A professional world with no distance in it
In Colombo your therapist knows your cousin's employer. Working with someone entirely outside the island removes that calculation.
Online counselling : Sri Lanka
Counselling in Sri Lanka,
with the privacy
you deserve.
Sri Lanka has very few trained counsellors for its population, almost all of them in Colombo, and a professional world small enough that privacy feels hard to hold on to. I work online in English, from a UK qualification, with nobody local involved in your care.
Qualified practitioner
CPCAB Level 4, UK
Registration No. 433TM4D-128-303701
UK CPCAB Level 4 qualification
Complete distance from local circles
Available island wide, not only Colombo
Strictly confidential
How do I find a counsellor in Sri Lanka?
Trained counsellors and psychiatrists in Sri Lanka are few and concentrated in Colombo, which leaves most of the island without practical access. The state runs a national mental health helpline on 1926. Online counselling with a qualified practitioner abroad adds capacity and removes the privacy problem of a small professional community.
Who I work with
Who books from
Sri Lanka.
Privacy and access bring most of these clients here.
Kandy, Galle, Jaffna, Batticaloa
Almost all the practitioners sit in one city. Online sessions treat where you live as irrelevant, which it should be.
Years of not knowing what things will cost
Economic strain wears people down very quietly. The anxiety that follows is a reasonable response to real conditions, and it still eases with the right support.
Expectations you did not set
Duty, timelines and reputation, held tightly across generations. We work on your position inside that rather than on winning an argument.
You left, and then you returned
Coming home unsettles people more than leaving did. Reverse culture shock rarely gets named here, and naming it helps.
Looking after a parent, with no end date
Care tends to fall to whoever is closest, and often to a daughter. Love and resentment sit side by side, and both deserve to be said out loud.
Kept this to yourself long enough?
Nobody local is involved at any stage, and nothing is kept on the island.
Access on the island
Why so few people
here get support.
The barriers are practical as much as personal, and online work removes most of them.
Colombo
Where nearly all practitioners are
For most of the island the nearest counsellor means a bus journey and a day away from work.
1926
The national mental health helpline
Run by NIMH and free to call, and the right first step if things are urgent rather than ongoing.
Zero
Local connection to your circles
I sit entirely outside Sri Lankan professional and social networks, which is why many clients can start at all.
Island wide
Same terms wherever you live
Jaffna, Galle, Kandy or Colombo 7, the session, the fee and the privacy are identical.
Access and capacity
Why online work
matters here.
Sri Lanka trains very few mental health professionals relative to its population, and the ones it has cluster in Colombo. For most of the island, the nearest counsellor is a bus journey and a day off work away. Online sessions collapse that distance entirely, and they cost nothing extra to attend from Jaffna rather than Colombo 7.
The second problem is smaller and harder. A professional community of this size offers almost no distance between client and therapist, and the fear of being recognised stops people booking at all. Working with someone outside the country removes that risk completely.
The state system remains the right place for medication, psychiatric assessment and crisis care. NIMH runs the national helpline on 1926, and counselling with me can run alongside anything you arrange locally.
My approach
Methods chosen
for the situation.
Access to counselling is thin across the island, so people often arrive having held something on their own for years. That shapes the pace: we go slowly at first and build trust before anything else.
Talking therapy
Unhurried sessions where you can say anything at all, and I help you find the shape of what you are feeling.
Stress management
Small, practical things you can use between sessions to ease the daily load and look after your energy.
Breathwork
Simple breathing practices that settle the nervous system when thinking alone will not reach it.
Mindful somatic work
Hakomi based approaches that follow what the body holds, useful when emotion sits below language.
Family therapy
Sessions that gently look at the patterns a family repeats together, rather than treating one person as the problem.
Couples therapy
Gottman informed work on communication, conflict, trust, and the friendship underneath the relationship.
Wherever you are on the island.
Jaffna, Kandy, Galle or Colombo, the session and the privacy are identical.
Nature, breath and the nervous system
Finding your footing
when something strong
is running inside.
How do you learn to stay calm when you feel something strong rising?
Calm is a skill rather than a personality trait, and it is taught through the body before the mind. Slow breathing, grounding through the senses, and contact with the natural world all lower the physical arousal that fuels panic and anger. Practised in ordinary moments, those skills become available in hard ones.
Most of us arrive wanting the feeling to stop. What tends to help more is learning to stay upright while it moves through, since a wave that is ridden passes far sooner than one that is fought. Nature does a surprising amount of this work on its own, and Sri Lanka offers it generously. A walk before the heat builds, the sea at either end of the day, hill country air, or simply a garden and twenty minutes without a screen. Repetition matters far more than distance travelled.
Settling the body first
Simple breathing practices that lower arousal in minutes, so thinking becomes possible again.
Coming back to the room
Sensory techniques that interrupt a spiral before it gathers pace, usable anywhere and unnoticed by anyone.
Healing that draws on the outdoors
Daylight, green space and movement built into the week, because the nervous system responds to place as much as to insight.
Sessions and fees
Clear fees, and
complete discretion.
Sessions run by secure video, so all you need is a quiet room and a pair of headphones.
Single session
One to one counselling
On request
one to one session
one to one session
- Zoom or Google Meet, in English throughout
- Times arranged around Sri Lankan hours
- Nothing kept on the island, and nothing recorded
Ongoing work
Regular sessions
On request
each session
each session
- Weekly or fortnightly, by agreement
- The same counsellor throughout
- Reviewed together as the work goes on
Couples and family
Relationship sessions
On request
booked ahead
booked ahead
- Gottman informed couples work
- Family sessions for repeating patterns
- Partners are welcome to join from two places
Booking and payment policy
Payment
Payment comes through at least 48 hours ahead, and that is what holds your slot for you.
Currency
Fees are confirmed when you first get in touch, and payment details come with your booking confirmation.
Cancellations
Life happens. Let me know as early as you can and I will move your session. A last minute cancellation without a genuine reason is not refunded, because the time stays reserved for you.
Late cancellations
If a session is cancelled at the last minute without a genuine reason, I am not able to refund it, since the hour stays reserved and cannot go to anyone else.
Questions about fees or how it works?
Ask on WhatsApp or through the form. I reply to every message myself.
Two minute check in
Wondering whether
therapy is for you?
Six short questions about the last two weeks. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent anywhere, so it stays entirely between you and your own browser.
This check in gives you language for what you are noticing. It does not diagnose anything, and only a proper assessment can do that.
Question 1 of 6
Over the last two weeks, how often has worry stayed with you through the day?
Questions
What clients here
ask before booking.
Will anyone here find out I am having therapy?
No. Sessions are strictly confidential, I hold no shared records, and I sit entirely outside Sri Lankan professional and social circles. For many clients here, that distance is the whole reason they can start.
Are sessions available outside Colombo?
Yes, on identical terms. You need a private room, a phone or laptop, and a connection that holds for the hour. Where you live makes no difference to what the session costs or how it runs.
Do you work in Sinhala or Tamil?
Not at present. Sessions run in English, and in Urdu for clients who share it. If you would rather work in Sinhala or Tamil, a local practitioner will serve you better, and I would gently point you there rather than take a booking that is not right for you.
Can you prescribe medication or write a medical report?
No. Both need a locally registered doctor. NIMH and the state psychiatric services are the right route, and counselling can run in parallel.
Is the internet connection a problem?
Rarely. If the video drops we continue by voice, which works perfectly well. If a power cut or an outage interrupts a session, message me on WhatsApp and we will sort the remaining time out between us.
What happens in the first session?
We spend the hour getting oriented. You describe what brings you here, I ask about your history and current situation, and together we name what you want to be different. You control how much you share on day one, and you decide afterwards whether to continue.
How many sessions will I need?
Some people find that six to eight sessions cover a specific issue. Others stay longer for deeper work. We review progress regularly and you decide when to stop.
How do payment and cancellation work?
Payment reaches me at least 48 hours before the session and confirms your slot. If you cancel at the last minute without a genuine reason the fee is not refunded, because the time stays reserved for you. Tell me as early as you can when something genuine comes up and I will move your session.
How do I find a qualified counsellor in Sri Lanka?
Ask about training rather than titles, since counselling here is largely unregulated. Most trained practitioners are in Colombo, which leaves much of the island poorly served. I hold UK CPCAB Level 4 in therapeutic counselling and work online, so where you live does not limit your choice.
What does counselling cost here?
Ask me and I will give you my fee straight away, before you commit to anything. There is no assessment fee and no separate intake charge, so the session fee is the whole cost, and payment reaching me 48 hours before we meet is what confirms the slot.
Will my employer or my family find out?
No. I hold no connection to any Sri Lankan institution, employer, clinic or social circle, and no records are kept locally. For many clients here that distance is the only reason starting feels possible at all.
Can counselling help with stress that comes from money and the economy?
It cannot change the conditions, and it can change what those conditions do to you. Sleep, rumination, irritability and the sense of being permanently braced all respond to this work, even while the underlying situation stays difficult.
About
A little about
who you would meet.
Mehwish Salman
Psychotherapist and Counsellor
I qualified as a psychotherapist and counsellor and I hold UK CPCAB Level 4 in therapeutic counselling, registration number 433TM4D-128-303701. I work with adults, couples and families, and I shape each session around the person in front of me rather than a fixed script.
My continuing professional development covers stress management, breathwork, Hakomi based mindful somatic approaches, family therapy, and couples therapy using Gottman methods. That range lets me bring the right tool to the right moment rather than stretching one method over every situation.
Clients here often want to know who I am connected to on the island. The answer is nobody at all, and that is deliberate. It is the reason a great many people in Colombo feel able to begin.
UK CPCAB Level 4
Adults, couples, families
Integrative practice
Online worldwide
Booking
Two easy ways
to get started.
Send the form below or message me on WhatsApp. Nobody local is involved at any stage, and Every message comes straight to me.
Book on WhatsAppNot sure yet? Ask anything you like first. There is no pressure to book, and questions are always welcome.
- thehealingtreepk@gmail.com
- WhatsApp, the quickest route
- Sessions by secure video, wherever in the world you are