Chandana Rathnayake
Practical counselling for meaning and recovery
About Chandana
Chandana Rathnayake helps people facing stress, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem and major life changes. He works with issues such as depression, addiction, relationship difficulties, parenting strains and trauma. Chandana also supports people dealing with anger, career uncertainty, compassion fatigue and ADHD.
He speaks English and Sinhala and practices from a background that spans different cultures. He trained in counselling and has practised since 2013, first in Malaysia and then in the United Kingdom from 2019.
Background and approach
He holds BACP and NCPS credentials. Those years of practice combine with earlier life experience that shapes how he works with clients. Chandana describes his style as collaborative and practical.
He draws on client-centred listening so people feel heard, and on systemic and internal family systems ideas to look at patterns. Existential viewpoints help when the main worry is meaning, purpose or direction in life. Sessions aim to turn painful or confusing experiences into material for rebuilding a life that feels more steady.
In sessions he encourages people to bring what they already have - memories, values and strengths - and to try small, workable steps between meetings. He frames setbacks and painful material as usable, not shameful. The tone is direct but compassionate, and the work moves at a pace the person prefers.
Chandana has ten years of counselling experience and a background that includes two decades of monastic life in Sri Lanka. He also works as a mental health adviser for young adults in higher education in the UK. To start, people complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
What Chandana works with
How Chandana works
Listed by Chandana among the ways they work.
Listed by Chandana among the ways they work.
Listed by Chandana among the ways they work.
Listed by Chandana among the ways they work.
Sessions & fees
How therapeutic approaches work online
Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening and understanding the person's experience. The therapist follows the person's pace and helps them find their own solutions, which suits worries like low self-esteem or indecision.Internal Family Systems treats difficult feelings as parts of a person's inner world. It helps people notice the parts that protect, criticise or feel hurt, and then work with those parts to reduce self-attack and build calm. This approach can be useful for trauma, addiction patterns and intense self-criticism.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the person about their needs, goals and preferences and together decide which methods to use. This is a collaborative process and can change as the work develops.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let the therapist and client meet face to face for deeper conversation. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging allow shorter, more frequent contact and fit into busy days or different time zones. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent and to try approaches that suit the person's life.
| Session length | Typically 50 minutes |
|---|---|
| Client ages | Adults, 18 and over |
| Fees | Subscription via BetterHelp, cancel anytime |
| Insurance | Not billed directly |
Questions people ask
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Areas of focus
What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Registered with
- BACP, NCPS
- Languages
- English, Sinhala
