Dismantling Harm at Every Level
Oppressive systems don’t change themselves. Real transformation requires multifaceted interventions from global health infrastructure to grassroots organizing to individual acts of protection. My reform work spans three interconnected spheres, each challenging harmful institutions while building alternatives rooted in dignity and justice.
A Vision for Liberation
From directing global health funding to co-authoring legislation to writing a single letter that keeps a child out of the system. This is what it means to challenge oppression at every scale. Dr. Rupi’s systems reform work refuses the false choice between “big picture” change and individual protection. Both are necessary. Both are urgent. Both are happening now.
Global Health Perspectives
Building Equitable Mental Health Infrastructure Worldwide
Leading international mental health initiatives that center equity and community sovereignty. Dr. Rupi’s global work includes clinical practice in Haiti and directing multimillion dollar grant funding toward locally-driven care models that refuse the imposition of Western psychiatric frameworks. This work recognizes that mental health cannot be exported it must be built with communities, not for them.
Key Initiatives:
- Clinical mental health work in Haiti centered on community partnerships
- Leadership in directing major grant funding toward equitable, culturally-grounded care models
Policy & Grassroots Leadership
Advancing Legislative Reform and Community Power
Challenging carceral systems through legislative advocacy and community organizing. Dr. Rupi co-founded RISE Justice Labs and champions the SHIELD Act legislation designed to protect families from punitive state interventions disguised as care. Her work with Movement for Family Power actively resists the family policing system and centers the voices of those most impacted by institutional violence.
Key Initiatives:
- Principal Promoter, CA SHIELD Act—Watch Dr. Rupi explain the legislation | Sign the Change.org petition
- Advisory Board Member, Movement for Family Power to dismantle family policing
- Recipient of the 2024 Rise Justice Labs Changemaker Prize
Individual Advocacy
Disrupting Institutional Harm, One Individual at a Time
Using psychiatric expertise as a tool of protection rather than punishment, Dr. Rupi writes advocacy letters and provides expert testimony for court and school proceedings, shielding individuals from systems designed to control and criminalize them. This work recognizes that systemic change also requires defending people in the present refusing to wait for reform while lives hang in the balance.
Services Include:
- Expert letters for court proceedings
- School advocacy and IEP support
- Documentation that protects rather than criminalizes
- Hospitals Without Walls (needs a name-ish…)