan. I feel appreciative to be able to give back to that program because it set me up for this career. I feel well-prepared because of the people who taught us. I hope to contribute in some small way for the students that are there now. It’s a beautiful experience.
Liliana: I hear the love that you have for your career path. I know that you transitioned career paths. Can you talk about your journey from your original career to the mental health profession. What got you to where you are now?
Vidur: My original career was as a sports journalist. I loved sports. I enjoyed writing. I had a naïve idea that I could combine the two without realizing that there’s so much more that goes into reporting than just writing. I pursued a Masters in this field. However, as I got more into the field, I realized that it wasn’t a good fit for me. I think that in order to be a reporter, you have to be very comfortable with confrontation since not everyone will want to share information with you. I deeply admire people who do journalism because it’s important for society to be informed and to hold people accountable. I just knew that I couldn’t do that. It was burning me out in my mid 20’s. I was in New York at the time doing my masters for journalism. I was homesick and wanted to go home.
I enjoyed mentoring, so I decided to go into psychology because I enjoy helping others in a calmer environment. I was accepted by Santa Clara University, which gave me the added benefit of coming home. Making the career switch has been one of the best decisions that I have made.
Liliana: That’s great. What led you to the writing background? You had said that words are important to you.
Vidur: I think a lot of it was just being surrounded by books as a kid. Reading was modeled by my parents. There were always Time Magazines, my parents’ textbooks, and books all over the house. I did a lot of reading as a kid. It felt natural for me to explore that. My first opportunity in writing was for my high school newspaper. I wrote for the sports section of my high school paper. I would cover our school’s baseball and water polo games and write articles. I worked at my colleges’ newspapers as a sports reporter and editor. Then when I went to Columbia for my journalism masters, I took a sports journalism class. This connected me with people who worked at Sports Illustrated, which was always like my dream. I was lucky enough to work for them for a little while and wrote articles that were published by them.
Liliana: Interesting that you said that you were a sports journalist and now you want to go into sports psychology.
Vidur: It’s a new interest of mine. I’ve been reading about just how many professional and collegiate sports teams are really making space for mental health professionals, both from the performance aspect and the clinical work.
Sports is a huge passion of mine as an athlete, a fan, and an admirer of athlete’s accomplishments. I really want to be in that space. I am looking into how to become a certified mental performance coach and hopefully using my skills in the sporting context so that athletes can benefit from it. The track would be similar to the MFT track.
Liliana: Why is it important for you to do the work you’re doing now?
Vidur: I think it feels important because I feel like trauma and mental health issues carry a lot of shame and isolation even though the stigma is decreasing. They make people feel alone and misunderstood; possibly that people don’t even try to understand them. The most important thing and the most meaningful thing that I can do is just hold the space for someone that lets them know that I am going to take the time to understand them. The single most important thing that I can do as a clinician is just letting my clients know, I get you or I’m going to try my best to get you and that what you are feeling and how you are coping makes sense, given what you’ve been through. I want to do that in a way that allows the client to access their strength so they can feel more in control of their life and their relationships.
Liliana: Thank you so much for this opportunity to learn about your career path, your specialties, and the clients who you assist. I wish you the best in your pursuit of sports psychology.
Vidur Malik is an LMFT and clinical supervisor. Vidur works at Mindful Practices, a group practice in Campbell, where he supports children, adults, couples, and families with rewriting painful life patterns in order to live more fulfilling lives. He also provides clinical supervision for Almaden Valley Counseling Services and is an Adjunct Lecturer for Santa Clara University’s Counseling Psychology program, where he received his Master’s degree. Vidur enjoys playing basketball, seeing family and friends, and taking naps on his couch during his free time.
