The website has been put together keeping in mind those who do people work of some/any kind, including counsellors, those in NGOs who may or may not be involved in field work/interacting regularly with community members, activists, service providers, those working in the development sector, and more.

That said, we believe the contents are useful to any individual in any space, whether formally employed or otherwise.

We use this term to broadly refer to those in professions that entail working with people’s lives, health, livelihoods, and rights. This could include, but is not limited to, case workers, counsellors, NGO staff members, human rights activists, frontline health workers, and more.

Sexuality is an area of much taboo, reflecting in almost all aspects of human life – from who gets to access resources, like health, education, employment, and public spaces, to our fundamental rights to life and justice. The experiences of marginalisation based on sexuality and gender are high sources of stress as they can affect day-to-day life as well as one’s overall sense of self and wellbeing. For those working on these issues, engaging with people and their struggles can bring about high stress, especially when they may have themselves experienced (or are still experiencing) such marginalisation. Multiple factors such as caste, disability status, class, rural or urban location, religion, etc., intersect with the marginalisation one may face on account of their sexuality, and/or gender identity.

TARSHI’s experiences working on sexuality shaped our approach to stress management.

TARSHI began as a helpline in 1996, and our work entailed providing counselling, information, and referrals to people on various issues related to sexuality, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. Our early work on stress management and burnout prevention began to help our counsellors manage their wellbeing while doing this work. Learn more about our work on self-care and wellbeing here.

Over time, we have taken our work on self-care, stress management and burnout prevention to organisations working on issues of women’s health and rights, those who are from communities marginalised due to their gender and/or sexual identities and expression, and other aspects of sexuality. We have also engaged organisations that do not specifically work on sexuality, but involve people work, such as with refugees or with young women and introducing them to technology.

This website is a curation of resources and ideas on self-care, stress management and burnout prevention. It is based on our work in this area, the experiences of TARSHI members over the years, but most importantly, based on the experiences shared by our workshop participants.

The resources in this site can be used by anyone regardless of how sexuality features in their  work. That said, we could find very few resources that specifically focus on self-care or stress, and sexuality, sexual health and rights, or sexual and gender identities; therefore, we have attempted to find resources that can cater to a broader audience . But if you have something that makes stronger links between self-care and sexuality, please share it with us at selfcare@tarshi.net and we will work to add it.