Dr Shamil Wanigaratne
D.Clin.Psych, FBPsS., FBABCP
Chair, UK-Sri Lanka Trauma Group

Dr. Shamil Wanigaratne is Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Senior Advisor to H.E. Director General at the National Rehabilitation Centre, Abu Dhabi. He is Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University and Visiting Associate, King’s College London. Until April 2011 he was Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Head of Clinical Psychology for Addictions at the Maudsley Hospital London.

He has worked as a psychologist in the field of Addiction since 1987 and has been involved in teaching and training psychologists and other health professionals, throughout his career. He has conducted research and published widely on psychological aspects of addiction. He was a founding member of the British Psychological Society’s Faculty of Addiction and was its Chair from 2000 to 2001. He co-founded the UK-Sri Lanka Trauma Group is currently its Chair. He is also Honorary Consultant to Mel Medura Addiction Treatment Centre, Colombo. In recognition of his contribution to his field and profession, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 2011. He was also elected as a Fellow of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists in 2017

Dr Isuri Roche Dharmaratne
PhD (Management and Science University, Malaysia),
CEMBA (Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration)

Dr. Isuri Dharmaratne’s experience was mainly in the Apparel buying/manufacturing Industry, holding over 15 years of experience, compassing over 10 years in senior managerial positions. From her 10th year on, she served in the Directorial Board of Ranaviru Apparels as a consultant, in which position she continues to serve at present intensely engaged in all executive operations including production, quality and procurement.

Dr. Isuri is also a Director of Samutthana, the King’s College London Resource Centre in Sri Lanka, for Trauma, Displacement and Mental health; an institute committed in delivering services on Mental Health Capacity Building. Dr. Isuri was invaluable in strengthening and contriving the preliminary operations of Samutthana in Colombo.

In her tenure as Country Manager/CEO/General Manager of Tomen Hot-Line (H.K.) Limited, Sri Lanka, she was instrumental in setting up the entire project from conceptual stage to completion. Tomen Hot-Line is the garment buying division of Tomen Corporation, Japan set up exclusively to service Nike Inc. of USA. She was potently involved in establishing business implementations and initiatives for Nike in Sri Lanka, for which today, accounts in an excess of US$ 50 million worth of National income per year. She also acquires a Commonwealth Master of Business Administration through the Open University of Sri Lanka, awarded by the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada.

Dr. Isuri obtained her PhD, in Business Management from the Management and Science University of Malaysia (MSU) in 2014. She currently serves as an academic advisor for the PhD Programme conducted by the Management and Science University, Malaysia. (MSU). In addition, she is being appointed as the Associate Dean (Research)- Business School at BMS, which represents three leading universities in UK, Leicester, Edinburg Napier and Northumbria University.Additionally, she is involved in the HR disciplines of Employee Engagement, Contemporary Human Resource Management, Research Methodology, People Resourcing, Critical Thinking and Strategy, and Leadership Development.

Dr. M. Ganesan MD (Psych)
Consultant Psychiatrist
National Institute of Mental Health – Angoda, Colombo
Sri Lanka.

Dr. Ganesan is currently a Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health, Angoda, Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was registered as a consultant psychiatrist in 1995.

Prior to his work at the National Mental Hospital, he worked extensively in the conflict and tsunami affected district of Batticaloa, in Eastern Sri Lanka where he was instrumental in developing a community mental health service model. He spent over nine years working in Batticaloa. Being the only Psychiatrist working in Batticaloa during that period, he was responsible for providing services for over 1.4 million people. There were hardly any services available as there had not been any psychiatrist in this region for over 20 years. He helped develop a model with minimum resources that has now been implemented and currently being carried out. It includes acute in-patient care units in hospitals with many outreach follow-up clinics and community work. He was instrumental in developing the concept of Gender Based Violence desk in Batticaloa district in 2005 and helped to establish similar services in five other hospitals in the Northeast region of the country.

The program also focuses on child protection, drug and alcohol abuse, psychosocial activities, developing services for the learning disabled children (intellectual disability) and more.

He also serves as a Board Member of Samutth?na (An Organization focusing mainly on Mental Health Capacity Building in Sri Lanka), Centre for Human Rights and Development, Survivors Associated and Global Initiative in Psychiatry (FGIP) Good practice group and patron of Ampara special needs network.

Mrs. A.V.S. Rekha Atththidiye Licensed clinical psychologist S.L.M.C. Reg. No. 19

She is currently working as an independent Clinical Psychologist whilst reading for her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She also does consultations in a few hospitals and a visiting psychologist at SLIIT. She was the former course coordinator for Masters of philosophy at the University of Colombo during the years of 2012 – 2016.

She completed her MA in Sociology at the University of Peradeniya in 2005; Masters of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology at the University of Colombo in 2012. She has also followed therapeutic studies on Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and Adolescence Psychosocial developmental and mental health.

She is a lecturer in Faculty of Graduate studies and Faculty of Education at University of Colombo, Faculty of medicine and Department of disability studies at University of Kelaniya, Moreover, she has been fortunate enough to have had worked in the entire gamut that is encapsulated by the workforce spectrum; as a consultant at local private organizations like Forte, to having worked with international NGO’s such as Room to Read, UNDP.

She is the author of Sinhala manual of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. She is also a qualified trainer for Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (Oxford University) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (University of San Diego).

Prof. P. Ravindra Fernando
MBBS, MD, FCCP, FCGP, FRCP (London), FRCP (Glasgow)
FRCP (Edinburgh), FRC Path (UK), DMJ (London)

He was instrumental in setting up the National Poisons Information Centre in the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, in 1988 (the first in South East Asia) and was its head from its inception for 20 years. He was a member of the INTOX program of the International Programme of Chemical Safety (ILO-UNEP-WHO) to prepare a computerized database on poisons, since its inception in 1988. He is a member of the WHO expert group on “Vector Biology and Control.” He is a Member of the senior advisory board to South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration (SACTRC) (South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration).

He has been active in the field of human rights and served as director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. He was also appointed chairman of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board and was a member of the Presidential Task Force on Child Abuse. He has worked as a consultant forensic pathologist, senior lecturer in the University of London and Glasgow. He was also a Home Office pathologist for England and Wales and a Crown Office pathologist for Scotland working in London Glasgow and Sheffield. He was regional secretary for Asia in the “World Federation of Associations of Clinical Toxicology and Poison in Control Centres” in 1990. He has been a member of United Nations and British forensic teams (investigating the Thai Airways crash in Nepal and war graves in Bosnia).

The late Anula Nikapota
FRC Psych
Consultant Child Psychiatrist

The late Anula Nikapota was a Senior Tutor (Honorary) in the Academic Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry. She was Programme Leader for the MSc. in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and for the Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry since 1991. Her main research interests include outcomes of service provision and cross cultural issues. She was Emeritus Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – South London and Maudsley Trust and worked in Lambeth (a deprived and multicultural area of South London) for 15 years, since 1991. A significant case load while working in Lambeth related to children who had experienced trauma/neglect/deprivation associated with parents who had mental health problems and/or problems of addiction. She has been a ‘Short-Term Consultant (STC)’ for both WHO and UNICEF for many years.

Prior to working in the UK, she was a child psychiatrist and senior lecturer with the University of Colombo. During this time she developed a Child-Mental Health programme within primary care in the country working with the Department of Health, with UNICEF and WHO support.
She continued writing and jointly edited a volume on “Mental Illness in Children and Adolescents”. She was also involved in training Mental Health Professionals overseas, particularly in Sri Lanka, Japan and Cambodia.

Ms Roshan Dhammapala

Psychologist / Educator

MSc in Clinical Psychology, BSc (Hons) in Psychology

Ms. Roshan Dhammapala has 21 years of experience as a practicing psychologist and educator.  She has an Honours degree in Psychology, an MSc in Clinical Psychology (University of Zimbabwe) and is registered with the Psychology Board of Australia.

She is presently a visiting lecturer for the Post Graduate Diploma and MA in Counselling and Psychosocial Support, and the MPhil in Clinical Psychology at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo. She is also a consultant to The Asia Foundation’s initiative to strengthen the State counselling services of the Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and consults to other non-government organisations strengthening mental health and psychosocial support to the community.  She also practices as a psychologist.

She has previously worked with community-based psychosocial initiatives in Mannar & Batticaloa (2004-2006), training of teacher counsellors in Uva, Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces in Sri Lanka (2014-2015), and in mental health services in Australia (2006-2012) and Zimbabwe (2000-2003)

Dr Nilanga Abeysinghe

Assisstant Professor / Counselling Psychologist

PhD in Counselling Psychology, Master of Counselling in Counselling Psychology, MSc in Applied Psychology, Clinical & Abnormal Psychology, BA  (Hons) in Psychology

Dr. Nilanga Abeysinghe is a seasoned academic and counselling psychologist with over 15 years of experience, currently serving as Assistant Professor and Head of the School of Psychology at the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT University, Malabe, Sri Lanka. Dr. Nilanga is an invaluable member of Samutthana’s Board of Directors, where he contributes his extensive expertise in mental health and psychosocial support.

In his academic role, Dr. Nilanga plays a key role in shaping graduate and undergraduate education in psychology, particularly in counselling psychology. As a psychologist and psychosocial practitioner, he provides compassionate support to adults, families, and children facing diverse challenges. Additionally, Dr. Nilanga actively promotes service quality through peer supervision and professional development activities among his peers, advancing the field’s standards.

Dr. Nilanga’s areas of specialization include psychology, research, psychosocial work, and counselling, enhancing Samutthana’s capacity to deliver impactful Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) across Sri Lanka.