Team

The Parenting Matters team has 10 facilitators who are certified parent educators (certified under guidance of Ruth Beaglehole, M.A., Founder of Echo Parenting and Education, Los Angeles) including two experienced counsellors, a psychology major and a professional social worker. The whole team has recently completed a 2 level advanced certification for being inner child practitioners with renowned author and psychotherapist Robin Grille ( Australia).  All facilitators have worked in conducting workshops and running long-term programs with parent groups in schools,neighbourhoods and in business organisations.

team pic

L to R (top) : Mala, Mrinalini, Sujata, Renuka, Sunitha, Seemanthini, Shalini, Kesang

L to R ( bottom) : Samanta, Snigdha, Prerna

Facilitators

  • Prerna Kalra
  • Sujata Vasant Dewaji
  • Sunitha R.
  • Seemanthini Iyer
  • Renuka Kumar
  • Snigdha Chavan
  • Samanta Dandapani
  • Mrinalini Ponappa Banerjea
  • Kesang Menezes
  • Mala Saharia

  • Prerna Kalra

    CEO, Parent Educator and Inner Child Practitioner

    Prerna is a certified Parent Educator trained by Ruth Beaglehole, founder of Parenting with Nonviolence (USA), and has also trained in Nonviolent Communication. She is a certified Inner Child Practitioner under Robin Grille (Australia), deepening her understanding of emotional healing and self-awareness in parenting.

    Since 2006, Prerna has been facilitating parenting programs across schools, business organizations, and community settings. Fluent in both English and Hindi, she connects with a diverse range of parents through engaging, relevant sessions. As the CEO of Parenting Matters, she leads program development, mentors new facilitators, and explores creative ways to expand access to parent education.In addition to group sessions, Prerna offers one-on-one coaching for parents and caregivers, supporting them through the ups and downs of their parenting journeys. She has been a TEDx speaker, written for leading newspapers, and hosted radio conversations focused on parenting. Passionate about transforming how adults relate to children, she believes parenting is a skill that can be learned and refined—and that every parent deserves support.

    Prerna is the mother of two young adults—a 24-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son—who continue to inspire and deepen her parenting insights. Outside of work, she enjoys beach walks, painting, reading, and spending time with friends.




  • Sujata Vasant Dewaji

    Sujata has a Parent Educator & Train the Trainer certification by inspirational leader in parent education - Ruth Beaglehole, Founder of the Center for Nonviolent Education & Parenting (USA) and Inner Child Practitioner certification by Robin Grille, renowned Australian psychotherapist and author. She is also trained in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a foundational approach in her work.These influences have deeply shaped the organization’s approach to “Parenting with Connection,” helping her support families in nurturing strong, respectful, and empathetic relationships with their children.
    At Parenting Matters, Sujata plays a key role in content development, mentoring and training new parent educators, writing for magazines and newspapers, and even lending her voice to radio programs that spread awareness on conscious parenting. She also leads the Schools Outreach Program, collaborating with educators to foster nurturing school environments that support children both at home and in the classroom.She has facilitated a wide range of parenting programs—from expectant parents to those raising adolescents. One of her most cherished experiences was working with a long-term parent group over three years, witnessing the powerful transformation that comes from shared learning and reflection. In addition to group work, Sujata offers personalized one-on-one sessions, creating safe spaces for parents to explore challenges and find confidence and clarity in their parenting journey.
    Her two children and husband are an integral part of a continually evolving quartet. Reading, journaling, jigsawing puzzling and watching films are her favourite pastimes. Her one consistent practice is mindfulness and finding spaces to reconnect with her body and mind. Through her work, Sujata invites all parents and caregivers to embrace the beautiful, messy, and unpredictable journey of raising children—with compassion, curiosity, and connection.







  • Sunitha R.

    • Certified Parent Educator with training from Echo Parenting(USA) 
    • ‘Train the Trainer’ Certification from Ruth Beaglehole (USA)
    • Certified Inner Child Practitioner, Robin Grille (Australia) 
    • Trained in Nonviolent Communication and a Certified Reiki Grand Master

    Sunitha’s journey as a parent educator began with deep empathy for children facing emotional challenges. She believes every child deserves a strong, supportive relationship with their parents, as this forms the foundation for emotional resilience. This core belief fuels her passion for promoting parenting with connection. Since 2008, she has been an active part of Parenting Matters, facilitating workshops and training programs for parents, caregivers, and educators. She conducts bilingual sessions in English and Tamil, reaching a diverse audience from toddler to teen parents. As the COO, she leads the organization’s CSR Outreach and Tamil Projects, creates innovative content, mentors new facilitators, and drives the ‘Train the Trainer’ program.Sunitha also offers personalized one-on-one parenting and Inner Child Healing sessions. She has been featured in online talks, radio shows, and well-known publications.For her, this work is more than a career—it’s a mission to make parent education accessible across all socio-economic backgrounds. She has led initiatives to bring this work to under-resourced communities, especially in North Chennai, through collaborations with government and NGOs. Raising her own twin children, who are vastly different, has deepened her belief in every child’s uniqueness. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, alternative healing, meditation, and romance thrillers.




  • Seemanthini Iyer


    Seemanthini Iyer has a Masters in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and was in the Banking sector before choosing to be a stay at home mum after the birth of her first child. Her second child followed soon after and this was followed by a move back to India where providentially she got to know about Parenting Matters and the work they do. Following their work with great interest, she joined the team in 2015 when her younger one started preschool.

    After seeing the impact of the work and how valuable and practical the knowledge shared was, as a participant, she knew that this was a field and an organisation she would love to be a part of and found her passion for it very naturally.

    She finds the vision of empowering parents, very inspiring and believes that supporting parents through this crucial role is important both for parents and the children and derives immense satisfaction from this work as she believes that this is her teensy contribution towards making the world a better place for the coming generations.

    Coming towards the successful completion of her intensive training she has begun facilitation and is looking forward very eagerly to her certification!

  • Renuka Kumar

    Renuka, an economics honours graduate with an MBA degree started her parenting journey in 1998 with the arrival of her daughter. She soon realised the challenges and was looking for better ways of parenting.  She attended Parenting Matters courses and found remarkable changes in her relationship with her child. Her children are young adults now and she is grateful to Parenting Matters for transforming her life. 


    Renuka is trained by Ruth Beaglehole, the Founder of the Center for Nonviolent Education & Parenting (USA). She has also completed an advanced certification as an Inner Child Practitioner with  Robin Grille, a renowned Psychotherapist from Australia.


    Currently Renuka takes care of  PR and marketing for Parenting Matters along with other team members. 




  • Snigdha Chavan

    Snigdha Chavan is a Certified Parent Educator trained by Ruth Beaglehole (USA) and an Inner Child Practitioner trained by Robin Grille (Australia). She began her career as a Chartered Accountant with PWC, but her journey took a meaningful turn after she became a parent. A transformative parenting workshop inspired her to explore the philosophy of connection-based parenting, leading her to join the Parenting Matters team as a facilitator.

    Since 2013, Snigdha has been conducting parenting workshops and offering one-on-one sessions, supporting parents in building deeper, more empathetic relationships with their children. As a mother of two boys, she blends her professional expertise with real-life experience, helping families navigate the ups and downs of parenting with warmth, insight, and compassion.



  • Samanta Dandapani started her work with young human beings as a special educator, teaching children with learning disabilities and children on the spectrum, for over 9 years.

    She has a Masters in Special Education (Learning Disabilities) from University of Minnesota.    In her current avatar, Samanta is working with parents, helping them parent their children with connection.

    She is a certified parent educator with training in Parenting with Nonviolence from Ruth Beaglehole (USA), and Inner Child Healing with Robin Grille (Australia). At Parenting Matters she has been helping spread the message and educate parents since 2018, and she has been actively facilitating parenting programs from 2022.     Samanta has conducted programs in English and in Tamil, working on projects/collaborations with NGOs, and taking parent education to under resourced communities.

    Samanta is a mother to two young boys, and she cherishes her time with family. A committed life long reader, she also loves music and dancing.

  • Mrinalini Ponappa Banerjea

    Mrinalini is a certified Parent Educator from Echo Parenting and Education Los Angeles and an Inner Child Practitioner, trained by Robin Grille , Australia. She has also enjoyed exploring courses in Non Violent Communication.

    Over the past 15 years Mrinalini has loved facilitating sessions, researching content, writing and editing articles as well as blogs. Reaching out to parents and exploring ideas and learning from each group has inspired her continue working actively with parents.

    Mrinalini has a 5- year college education in social and child psychology. She believes that having conscious path to parenting helped her both as a person and a parent.

    She has two adult children, and throwing her head back and laughing with her children remains her parenting mantra.



  • Kesang Menezes Co-founder of Parenting Matters 

    Kesang began her career in education and rural development after earning her Master’s in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. However, becoming a parent opened her eyes to a startling gap - there is little structured support or guidance for today’s parents even though raising the next generation is one of the most important tasks they do in their lives. Determined to change this, she founded Parenting Matters in 2004, one of India’s first organisations dedicated to supporting parents in the Indian context and empowering them with knowledge rooted in neuroscience and child development research. 

    For over 20 years, she has led parenting groups, designed workshops, trained educators, and advocated for parenting education in schools, workplaces, and communities. She has been passionate about ensuring that parenting support is not just for a privileged few but reaches every strata of society. She has been part of a team that has partnered with government bodies and NGOs to bring parent education to under-resourced communities in Chennai. Kesang has been certified as a parent educator and trainer by Ruth Beaglehole, founder of the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting (USA). She is also a certified Inner Child Practitioner (Robin Grille, AUS) and has undergone training in Nonviolent Communication.Beyond her workshops, she has reached parents through radio and newspapers-  writing articles and running a parenting Q&A column. 

    She believes that when parents are supported, they nurture compassionate, connected families—creating a ripple effect that leads to a more peaceful and caring world. She lives in Goa, and is a mother of two daughters, now young adults, who continue to be her biggest teachers. When she’s not immersed in parent education, she can be found attempting to grow organic vegetables and experimenting in the kitchen with whatever the land offers.  




  • Mala Saharia

    Mala is a graduate in fine arts (B.F.A.), and a postgraduate in Education (B.Ed.), and has been a counsellor with Sanjivini Society of Mental Health, Delhi. She is a certified Parent Educator, trained by Ruth Beaglehole, founder of The Centre for Non-violence Education and Parenting, USA; an Inner Child Practitioner with advanced certification, trained by Robin Grille, Australia; and trained in Non-Violent Communication.

    She joined Parenting Matters, Chennai in 2007, introducing and conducting weekly workshops and sessions for parents of adolescent children.

     She now conducts personalized one-on-one counselling sessions, and Inner Child Healing sessions, supporting and helping Parents as they work through the challenges of parenting in today’s fast paced world.

    She continues to learn and grow in her parenting journey through her 2 adult children, their spouses, and her 2 grandchildren. They provide her fresh enrichment and an opportunity to learn and use her skills and keep up with the changing times.




Selection and Training of Facilitators

To become a facilitator with Parenting Matters, a prerequisite is to first attend our program as a participant parent for over a year, completing different levels of the program and using these skills in one’s life.

We believe that every facilitator must have the conviction of having used this approach and experienced its benefits. We then select one or two as trainees each year who show passion and interest in spreading these ideas to others and show potential in facilitating groups.

The next step is to undergo an intensive two-year training process within the organization observing groups and working under a mentor.

Ongoing Traning and Development

The initial training for the team was provided by the Centre for Montessori Training- Chennai. The team undergoes ongoing training in facilitation skills and personal growth by a senior professional member of ISABS (Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Sciences) who is also an Organization Development consultant with Oracle.

Additionally, all facilitators have attended workshops on using NVC (non violent communication) skills for harmonious communication in families at Joy Living and Learning Centre, Auroville. All facilitators take on tasks of preparing and updating content, reviewing methodology and working on new ways to facilitate learning.

Additionally, team members invest time in participating in new programs which help them work on and be more aware of their own parenting style.

The year 2013 was significant for Parenting Matters as the facilitators were certified as parent educators. The team had the privilege to be trained under Ruth Beaglehole, M.A., Founder of Echo Parenting and Education, Los Angeles.

Ruth Beaglehole is a Consultant, Trainer, Parent Educator and a Public Speaker. Ruth is an international trainer, taking the work of Nonviolence in Raising Children to communities in New Zealand, Japan, India and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. She was recognised as the National Association of Social Workers', California Chapter 2018, Public Citizen of the Year Award.