Open Access
Published: March 2026
Licence: CC BY-NC-4.0
Issue: Vol.21, No.1
00:49:28
March 2026
Cite this podcastGreen, D. (Host). (2026, March). When difference becomes divine: Ruchita Parekh talks to Deborah Green [Audio podcast]. JoCAT Podcasts. JoCAT. https://www.jocat-online.org/p-26-parekh-green
Ruchita Parekh
When difference becomes divine: Ruchita Parekh talks to Deborah Green
Recent graduate and emerging creative arts therapist, Ruchita Parakh, opens up to Deborah Green about her experiences of immigrating from India to Aotearoa New Zealand where she found creative arts therapy – and her calling. The two energetically scamper through a vast terrain of topics touching on extended family, immigration, loss of self, learning differences and dyslexia, academic expectations and self-belief, cultural adaptations, ESL, despair, finding a tribe of like-minded creatives, and ways in which cartooning, itchy-handed messiness, and mythology became places to re-discover her mini-me within the dark cracks and together emerge into flourishing. The tangled and tangential conversation and links to video circle around the core theme of embracing and celebrating difference as divine.
Some examples of Ruchita’s cartooning work, and the video mentioned in the podcast
About Ruchita Parekh
Ruchita is a registered creative arts therapist who loves colour, curiosity, and creative mess. She works in trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming ways and honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi in her practice. She is proudly dylexic, which means she thinks differently, creatively, and intuitively. Ruchita helps people of all ages explore emotions, relationships, and self expression through art, play, movement, and imagination – where healing often feels lighter, safer and even a little bit fun.