Events

Dear All,
It gives me great pleasure to present the 1st issue of the Samutthána Newsletter for this year. The idea of this newsletter is to share with all, the work that we do, as a whole for the betterment of this country. We are what I would call the "Baby" in the Humanitarian Agencies sector, having just completed our first year on the 26th of May. Therefore, we have a long way to go and your feedback on our activities as well as your contributions will be greatly appreciated.

Shikanthini Varma Attanayake
Centre Manager

DIARY 2007

Activities this year ….
A two day workshop on "Managing Abused Children" was conducted by Dr Anula Nikapota, Senior Tutor, Institute of Psychiatry - King's College, London & Emeritus Consultant Child Psychiatrist - South London & Maudsley NHS Trust, London, on the 17th & 18th January at the Resource Centre.

A follow up session / supervision was done by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Senior Lecturer South London & Maudsley NHS Trust & Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London at Samutthana Colombo on the 25th January.

A workshop on "Trauma & Mourning" conducted by Dr Barbara Preitler, Assistance Professor - Dept of Psychology, University of Klagenfurt, Austria was held at the Centre on the 7th of February.

A follow up session / supervision was done by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne, Video link via Skype on the 22nd February.

A two day workshop - "Need Assessments & Advance Therapies" was conducted by Mr Padmal de Silva, Hon Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London on the 27th and 28th of February at The Church of St Paul the Apostle, Col 10.

Mr Padmal de Silva conducted a workshop in Kandy on "Working with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder & Jealousy" in collaboration with Shakthi Niketana on the 2nd of March.

A workshop on "Helping people with Psychological Problems" was conducted by Mr Padmal de Silva on the 8th of March at the Centre.

A supervision/workshop was conducted by Dr Anula Nikapota on "Working with Abused Children" on the 31st of March at Samutthana, Colombo.

A follow up/workshop & supervision was conducted by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne on "Working with Alcohol Problems" at Samutthana, Colombo on the 3rd of May.

"Introduction to Motivational Interviewing" by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne was held on the 4th of May at the Colombo Centre.

On the 9th of May, Samutthána organised a workshop "Issues in Stress counselling" for Members of the "Rebuilding Lives" Project at Seenigama which was conducted by Mr Padmal de Silva, Hon Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London.

9th & 10th of May also, Samutthana organised a workshop conducted by Dr Rachel Tribe & Dr Harriet Calvert at Shakthi Nikethana Kandy on "Working with families & Children".

Samutthána had their annual International Conference "Renewal & Regeneration" between 11th &13th May at the SLFI. His Excellency, Mr Dominick Chilcott graced the event as the Guest of Honour. There were over 29 Presenters & Speakers from 9 different countries & approximately 15 Humanitarian Agencies/Organizations. An average of 135 participants represented most Humanitarian Agencies, INGO's & NGO's. The theme was, Preparedness for Disaster, Medium Term Interventions Post Disaster & Review of Outcome Post Tsunami and Preparedness for Peace & Post Conflict.

We also marked our 1st year anniversary by organizing a workshop "Managing Energy & Wellbeing" at the Samutthána Resource Centre, on the 27th of May. This was conducted by Dr Bill Mitchell & Karen Roberts MsC of Mitchell Practice, UK.

June 22nd	Workshop on Alcohol & Substance abuse (Hambantota) - Mr Duminda Wanigasekera
July 16th	Workshop on Counselling with special reference to "Suicidal Patients & Those with Addictions" - Dr Rachel Tribe & Mr Padmal de Silva for the Holy Family Counselling Group, Colombo 4.
July 18th	Workshop on "Stress Management" (Batticaloa) - Dr Rachel Tribe
July 19th	Workshop on in collaboration with Shakthi Niketana at Kandy - Prof William Yule
	Workshop on "Work life balance" (Matara) - Dr Rachel Tribe
July 20 - 23th	BESU Higher Level Training for Teachers in collaboration with GTZ at Ambepussa - Prof William Yule
July 24th	Workshop on "Working with Sexual Problems" at Samutthana - Dr Thiloma Munasinghe & Mr Padmal de Silva
August 1st	Supervision - Working with Alcohol/Substance problems (Colombo) - Dr Shamil Wanigaratne
August 3rd	Workshop on Supervision and "Ethics in Counselling" - Mr Steven Cogill & Dr Shamil Wanigaratne.
August 6th	Workshop on "Dealing with Alcohol & Drug Misuse" - Dr Shamil Wanigaratne
August 13 - 14th	Workshop on "Common Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders" - Full Day at Samutthana - Dr Shanthy Parameswaran
August 15th	Consultations/Supervision - Samutthana - Dr Shanthy Parameswaran
August 21st - 22nd	Workshop on "Common Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders" - Full Day at Galle - Dr Shanthy Parameswaran
September 8th	Supervision Session by Mr Padmal de Silva at Seenigama exclusive for the Counsellors of the Rebuilding Lives
	Seminar - The Nature & Detection of Mr Padmal de Silva at Seenigama. Exclusive for the staff of "Goodness Centre" & Rebuilding Lives Project
September 11th	Workshop on "Psychological Disorders" by Mr Padmal de Silva & Prof R. Tribe at Matara, Polhena Reef Hotel
September 13,14,16&17th	BESU Higher Level Training for teachers by Prof William Yule in collaboration with GTZ in Colombo
September 13th	Program Against Violence by Ms Rudrathevi &Team from ESCO at Batticaloa Teaching Hospital Auditorium
September 14th	Workshop on "How to work with Children in IDP Camps" by Ms Selvika Sahathevan at the Batticaloa Centre
September 21st	Presentation "Helping Traumatised Children" Prof. Bill Yule at the CHA, Colombo. Exclusive for PSF General Meeting
September 24-25th	Enhancing Skills in Mental Health Nursing by Mr William McGowan, Brighton University UK Mr Duminda Wanigasekera and Dr Shamil Wanigaratne at the CHA, Galle. Exclusive for Nurses Union
September 27-28th	Enhancing Skills in Mental Health Nursing by Mr William McGowan, Brighton University UK Mr Duminda Wanigasekera and Dr Shamil Wanigaratne at Samutthana . Exclusive for Nurses Union.
September 28th	Workshop on "Misuse of Drugs & Alcohol" by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne at the General Hospital Auditorium, exclusive for Nurses of Ward 59 (Tentative)

Follow up workshops / supervision on Working with Alcohol Problems are conducted by Dr Shamil Wanigaratne, every month via video link at the Centre.

HAPPENINGS " A warm welcome to Dr M Ganesan & Ms Isuri Dharmaratne Roche to our Board of Directors " We also warmly welcome our new Site Manager for Batticaloa, Mrs Selvika Sahathevan & Thank Mr Kumar (Mangrove) our ex-Site Manager, for his work with us.