What is UNREAD?
Learning spaces are a keystone of our work in building communities that can offer and seek care, with open hearts and minds. We are excited to announce that registrations are now open for our 6-month adventure, UNREAD 2025
Framework
Our most immediate and enduring tool for understanding the people and communities we engage with is ourselves. To understand others, we must first learn to witness ourselves: the histories we carry, the positions we adopt, the responses we instinctively offer, and the roles we inhabit without always realising.
At its core, UNREAD is an experiential training grounded in relationships. Through immersive group work and life inside a community, we invite you not only to learn—but to unlearn. To sit with discomfort, trace inherited truths, and question them. It is not about becoming an expert, it is about embarking on an inward journey that also grounds you in your external context.
We draw from existing frameworks and approaches like Therapeutic Communities (TCs), Group Analysis, Social Justice, Relational Work, Lived Experience, and Participatory learning. While it is not a clinical program, UNREAD aims to offer a lens to therapeutic work that highlights community as a critical stakeholder and recipient. As such, the aim of UNREAD is to:
○ Develop community perspectives and an interpersonal understanding of the world.
○ Build relationships that promote well-being for all participants.
○ Experience a sense of belonging with people.
○ Contribute to the growth and well-being of one another.
The program is anchored by 10 core values that influence the approach to relationships and work at HNI:
Components of Learning
Program Duration
July 2025 to December 2025
Timelines
Applications are now open!
Intake conversations: 12th May – 12th June 2025
Ask me anything session : 20th May 2025, 5:30-6:45 PM
Last Date for Applications: 10th June 2025
Announcement of finalised list of participants: 16th June 2025
Who is this for?
Former participants have found UNREAD to be a space where the theoretical becomes tangible: a place to explore how formal training translates into practice, what a community-rooted approach looks like, and to understand their therapeutic inclinations. UNREAD helps to develop perspectives for therapeutic settings and community work, and can complement work in other fields that are intersections of mental health & society by encouraging the development of a holistic view of community and mental health.
Academic Background:
We welcome applicants from various academic disciplines. People who have been involved in working with communities or see themselves being engaged in it in future are encouraged to apply.
Attitude:
We are inviting applications from those interested in
– learning to engage with people as people
– exploring mental health care beyond the conventions
– developing a community based systemic approach to mental health
– reflecting on the impact of their own power, position, and privilege within a system
– engaging in their own personal therapy.
Exclusion Criteria:
– People doing a full-time job or an inflexible part-time job
– People engaged in another intensive learning programme
– People looking for a clinical training will not be satisfied by this programme.
– We do not encourage individuals who are currently in therapy at HNI or those who share other sensitive boundaries with existing therapy seekers/therapists at HNI to join UNREAD in order to maintain the safety that comes with keeping these boundaries intact. However, if you have terminated therapy 2 years ago with no contact with your therapist, you could apply for UNREAD with the awareness that this will take away the opportunity to resume therapy with the same therapist in the future, if needed. Like other nuanced aspects, this can be a longer conversation that we have during the intake conversation.
Financial Investment
Sliding Scale: ₹10,000 – 16,000 + experiential group fee / month
FAQs
1. What is the duration of the program?
6 months – July 2025 to December 2025.
2. What is the application and selection process?
Once you fill out the application form, you will receive the date and time to meet us for an intake conversation. This conversation with the HNI staff team will be focused on getting to know you better, discussing your responses on the application form, and understanding your journey so far. It is also a space to respond to your concerns and anxieties about the program, and help you assess whether UNREAD is the right step for you.
3. Who can join UNREAD?
It is open to anyone who meets the eligibility criteria, who is willing to commit to the community for 6 months, and is not a patient at HNI or does not have a boundary conflict with an existing patient or therapist at HNI.
4. What are the topics covered during the program?
The program will focus on groups, communities and systems. Some topics that will be addressed will include Self & The Individual, Self in Community & Challenges, Processes in Group/Community, Communication, Relationships, Working with Grief and Loss, Death & Endings.
5. Does participating in UNREAD ensure employment at HNI post-completion?
Being a part of UNREAD does not confirm your employment. Depending on the hiring needs of the organisation in the coming year, the selection is based on mutual feedback and assessment of the team’s and applicant’s experiences with each other during the training.
6. Do I have to pay for the program?
Yes. We are offering a sliding scale with the intent to make this affordable for people from varied financial backgrounds. The fee ranges from ₹10,000 to ₹16,000 per month. Each participant will also be required to engage in the experiential group as part of their learning experiences and will need to bear the cost for the same independently
We have done our best to keep the fee at the lowest end possible. As there are no external sources of funding to support this program as yet, we are unable to offer any scholarships.
7. Do I have to relocate for the program?
No. UNREAD is being held online for 2025. All you need is a room of your own and good internet connection. You can join team members in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore for in person weekly meetings if you are in these cities.
8. Does UNREAD qualify me as a psychotherapist?
Psychotherapy, unlike clinical psychology, is not yet a recognised licensed profession in the Indian mental healthcare system. Thus, UNREAD, while robust and application based, is not a qualifying course.
9. What are the timings of the program?
There is enough space for each participant to design their own week outside of the regular weekly spaces. Your time at UNREAD will be structured across 5 days a week. Most of the learning spaces will be accommodated between Mon-Fri from 08:30 AM – 08:30 PM with breaks through the day. Certain spaces and other ongoing programs like the community awareness events, alternative large group, webinars, and occasional informal meetings happen over the weekend as well. You can choose if you want to be a part of these or not.
10. Can I participate in UNREAD in parts?
Participants will be required to complete all 6 months at the community in order to receive the certificate of completion. Since the program is revised each year, and components often overlap or follow through in continuation, it is not possible to attend it in parts.
11. Can I participate in UNREAD while pursuing my job or college?
We would advise against joining UNREAD if you have already committed to engaging in another program. UNREAD is designed to be a full time intensive program. Along with intellectual stimulation, it also places emotional and psychological demands on participants. Learning to work with others requires us to develop consistent awareness of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviour in a community set up. This means the time that is available for rest and leisure is also important for you to be able to absorb and digest all that has been churned up during the week.
12. I am in therapy at HNI/in private practice with a therapist from HNI. Can I still participate in UNREAD?
We do not encourage individuals who are currently in therapy at HNI or those who share other sensitive boundaries with existing therapy seekers/therapists at HNI to join UNREAD in order to maintain the safety that comes with keeping these boundaries intact. However, if you have terminated therapy 2 years ago with no contact with your therapist, you could apply for UNREAD with the awareness that this will take away the opportunity to resume therapy with the same therapist in the future, if needed. Like other nuanced aspects, this can be a longer conversation that we have during the intake conversation.
Contact
Simran Diwan : simran@hanknunninstitute.org
Please read everything above including the FAQs before making an informed choice to apply.
Testimonials
Shivaani
“It may sound cliché but I see my life in the before and after filter of UNREAD. It was shitty before, it is shitty now, the difference is I HAVE BECOME AWARE OF IT- my life, my role & initiative in it- I am not a mere passenger, I have the capability of being the sailor myself, maybe I already am, just need to start commanding it, owing it. I got to witness WHAT MY LIFE CAN BE LIKE, all my thoughts weren’t “khayali pulao” anymore, I EXPERIENCED how to feel the change, how to bring it, bare the tides and survive those that come along with it. Learning how to do assessments, clinical work, etc was the minutest part of it, but the major impacts were:
1. Feeling ready for the world- the ease with which I was able to make some decisions and in fact felt at ease when it surfaced in consciousness like becoming a private practitioner.
2. Experiencing what support feels like and community belongingness is NOT “ji hazuri of others”. It is becoming a part of the network where others fall, you hold, you fall and others hold and feeling of being an equal, a connected individual.
It is like melody chocolate- Khao aur khud jaan jao!
This program is a major event of my life and fills me with emotions everytime I think or have to share anything about it.”
Durga
“UNREAD was a self-exploratory journey that encouraged me to reflect on myself as a learner, an enthusiast to understand others, and a newcomer to being in a group. The group discussions taught me to critically think, question my own view, and deliver my own perspective in the conversation. The course taught me to break down mental health into an experience, beyond a label or a diagnostic description. This shifted my perspective, making me curious to understand the context behind the difficulties a person experiences, including mine.
The course was designed to be experiential through community meetings, therapeutic community, adjusting and confronting the realities of working collaboratively in groups through community projects and outreach work.
Expressing my feelings openly showed me the strength of vulnerability and the power of learning new ways to overcome my own distress. Our training sessions have left me with more questions and perspectives when we connected the learning material to our own lived experiences. The course symbolizes how learning can be about exploring ourselves, our narratives, and experiences by getting a glimpse of what we appear as in groups, as interactions unfold and we learn about ourselves through others.”
Yashika
“We must grope around each other through a dense thicket of absent others” When Janet Malcolm wrote this, she intended to summarise transference. Interactions had through the course of UNREAD entailed navigating through these dense thickets for me and how. The experience was instrumental in the creation of an internal environment, capable of facilitating a dialogue between conflicting needs and experiences, which is more than I can say for any other learning environment I have been in.
My wish for alone-ness and capacity for togetherness felt acknowledged across spaces and I learnt the importance of ‘responsibility without blame’, which is key to taking onus and learning. My journey was filled with ambiguity but HNI provided me a reparative experience and contributed to my development as a therapist. It is the kind of learning that is hard to put in words, it prepares you for life and reminds you that at any given point whatever you carry Is not just your own, but a shared experience. I have three degrees but what I learnt in these 6 months about myself and being a practitioner far exceeds anything I have ever learnt. Not perfect, but a ‘good enough’ environment is what it is. You’ll find parts of yourself buried deep within in the process and even if people don’t understand them, they will respect your journey and help you chisel out a version of yourself you never knew existed.”
Niharika
“The journey was filled with more questions than answers. It was like stepping into another universe where everything is governed by different laws. I was fascinated by the conversations here, from our community meetings to the training spaces to thinkatory to phooltympas (not to forget NRTFP, Chai logue, mosaic and green cloud, the spaces I am part of even today) I loved every bit of it. I also got to learn how to hold on to conversations in a space. I have always been a very distracted kid in school and college but this time around, instead of looking out the windows in a learning session, I managed to be the kid who stares at other people’s faces, be there for most of the conversation and rearrange everyone’s zoom screens by colour order rest of the time.
The first few months were especially overwhelming. Suddenly I was in a space where people wanted to hear from me. The process was full of learnings and unlearning. I had always thought about power from a distance, as something that people have and use but that was the first time, I realised that even I have some kind of power. As much as I learned new things, I also let go of my urge to always know everything, I learned to sit through the discomfort, learned that conflict doesn’t mean the end of the world and it can be resolved, I understood how important it is in relationships to have difficult conversations and still have that support and how with support comes accountability and responsibility. This time I wasn’t an outlaw or the one who just can’t fit in but an integral part of the group. I felt a sense of belongingness that I haven’t felt anywhere else.
To be honest, I still don’t have all the answers I was looking for but this time I am okay with not knowing all of it, I understand that there will always be more of something, more to learn, more to grow, more time to spend and more to discover and to create but just because there is more to go doesn’t mean I haven’t come far.”