Where to Get ADHD Help in Sri Lanka: Hospitals, Clinics, Counseling & Helplines

This is the practical map: where ADHD assessment, treatment, counseling and support actually exist in Sri Lanka — free and paid, for adults and children, across the island. We list public institutions and services rather than individual practitioners, so the page stays accurate as people move. Bookmark it, forward it, or send it to whoever is asking "but where do I actually go?"

Emergency and helplines (free)

• 1926 — National Mental Health Helpline. Run under the National Institute of Mental Health. Free, 24 hours, in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The right first call for "where do I go in my district?"
• 1333 — CCCline. Free, confidential emotional support by phone.
• Sri Lanka Sumithrayo — volunteer befriending and emotional support (branches in Colombo and several towns; search for the current number of the branch nearest you).
• Immediate danger: the emergency treatment unit of the nearest hospital, or 1990 (Suwa Seriya ambulance).

Government (free) — adults

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Angoda/Mulleriyawa — the national specialist hospital, with outpatient clinics.
• National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo — psychiatry unit via OPD referral.
• Every teaching hospital — Kandy, Karapitiya (Galle), Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo North (Ragama), Colombo South (Kalubowila), Sri Jayawardenepura, Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Badulla, Peradeniya — has a consultant psychiatrist and a mental health clinic.
• Every district general hospital — a psychiatry unit or mental health clinic. Go to the OPD and ask for a referral, or attend on the clinic day. No fee, no referral letter needed from outside.

The standard of consultants is the same as in private practice — many work in both. Expect more waiting and shorter appointments. Bring your ASRS v1.1 self-test result and written examples; it makes a short appointment productive. Full walkthrough: how to get an ADHD diagnosis in Sri Lanka.

Government (free) — children

• Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo — the national children's hospital, with child and adolescent psychiatry and developmental paediatrics.
• Teaching and district hospitals — paediatric units and, in the larger hospitals, child and adolescent mental health services. Start with the paediatric OPD.
• School route — the Ministry of Education's school counselling teachers can refer to district child guidance services; ask the class teacher or principal who the counselling teacher is.

For the parent's side of the journey, see our Sinhala parent guide and Tamil parent guide.

Private (paid) — faster, longer appointments

• Channelling a consultant psychiatrist: eChannelling, Doc990, or the hospital's own channelling desk — search "Psychiatrist" or "Child Psychiatrist" and filter by town. No referral needed. Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Kurunegala, Negombo, Jaffna and most major towns have consultants in private practice.
• Major private hospitals in Colombo (and increasingly in Kandy, Galle and Negombo) have psychiatry and psychology departments.
• Clinical psychologists — for structured therapy (CBT adapted for ADHD) and detailed assessments; found through the same channelling platforms and hospital psychology units.
• Costs: roughly Rs. 3,000–6,000 per consultant visit; a fuller psychological assessment is billed separately. Details in the treatment and counseling guide.

Counseling and support organisations

• National Council for Mental Health (Sahanaya), Colombo — a long-established mental health NGO offering counseling and community services.
• University student counseling centres — the Universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Moratuwa, Kelaniya, Sri Jayewardenepura, Ruhuna, Jaffna and others run free counseling for their students; ask at the student welfare or counseling unit.
• Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists — the professional body; its public resources are a reliable place to check what services exist.
• Online: most consultants now offer video consultations through the channelling platforms — useful outside the main cities, and for Sri Lankans abroad.

Medication: what to know before you go

Only a psychiatrist can prescribe ADHD medication in Sri Lanka. Stimulants (methylphenidate) are tightly regulated and not always practically available; non-stimulants such as atomoxetine are more routinely obtainable. Go in open to the options your doctor can actually access rather than fixed on a drug name from the internet.

Free self-help you can start today

Every tool on this site is free and needs no account: the focus timer, the daily planner, routines, habit streaks, the journal and the Calm Corner. Structure is the pillar of ADHD care that depends only on you — and it has no waiting list.

Know a service that should be here, or a detail that has changed? Email support@adhd.lk — this page is maintained so that it stays useful.

Frequently asked questions