SECP-Registered Mental Health Enterprise
Decolonizing Psychotherapy in Pakistan
Manttaq exists to indigenize clinical psychology practice in Pakistan, making quality mental health care accessible to marginalized communities who have been historically excluded. We provide inclusive psychotherapy services, culturally-informed professional training, and community-building initiatives that challenge Western-dominated narratives in mental health.
Rooted in culture. Designed for healing. Built for community.
Manttaq works at the intersection of mental health, therapeutic services, education, research, professional training, and community outreach. We place psychological difficulty in its cultural context, drawing on local practices and knowledge to make care meaningful to the people receiving it.
8
Years of Clinical Practice
5
Correctional Settings Engaged
5
Areas of Service
SECP
Registered Organization
What We Do
Services
Therapeutic Services
Accessible, low-cost psychological support delivered through collaborative clinical arrangements, including the Centre for Clinical Psychology and Fairway Clinic.
Education & Training
Workshops, internships, professional development, and capacity building for students and practising psychologists.
Research
Ethically rigorous, socially relevant research with diverse and marginalized populations whose experience is rarely represented.
Community Outreach
Mental health camps and psychosocial programmes that take psychological knowledge into underserved communities.
Culturally Responsive Psychology
Exploring locally meaningful approaches to wellbeing, and questioning the culturally uninformed application of imported therapeutic models.
Our Philosophy
Making Psychology Locally Meaningful
Decolonizing psychotherapy does not mean rejecting established psychological science. It means questioning the culturally uninformed application of therapeutic models, and asking how evidence-based practice can become more responsive to the realities of local people.
We seek to engage with local cultures and communities; indigenous and community knowledge; Punjabi culture and local narratives; local languages and expressions of distress; art, storytelling, music, and literature; and collective, family-based understandings of wellbeing.
Our Work in Practice
Across Clinics, Classrooms, Prisons and Communities
Who We Work With
Where Mental Health Needs Are Often Overlooked
- People in prisons and correctional settings, including juvenile offenders
- Individuals living with HIV
- People experiencing substance use disorders
- Patients in mental health institutions
- Sexual and religious minorities, for whom we work to create safe spaces
- Underserved and low-income communities
- Students and early-career psychologists
- Prison psychologists and frontline staff facing burnout
We serve all people regardless of age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or religious background.
Founder
Ms. Sara Ishaq
Clinical Psychologist at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Clinical Placement Supervisor at the University of the Punjab, and formerly Correctional Psychologist at District Prison, Okara. Sara founded Manttaq after roughly eight years of practice across clinical, academic, government, correctional, and community mental health settings.
She holds a BS in Applied Psychology and an MS in Clinical Psychology, both from the University of the Punjab, and has served as visiting faculty at the University of the Punjab, the University of Central Punjab, and Government College University, Lahore.
Psychology in Conversation with Ideas
The Manttaq Learning Space
Psychology becomes richer when it engages with the broader questions explored through philosophy, literature, art, and culture. Through our Book Club and Learning Space, people from diverse backgrounds come together for book discussions, philosophical dialogue, and interdisciplinary conversation.
Our Collaborative Network
Working Across Institutions and Communities
Centre for Clinical Psychology, University of the Punjab • Punjab Institute of Mental Health • Punjab Prisons Department • Camp Jail, Lahore • Hafizabad Jail • Okara Jail • Prison Headquarters • Fairway Clinic • Government and private universities
Mental health should not depend on whether you can afford private treatment.
Whether you are seeking support, looking for training, proposing a collaboration, or interested in our research, we would like to hear from you.