27-28 February 2025, Colombo
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Program

27-28 February 2025

February 27th

Time

Plenary hall

Hall 2

Hall 3

8.00-9.00

Lobby

Registration & Welcome coffee/tea

9.00-9.45
Plenary hall

Opening of the conference

 
Sajeewana Amarasinghe  (Sri Lanka)
Charlene Sunkel (South Africa)
Thomas Schulze (Germany) 
Robert van Voren (Lithuania/The Netherlands)
9.45-10.15
Plenary hall

Guest Speaker

Promotion of Mental Health Care 2025

Norman Sartorius (Switzerland)

The Service User Perspective

10.15-11.15
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 1

Moderator Janet Anderson (UK)
 
11.15-11.45

 

Lobby

Coffee & tea break

11.45-13.15
Plenary hall

Symposium 1
Best Practices of Lived Experience Inclusion Across Sectors

Moderator Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

Hall 2

Workshop 1

Arts-based & visual participatory methodologies
Erminia Colucci (Italy / UK / Indonesia)
Anto Agus Sugianto (Indonesia)

Hall 3

Symposium 2

Reflecting on the Legacy of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Shaping Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services in Sri Lanka

Moderator Ananda Galappatti (Sri Lanka)
Mahesan Ganesan (Sri Lanka)
Gameela Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Kusala Wettasinghe (Sri Lanka)

13.15-14.30

Lobby

Lunch break

Mental Health Care in a Digital World

14.30-15.30
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 2

Moderator Janet Anderson (UK)

  • Building a Digital Future in Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities – Anil Thapliyal (New Zealand)

  • Building The Future of Severe Mental Health Care Using Virtual Reality – Farah Shiraz (Denmark)

15.30-16.00
Lobby

Coffee & tea break

Poster presentations

  • Victimization of Women with Disabilities in Lithuania – Dovile Juodkaite
  • Development of a Virtual Reality Application for Remote Exposure Therapy in Social Anxiety Disorder – Katarina Adamcova
  • A Participatory Approach to Developing Adolescent Support Groups: Lessons From a Community-Based Intervention – Prasith Jayatilake  
  • Prevalence of Depression, Loneliness And Associated Factors Among The Medical Students in Bangladesh – Zarin Tasnim Maliha
  • Prevalence And Associated Factors of Depression and Anxiety Among Women Seeking Online Professional Mental Healthcare Services in Bangladesh – Kamrun Nahar Koly
  • Exploring Attitudes and Knowledge About Alternatives to Coercion in Georgia – Rusudan Badriashvili

  • Developing a Holistic Wellness Program For a Diverse Student Body at an All-Women’s University – Syeda Fatema Alam

16.00-17.30
Plenary hall

Symposium 3
The Samopomoch/Samopomich Program

Moderator Robert van Voren (Lithuania / The Netherlands)

Hall 2

Workshop 2

Virtual Reality in Mental Health Care Delivery

Farah Shiraz (Denmark)

Hall 3

Symposium 4

Mental Health in a Digital World

Remke van Staveren (The Netherlands)

  • Navigating New Challenges and Innovations in the Digital Age – Aparna Joshi (India)
  • ENGAGE: Developing & Implementing an E-Learning Course to Enable School Teachers as Gatekeepers for Preventing Adolescent Suicides in Chhattisgarh, India – Swetha Ranganathan (India)
  • Challenges Faced by Public Sector Psychiatrists While Placing a Person on a Community Treatment Order (CTO) – Mohan Isaac (Bangladesh)
  • Outlive Chat – a Chat-Based Peer Support Program for Urban Youth Suicide Prevention in India – Chetana Iyer (India)
  • Healing the Unheard – Gengaa Vijayaraghavan (India)
17.30-17.35

Logistical break

17.35-18.35
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 3

Moderator Janet Anderson (UK)

18.35-18.40

Logistical break

18.40-19.40
Plenary hall

Symposium 5

The Mental Health E-learning Program in The Netherlands
Moderator Robert van Voren (Lithuania/The Netherlands)

Arjan Pronk (The Netherlands)
Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

Jayani Masthoff (The Netherlands)

Hall 2

Workshop 3

Mental Health Care in a Digital World

M Tasdik Hasan (Australia)
Hall 3

Symposium 6
Digital Interventions for Substance Use Disorders in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and in India

Moderator Shehan Williams (Sri Lanka)

  • Roshan Bhad (India)
  • Telepsychiatry & Digital Intervention for Substance Use in Pakistan – Sabahat Hameed (Pakistan)
  • Amila Isuru (Sri Lanka)

20.00-21.30
Firebeach Restaurant, Galle Face Hotel

Reception – 45 years FGIP

February 28th

Time

Plenary hall

Hall 2

Hall 3

8.00-9.00
Lobby

Registration & Welcome coffee/tea

9.00-10.00
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 4

Moderator: Janet Anderson (UK)

10.00-10.05

Logistical break

Current Challenges in Metal Health

10.05-11.35
Plenary hall

Symposium 7

Psychiatric Services in Sri Lanka – Challenges and Opportunities

Moderator Shehan Williams (Sri Lanka)

Sajeewana Amarasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Malsha Gunathilake (Sri Lanka)
Swarna Wijetunga (Sri Lanka)
Pushpa De Silva (Sri Lanka)
S.Sivathas (Sri Lanka)
Hall 2

Symposium 8
New Approaches in Mental Health

Moderator Petr Winkler (Czech Republic)

  • Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)
  • Rethinking Therapy Approaches for Eating Disorder Patients – Brigita Baks (Lithuania)
  • Human Righs and Mental Health: Insights from the Lithuanian Experience – Karile Levickaite (Lithuania)
  • Martynas Marcinkevicius (Lithuania)
  • Valentina Hristakeva (Bulgaria)
Hall 3

10.05-13.00

Course on Telepsychiatry
Special CME course by Davor Mucic (for
maximum 50 participants)
11.35-12.00
Lobby

Coffee & tea break

Poster Presentations

  • The Use of the Co-Design Approach to Tailor an Mhealth Intervetion Aimed at Improving Well-Being of Individuals With Obesity: a Qualitative Pilot Study of the Digiwell Project – Marcela Ely                       
  • Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Patients’ Psychosocial Wellbeing One Year Post-Procedure: a Qualitative Study of the Digiwell Project – Veronika Horka               
  • Exploring Boundaries in Online Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Therapist Experiences in India with Survey Insights – Bhawna Sharma
  • Online Cognitive Training and Well-Being Measurement in the Ageing Population – Natalie Nevrelova
  • Enhancing Frontline Mental Health Support: the Experience of Implementing Basic Psychosocial Skills E-Learning Course for Three Asian Countries – Nithila Theivendran
  • ‘Manshu And Lost Prophecy’: Building an Online Game for Social-Emotional Learning in Sri Lanka – Ananda Galappatti

  • Building Mental Health Literacy in Young Adolescents: Student Perspectives on Implementation Fidelity of a Universal Intervention Delivered Within a Randomized Controlled Trial in Czechia – Anna Kågström     

     

12.00-13.00
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 5
Moderator: Janet Anderson (UK)

Erminia Colucci (Italy / UK / Indonesia)
Shekhar Saxena (Switzerland)
13.00-14.15
Lobby

Lunch break

14.15-15.30
Plenary hall

Film

Moderator George Szmukler (UK)

Warak Keruon: Healing the Mothers of Lost Souls.

By Erminia Colucci (Italy / UK / Indonesia)

Followed by discussion

Hall 2

Symposium 9

New Approaches in Mental Health Care

Moderator Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

  • Nicole Votruba (United Kingdom)
  • Sambasivamoorthy Sivayokan (Sri Lanka)
  • BEING – A participatory landscape analysis of Youth Mental Health in India – Soumitra Pathare (India)
  • Rehan Meemaduma (Sri lanka
Hall 3

Symposium 10

Transforming Mental Health Systems for Vulnerable Populations: Lessons from The Banyan’s Work in India

Deepika Easwaran (India)
Kishore Kumar KV  (India)
Lakshmi Narasimhan  (India)
Vandana Gopikumar  (India)

15.30-16.00

Coffee & tea break

Mental Health Ethics and Human Rights

16.00-17.00
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 6

Mental Health Ethics and Human Rights

Moderator: Marianne Schulze (Austria)
Harry Minas (Australia)
Dovile Juodkaite (Lithuania)
Hall 3

16.00-18.30

Leadership meeting for young professionals

Meeting Early Career Psychiatrists

Norman Sartorius (Switzerland)

17.00-17.30
Lobby

Coffee & tea break

17.30-18.30
Plenary hall

Symposium 11

Mental Health Ethics and Human Rights

Moderator Petr Winkler (Czech Republic)

  • Atmiyata: Rights Based Community Mental Health Care – Jasmine Kalha (India)
  • Stigmantisation of Mental Illness – Anto Agus Sugianto (Indonesia)
  • Marianne Schulze (Austria)
Hall 2

Workshop 4
The implications of CRPD

Moderator Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

 

18.30-18.35

Logistical break

18.35-19.30
Plenary hall

Commemorating Sally Hulugalle

19.30-19.45
Plenary hall

Closing of the conference

Speakers

All Speakers
© Rethinking Mental Health Care 2025
International conference RETHINKING MENTAL HEALTH CARE. Navigating New Challenges and Innovations in the Digital Age

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