About Save Minds
A clinic built around the people we treat.
Founded in 2017 by a dual NHS consultant who saw too many of his patients fail standard treatment. Now the UK’s first consultant-led IV ketamine clinic, with a multidisciplinary team behind every patient who walks through our doors.
- Our Story
Save Minds was not born in a boardroom. It was born from loss.
Our founder grew up in Sri Lanka during a period of brutal ethnic conflict — not the kind of history read in textbooks, but the kind lived in close proximity, witnessed in people he knew, carried quietly into adulthood. That early experience gave him an understanding of trauma that
no medical school teaches: what it does to the mind over time, how it changes the way a person inhabits their own life, and how little the world tends to notice.
He also watched mental illness move through his extended family over many years — not dramatically, but with the steady, grinding weight that those closest to it come to know well. He saw what inadequate treatment looks like. He saw what it costs.
And he lost his closest friend to suicide.
That loss does not leave a person. It does not become easier to hold with time. It asks questions that remain unanswered for years, and it creates a kind of responsibility that is difficult to set down.
As a consultant anaesthetist and intensivist with more than three decades of clinical experience, he had used ketamine throughout his career — in operating theatres, in critical care, and in settings where its properties offered something unexpected to those in acute distress. When colleagues in psychiatry began to share emerging evidence that ketamine could reach patients for whom every other treatment had failed, he recognised both the science and the need.
Save Minds was founded in 2017. Not as an answer to a market gap, but as a response to something personal and long-held: the conviction that the patients left behind by conventional psychiatry — those told that nothing more can be done — deserve the same rigour, the same attention, and the same refusal to give up that we would expect for any other serious medical condition.
“Every patient who walks through our door has been told the same thing: we have tried everything. At Save Minds, we are only just beginning — because the greatest frontier in medicine is not the body we see, but the mind we have yet to understand fully.”
Dr Rajalingam Yadhunanthanan, Founder
- Our Team
The team behind your care.
Dr Rajalingam Yadhunanthanan
Founder, CEO & Lead Clinician
- MBBS
- MD
- FRCA
- DICM
Dr Rajalingam Yadhunanthanan — known to his patients as Dr Yadhu — is a consultant anaesthetist and intensive care physician at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, where he has worked for two decades. His career in anaesthesia spans more than thirty years.
He holds an MBBS, an MD, a Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, and a Diploma in Intensive Care Medicine — qualifications that reflect a career spent at the more demanding end of clinical medicine, where the margin for error is narrow and the stakes are high.
Ketamine has been part of his clinical practice throughout those decades — in anaesthesia, in intensive care, and in settings where its properties offered something beyond conventional sedation. When evidence emerged that it could reach patients with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, OCD, and severe anxiety, he brought that clinical familiarity with him into a new field.
In 2017, he founded Save Minds. He serves as its CEO and personally delivers every treatment session. That is a choice, not a necessity — one that reflects what he believes these patients, many of whom have spent years being passed between services, actually deserve.
Sahana Yadhunanthanan, EMBA
Chief Operating Officer
- BA (Hons) Sociology
- LLB
- Advanced Legal Professional Training
- EMBA
Sahana Yadhunanthanan has been Chief Operating Officer of Save Minds since 2021 — an entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and one of the youngest executives to complete the Global Executive MBA, a programme reserved for C-suite executives at the height of their careers.
At Hult International Business School, studying in London, Dubai, and Boston, she ranked in the top 20% across all of Hult’s global campuses, maintained a 3.55 GPA, made the Dean’s List, and made history as the first student in many years to earn the Triple Scholar title in Women in Business, Social Impact, and Finance.
Her foundations span Sociology at the University of Warwick, undergraduate and postgraduate legal studies at the University of Law, and membership of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, one of only four Inns of Court in England and Wales. Studying sociology gave her something that no business school teaches: a deep understanding of how societal structures shape the way people experience illness, seek help, and either find care or fall through the gaps. That lens informs everything she does at Save Minds.
Her grandfather built successful enterprises in Sri Lanka, including private hospitals. She carried that legacy forward, co-founding a medical technology company as Co-Founder and CEO with her father, the distinguished consultant Dr Rajalingam Yadhunanthanan, building a proprietary application now transforming patient care at Save Minds.
At Save Minds, Sahana ensures that no patient who needs this treatment is ever out of reach of it.
Barrister Raj Umayavan Yadhunanthanan
VP of Business Development
- LLB
- LPC
- BPC
- Called to the Bar
Barrister Raj Yadhunanthanan was Called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple — one of the four Inns of Court and among the most prestigious legal institutions in England and Wales. He completed his LLB at just 20 years old, followed by his LPC with Commendation and a Very Competent rating on the Bar Practice Course at the University of Law.
While completing his LPC, Raj co-founded the Rotators Shield, a groundbreaking fitness device revolutionising rotator cuff rehabilitation. He secured the patents himself — demonstrating from the outset a rare ability to combine rigorous legal knowledge with the vision to build something entirely new.
As VP of Business Development at Save Minds, Raj holds responsibility for the full legal and commercial function of the organisation. From contracts and compliance to strategic partnerships and growth, every decision that shapes the future of Save Minds is underpinned by his legal expertise and commercial judgement.
His grandfather was an esteemed barrister and judge. His father, a consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, founded Save Minds. Raj carries that legacy of justice, precision, and care into everything he does at the organisation.
- Medical Board
Clinical governance.
Save Minds operates under the oversight of a formal medical board, chaired by a senior NHS clinical leader.
Dr Stephen Shaw
Chairman of the Medical Board
- BDS
- LDS RCS
- MBBS
- FRCA
- FFICM
Dr Steve Shaw holds dual qualifications in dentistry and medicine, bringing nearly 40 years of experience in the NHS to Save Minds. He served as Lead Consultant in Intensive Care at the Royal Free Hospital in London for many years — where he worked alongside Dr Yadhu — before transitioning into senior medical management.
Dr Shaw subsequently held a number of major leadership roles, including Divisional Director, Chair of the Drugs & Therapeutics Committee, and ultimately CEO of Barnet Hospital. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as Medical Director at NHS London — contributing to the national healthcare response at one of its most critical moments. As Chairman of the Save Minds Medical Board, he oversees clinical governance and ensures the highest standards of patient safety and ethical practice.
- Consultant Team
Specialist clinical advisers.
Save Minds works closely with a small group of leading consultant psychiatrists and anaesthetists who advise on complex cases, contribute to clinical governance, and bring decades of additional specialist expertise to our patients.
Dr Paul Morrison
Consultant Psychiatrist
- BSc (Hons)
- MB.ChB
- MRCPsych
- MSc
- PhD
- FRCPsych
Dr Paul Morrison has over twenty-five years of experience in clinical psychiatry. He studied pharmacology and neuroscience in Glasgow and Chicago, completing a PhD in psychopharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, where he is now an honorary senior clinical lecturer.
Paul is the lead author of The Maudsley Guidelines on Advanced Prescribing in Psychosis — one of the most influential textbooks in the field. He has conducted numerous research studies involving cannabinoids, ketamine, empathogens, and psychedelics, with papers published in international journals.
Currently a consultant NHS psychiatrist in Argyll, Scotland — and previously a consultant at The Maudsley Hospital in South London — Paul is also a principal investigator at Clerkenwell Health, conducting trials of novel treatments for treatment-resistant mood disorders and PTSD.
Dr Vimal Sivasanker
Consultant Psychiatrist
- MBBS
- MRCPsych
- Royal College of Psychiatrists Committee
Dr Vimal Sivasanker is a consultant in general adult psychiatry, treating a wide range of conditions including depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar affective disorder, and psychosis. He practises from consulting rooms at the London Medical Centre on Harley Street.
Dr Sivasanker has a particular interest in neuromodulation for psychiatric disorders. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Committee on ECT and Related Treatments, where he contributes to developing and revising national clinical standards.
He is also active in medical education — having written on the subject, developed training competencies for the College, and delivered training at local, national, and international levels.
Dr Manoj Poojary
Consultant Anaesthetist
- MBBS
- FRCA
- 26+ years clinical experience
Dr Manoj Poojary is a consultant anaesthetist with more than 26 years of experience. He completed his FRCA and five years of anaesthetic specialist training in Wales, before being appointed Consultant Anaesthetist at Bedford NHS Trust from 2009 to 2012.
Since 2012 he has worked extensively with national cosmetic groups and private surgeons, including regular involvement in bariatric surgery. He continues to serve on Medical Advisory Committees at private hospitals across the UK.
Dr Poojary has published in cosmetic anaesthesia journals in the United States and is a regular speaker at international conferences. His contributions to anaesthetic safety in the private sector make him a valuable adviser to Save Minds.
- Where We Practise
The Aura Centre · St John's Wood, London.
Our clinic sits in the heart of one of London’s most discreet medical districts — moments from St John’s Wood tube, away from city noise, designed entirely around patient comfort and privacy.
Reception
Consulting Lounge
Recovery Lounge
Private Hallway
Patient Lounge
Quiet Corner
- By the Numbers
What we've built so far.
Nine years of consultant-led practice, summarised.
2017
Year founded
900+
Patients treated
7,500+
Treatments delivered
CQC
Rated Good
Our peer-reviewed clinical audit covering 140 patients is currently being prepared for publication.
- What Guides Us
Four principles, consistently applied.
These four principles shape every decision we make — from how we price treatment to how we measure outcomes to how we talk to patients on the phone.
Consultant-Led Care
Every treatment is delivered by a consultant — never delegated to a nurse, technician, or junior. The same consultant who sees you on day one is with you on day fifty.
Honest Communication
We’d rather be uncomfortably clear than diplomatically vague. We tell patients what treatment can do, what it can’t, what it costs, and when we’re not the right fit.
Measurement Over Impressions
We track nine clinically validated scales throughout every programme. Decisions about your treatment are made on data — what’s actually changing — not on a 10-minute appointment every three months.
Continuity Without Compromise
You don’t get a roster of doctors. You get one, with deep familiarity of your case — from your first call through to any maintenance treatments years later.
You know who we are. Now let us learn about you.
If something on this page resonated, the next step is a short eligibility check or a free, no-pressure discovery call with our team.