Chandana Rathnayake , BACP, NCPS

Chandana Rathnayake began his counselling career in 2013 in Malaysia and relocated to the United Kingdom in 2019, where he continues to work in the mental health field. He is a registered counsellor with BACP and holds NCPS credentials; BACP refers to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the listed credentials indicate formal professional registration and training. In the UK he also serves as a mental health adviser supporting young adults in the higher education sector.

Before training in psychology and counselling, Chandana spent twenty years living as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. That chapter provided a traditional education and life experience he later combined with formal study. He left the monkhood to pursue family life and now brings both personal and professional history into his clinical work.

His approach blends practical therapeutic methods with a reflective sensibility born of his earlier life. He frames difficult material - losses, betrayals, setbacks, overthinking - as resources that can be reworked into new, more solid foundations. This collaborative rebuilding metaphor guides sessions as he helps people examine purpose, motivation and direction in areas such as career, education or spirituality.

Chandana is experienced supporting grief and dramatic life changes and works with people struggling with low self-love, low confidence or poor self-esteem. While he does not present himself as a couples specialist, individuals who bring relationship struggles have found his work helpful. He welcomes clients who are ready to explore change and views the decision to begin therapy as a meaningful step for both client and therapist.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Chandana often draws on Client-Centered Therapy, which emphasizes a warm, nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship and helps people explore their own priorities and choices at their own pace. This approach can be useful for concerns about direction, self-esteem and life transitions.

He also incorporates Existential Therapy, which focuses on questions of meaning, purpose and freedom. That approach supports people wrestling with life purpose, midlife change, or spiritual and vocational uncertainty by helping them clarify values and personal responsibility.

In addition, Internal Family Systems is used to map and work with the different parts of a person’s inner life - the critic, the protector, the vulnerable self - so that painful patterns like self-attack or avoidance can be understood and transformed.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process and Chandana works collaboratively to identify what fits a person’s needs, goals and preferences. He adapts methods over time and involves clients in decisions about the focus and pace of work.

Online therapy with Chandana is offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text-based messaging, which makes it easier to fit sessions into busy lives and to access support from different locations. These options allow for flexible scheduling, steady continuity of care when circumstances change, and multiple ways to communicate depending on what feels most comfortable for the client.