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)
Anto Agus Sugianto (Indonesia)
Remke van Staveren (The Netherlands)
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)

  • Global Perspective on LE Inclusion: GMHPN Experiences and Opportunities through a Virtual Platform – Sandra Ferreira (South Africa) 
  • Agus Hassan Hidayat (Indonesia)
  • LE in Policy and Law Reform – Mujataba Noorul Hussein (India)
  • Parth Sharma (India)
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)
  • Farah Shiraz (Denmark)
15.30-16.00
Lobby

Coffee & tea break

16.00-17.30
Plenary hall

Symposium 3
The Samopomoch/Samopomich Program

Moderator Robert van Voren (Lithuania / The Netherlands)

  • Petr Winkler (Czech Republic)
  • Capacity Building and Trauma-Informed Service Development for Ukraine and Belarus: Lessons Learned – Nino Makhashvili (Georgia)
  • Digital Mental Health Service for Survivors of Political Oppression and War – Jana Javakhishvili (Georgia)
  • Managing Two Projects on Rendering Online Psychological Support: Samopomoch (Belarus) and Samopomich (Ukraine) – Julia Piievska (Ukraine)
Hall 2

Workshop 2

Virtual Reality in Mental Health Care Delivery

Farah Shiraz (Denmark)

Hall 3

Symposium 4

Mental Health in a Digital World

Moderator Petr Winkler (Czech Republic)

  • 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)
  • Gengaa Vijayaraghavan (India)
17.30-17.35

Logistical break

17.35-18.35
Plenary hall

Keynote Panel 3

Moderator Janet Anderson (UK)

  • M Tasdik Hassan (Australia)
  • The Algorithm Keeps The Score: Investigating Power, Reciprocity, and Justice in the Design of Digital Mental Health Tools – Sachin Pense (India)

 

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

Hearing Who Doesn’t Hear: Co-designing Digital Mental Health Interventions for Deaf People

M Tasdik Hassan (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
Lobby

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)

  • Digital Mental Health – Smriti Joshi (India)
  • Advancements in Telepsychiatry – Davor Mucic (Denmark)

 

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

10.05-12.45

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

Coffee & tea break

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 Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

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 George Szmukler (UK)

  • Nicole Votruba (United Kingdom)
  • Sambasivamooorthy 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

Moderator: Marianne Schulze (Austria)
Harry Minas (Australia)
Dovile Juodkaite (Lithuania)
Hall 2

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)
  • Reimagining Mental Health Advocacy: Empowering Change Through Lived Experience  Empowerment and Social Media Engagement – Anto Agus Sugianto (Indonesia)
  • Marianne Schulze (Austria)
Hall 2

Workshop 4
The implications of CRPD

Moderator Rob Keukens (The Netherlands)

George Szmukler (UK)
Dovile Juodkaite (Lithuania)
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

19.45-21.00

Lobby

Farewell gathering

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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