The people you would meet
The clinicians and support staff you would meet at Kyambogo and Bujjuko.
Care at Safe Places is delivered by one multidisciplinary team across both centres: psychiatrists, psychiatric clinical officers, clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, mental-health counsellors, psychiatric nurses, and social workers, working to a shared treatment plan for each client rather than in separate silos. Select any team member for their profile.
- Leadership
- Administration
- Psychiatrists
- Psychiatric clinical officers
- Psychologists & counsellors
- Nursing team
- Social work
Kantalama Janet
Executive Director
Kantalama Janet
Executive Director
Kantalama Janet is a psychologist and has led Safe Places Uganda since January 2017. Her fifteen-plus years of work span mental-health care and policy, strategy and planning, capacity building, and organisational development, with further training in trauma-informed care and cognitive behavioural therapy. She is particularly engaged with girl-child affairs, social justice, and development — gratified, in her own words, by service to humanity.
Qualifications: MSc Psychology (Linnaeus University, Sweden); BA Organisational & Industrial Psychology (Makerere University); PhD candidate in Psychology (University of Namibia).
Wilfred Kwebiiha
Director, Finance and Administration
Wilfred Kwebiiha
Director, Finance and Administration
Wilfred Kwebiiha directs finance and administration across both Safe Places centres. He holds a master’s degree in psychology, a postgraduate diploma in human-resource management and a bachelor’s degree in organisational psychology, and brings more than fifteen years of management experience to the role.
Qualifications: MSc Psychology; Postgraduate Diploma, Human Resource Management; BA Organisational Psychology.
Dr. Joyce Nalugya
Board Member
MMed Psychiatry
Dr. Joyce Nalugya
Board Member · Senior Consultant · Specialist Psychiatrist (Child & Adolescent)
Dr. Joyce Nalugya-Sserunjogi helped found Safe Places Uganda and sits on its board. She is a consultant psychiatrist at Mulago National Referral Hospital, specialising in child and adolescent mental health, and teaches in Makerere University’s Department of Psychiatry. Much of her published research concerns the mental health of young Ugandans, and she leads a national programme training mental-health professionals in child and adolescent care.
Qualifications: Specialist Psychiatrist (Child & Adolescent); MMed Psychiatry
Mrs. Asiimwe Confidence
Director, Quality Assurance
Mrs. Asiimwe Confidence
Director, Quality Assurance
Asiimwe Confidence is a counselling psychologist with more than twenty years in practice. As Director of Quality Assurance she is responsible for the standard of care across both centres, from how clients are assessed to how they are followed up. She holds a master’s degree in counselling psychology, a bachelor’s degree in counselling and guidance, and is completing a PhD in psychology.
Qualifications: MA Counselling Psychology; BA Counselling and Guidance; PhD candidate in Psychology.
Dr. Leon Matagi
Board Member / OD Lead
Dr. Leon Matagi
Board Member / OD Lead
Dr. Leon Matagi looks after organisational development at Safe Places Uganda and sits on its board. He teaches in the School of Psychology at Makerere University, where he is a senior lecturer, and has spent over twenty years in teaching, research and organisational consulting. His doctorate is in organisational psychology.
Qualifications: PhD, Organisational Psychology
Angella Lawino
Business Development Lead
Angella Lawino
Business Development Lead
Angella Lawino has been with Safe Places since 2022, building the partnerships that carry its work beyond the two centres. She has worked with organisations including Total Energies, Airtel Uganda and Coca-Cola on workplace mental-health programming, with Can We Talk on community support groups, and with the Nnabagereka Naginda Women’s Fund (NNWF) on a school mental-health toolkit. She represents Safe Places in national policy spaces, including the Ministry of Health and the National Working Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.
She holds a Master of Science in Addiction Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health in Population Mental Health at Rutgers University, where she works as a graduate research assistant.
Qualifications: MSc Addiction Psychology; BA Psychology; MPH Population Mental Health (in progress, Rutgers University).
Nelson George Mwanga
Operations in Charge · Clinical Psychologist
Nelson George Mwanga
Operations in Charge · Clinical Psychologist
Nelson George Mwanga has been Operations in Charge at Safe Places Uganda since January 2025, overseeing the running of the in-patient, out-patient and workplace (EAP) arms of the service. A clinical and counselling psychologist with a background in biomedical science and hospital management, he brings more than ten years of mental-health and psychosocial support work across clinical, community and refugee settings.
Qualifications: MSc Counselling & Clinical Psychology (University of Kisubi); Postgraduate Diploma, Hospital and Health Care Management (Uganda Management Institute); Master of Hospital and Health Care Management in progress (UMI); BSc Biomedical Technology (Makerere University)
Mandela Nelson
Centre Administrator, Bujjuko
Mandela Nelson
Centre Administrator, Bujjuko
Mandela Nelson is an administrator with five years of management experience behind him. At Safe Places he oversees daily operations, staff coordination, and client services — the practical systems that let everyone else do their work — favouring efficient systems and people-first management that keeps both staff and clients supported.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Logistics Management (Makerere University).
Ariye Vivian
Finance Officer
Ariye Vivian
Finance Officer
Ariye Vivian is a Finance Officer with a background in business administration. She supports the organisation’s financial and administrative operations — financial management, budgeting, record keeping, and accountability — with a focus on accurate financial processes and the effective use of organisational resources.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
Dr. Emmanuel Mpamizo
Psychiatrist
MBChB · MMed Psychiatry
Dr. Emmanuel Mpamizo
Psychiatrist
Dr. Mpamizo is a psychiatrist with more than fifteen years in health, ten of them in mental health. He treats mental-health problems using a combination of medical, psychological and social approaches, and he is unhurried with diagnosis — often taking two or three consultations to explore a patient’s life experiences before working with them and their family to design treatment approaches that are realistic. He is especially drawn to anxiety in young people, and resulting complications like depression, suicidality, self-neglect, social isolation, unhealthy addictions and substance use.
Locally, he teaches psychiatry and psychology to medical students. He has received assignments from the Ministry of Health Uganda to participate in surveillance of Nodding syndrome, provide psychosocial support during the COVID-19 pandemic, train health workers on mental health, as well as give talks and lectures in different forums.
Internationally, he is a fellow of the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD), the clinical lead of the Gulu–Sheffield health partnership, and is engaged in several international research projects.
Qualifications: MMed Psychiatry (Makerere University); MBChB (Mbarara University of Science & Technology)
Dr. Denis Wamala
Psychiatrist
MBChB · MMed Psychiatry
Dr. Denis Wamala
Psychiatrist
Dr. Denis Wamala is a psychiatrist whose work spans mental health, addiction recovery, and rehabilitation. His practice runs from assessment and diagnosis through medication and review — the steady, unhurried side of psychiatric care.
Qualifications: MBChB; MMed Psychiatry.
Dr. Joyce Nalugya
Senior Consultant · Specialist Psychiatrist (Child & Adolescent)
MMed Psychiatry
Dr. Joyce Nalugya
Senior Consultant · Specialist Psychiatrist (Child & Adolescent)
Dr. Joyce Nalugya-Sserunjogi helped found Safe Places Uganda and sits on its board. She is a consultant psychiatrist at Mulago National Referral Hospital, specialising in child and adolescent mental health, and teaches in Makerere University’s Department of Psychiatry. Much of her published research concerns the mental health of young Ugandans, and she leads a national programme training mental-health professionals in child and adolescent care.
Qualifications: Specialist Psychiatrist (Child & Adolescent); MMed Psychiatry
Dr. Sharon Kezabu
Psychiatrist
MMed Psychiatry (Makerere)
Dr. Sharon Kezabu
Psychiatrist
Dr. Sharon Kezabu is a psychiatrist who trained in medicine before specialising in psychiatry at Makerere University. At Safe Places she carries out psychiatric assessments and treats people living with mental-health and substance-use conditions, working as part of the multidisciplinary clinical team.
Qualifications: MMed Psychiatry (Makerere University)
Kawoozo Moreen
Psychiatric Clinical Officer / Clinical Psychologist
Kawoozo Moreen
Psychiatric Clinical Officer / Clinical Psychologist
Kawoozo Moreen is a clinical psychologist and psychiatric clinical officer with more than nine years in mental-health and psychosocial support work. She sees people through stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and substance use, drawing on cognitive behavioural therapy and trauma-focused approaches, and she trains other mental-health workers in Problem Management Plus. Her attention to everyday coping and self-awareness gives her clinical work a practical, steady centre.
Qualifications: MSc Clinical Psychology (University of Kisubi); Bachelor of Public Health (Cavendish University Uganda); Diploma in Clinical Psychiatry (Butabika School of Psychiatric Clinical Officers)
Jovan Nic Busulwa
Medical Services Officer · Psychiatric Clinical Officer
Jovan Nic Busulwa
Medical Services Officer · Psychiatric Clinical Officer
Jovan Nic Busulwa is a psychiatric clinical officer with more than four years’ experience in assessing, diagnosing and treating mental-health conditions. As Medical Services Officer at the residential centre, he also makes sure residents’ day-to-day medical needs are met.
Qualifications: Diploma in Clinical Psychiatry (Butabika School of Psychiatric Clinical Officers)
Nakabiri Violet
Client Services Officer, In-Patient Centre
Nakabiri Violet
Client Services Officer, In-Patient Centre
Nakabiri Violet is a psychiatric clinical officer with seven years of experience in mental-health assessment, treatment and counselling. She has supported people living with depression, anxiety, trauma and other mental-health conditions, combining talking support, medication follow-up and practical coping skills, and she cares about bringing mental-health services closer to the communities that need them. At Safe Places she is the Client Services Officer at the residential centre.
Qualifications: Psychiatric Clinical Officer
Nakitende Justine Shirine
Psycho-social Services Officer · Clinical Psychologist
Nakitende Justine Shirine
Psycho-social Services Officer · Clinical Psychologist
Nakitende Justine Shirine is a clinical psychologist with six years in mental-health care. She provides psychological assessment and treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, and grief, working with adults and families — including people adjusting to life with a medical illness. Her approach draws on cognitive behavioural therapy, trauma-informed care, and grief processing, offered in a space without judgement, with the aim of helping clients understand themselves better and live with greater calm.
Qualifications: Master’s in Clinical Psychology (Makerere University).
Sharon Nambasa
Clinical Psychologist
Sharon Nambasa
Clinical Psychologist
Sharon Nambasa is a clinical psychologist providing psychological assessment, psychotherapy and psychosocial support to individuals and groups. Her work covers addiction and recovery, mood disorders, psychosis, emotional regulation, relationship difficulties and trauma-related concerns, with a particular interest in adolescent mental health. She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a bachelor’s degree in community psychology.
Qualifications: MSc Clinical Psychology; Bachelor’s in Community Psychology
Martin Amanya
Counselling Psychologist
Martin Amanya
Counselling Psychologist
Martin Amanya is a counselling psychologist with more than eight years of practice across counselling centres, schools, churches, fellowships, and workplaces. A good part of his work happens outside the counselling room: as an advocate for men’s mental health he has taken the subject onto radio and TV, into community mentorship programmes, and to conversations on X through the Mancave UG space — places where men actually talk. In the room, his counselling is practical and approachable, shaped to the person in front of him.
Qualifications: Master’s in Counselling Psychology (Makerere University).
Muhumuza Brian
Behavioural & Addiction Treatment Consultant
Muhumuza Brian
Behavioural & Addiction Treatment Consultant
Muhumuza Brian is a behavioural and addiction treatment consultant with more than a decade of experience across Uganda and South Africa, where he has worked as a halfway-house manager and addictions counsellor, supporting people through treatment, recovery and reintegration.
His work sits where clinical practice meets lived recovery experience: family systems, the impact of addiction on children of parents with substance use disorders, and the integration of community-based recovery models with formal clinical treatment. He advocates for a clinical, rather than moral, public understanding of addiction and recovery.
Qualifications: MSc Clinical Psychology; Postgraduate Diploma in Addiction Care; Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling; BA Communication.
Nakato Rachael
Clinical Psychologist
Nakato Rachael
Clinical Psychologist
Nakato Rachael believes healing happens in relationship — through trust and patience as much as technique. Much of her practice is trauma work, where she is trained in approaches including EMDR and Narrative Exposure Therapy, and at Safe Places she works with clients facing addiction and behavioural challenges as they rebuild toward healthier lives. Research is her other constant: she keeps looking for ways to bring new evidence into her clinical work.
Qualifications: MSc Clinical Psychology (Makerere University).
Nowembabazi Allan
Mental-Health Counsellor
Nowembabazi Allan
Mental-Health Counsellor
Nowembabazi Allan is a mental-health counsellor who supports adults and families through mental-health challenges, with counselling grounded in recovery — rebuilding resilience, wellbeing, and hope. He is deepening the clinical side of his practice with a master’s in clinical psychology, now underway at Makerere.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Guidance and Counselling (Kyambogo University); MSc Clinical Psychology in progress (Makerere University).
Tibawayika Brenda
Mental-Health Counsellor
Tibawayika Brenda
Mental-Health Counsellor
Tibawayika Brenda is a counsellor who works with people from many walks of life, and has found over the years that her deepest interest lies in supporting young people and women through talk therapy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in guidance and counselling from Kyambogo University and is an accredited life coach.
Qualifications: Bachelor of Guidance and Counselling (Kyambogo University); Accredited Life Coach (The Accelerated Mentorship Academy); John Maxwell “Beyond Success” Facilitator
Bill Bekunda
Recovery Coach
Bill Bekunda
Recovery Coach
Bill Bekunda has been a recovery coach at Safe Places since 2018, supporting people through rehabilitation for substance use and the early months of recovery — a road he knows from his own life. In long-term recovery himself, he trained as a recovery coach and prevention professional, founded the Stop Underage Drinking Uganda campaign, and led Healthy Youth Lifestyle Options, a youth behavioural-health organisation. He speaks widely in schools and in the media across East Africa on addiction and prevention.
Qualifications: Recovery Coach Training (Uganda Christian University); Training of Trainers, Universal Prevention and Universal Treatment Curricula (Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme); Rehabilitation & Recovery training (Serenity Centre, Nsambya); MA International Relations and Diplomacy (Kharkiv National University of Economics); member, International Society of Substance Use Professionals
Annet Mahoro
Client Relations & Partnerships
Annet Mahoro
Client Relations & Partnerships
Annet Mahoro is a psychiatric nurse with a background in healthcare administration, now part of Safe Places’ business development work with a focus on client relations and partnerships. She manages the organisation’s client and external relations and builds the partnerships and collaborations behind its work — for schools, insurers, and partner organisations, she is often the first voice at Safe Places. Her particular interest is in how clients experience the service, and in the steady work of improving it.
Qualifications: Psychiatric Nursing; BSc Healthcare Administration and Management (in progress).
Leticia Nassuna
Client Services Officer, Out-Patient Centre · Psychiatric Nurse
Leticia Nassuna
Client Services Officer, Out-Patient Centre · Psychiatric Nurse
Nassuna Leticia is a psychiatric nurse, in practice since 2023, who joined Safe Places in August 2025 in a dual role: nursing, and client services at the out-patient centre. She schedules appointments, follows up between visits, and makes sure nobody falls through the gaps — work she treats as part of the care itself.
Qualifications: Psychiatric Nursing.
Waiswa Isaac
Psychiatric Nurse, In-Patient
Waiswa Isaac
Psychiatric Nurse, In-Patient
Waiswa Isaac is a psychiatric nurse at the residential centre. Trained in psychiatric and mental-health nursing, he provides day-to-day care for residents experiencing mental illness or emotional distress, with an emphasis on safety and respect.
Qualifications: Psychiatric Nursing
Acom Kevin
Psychiatric Nurse, In-Patient
Acom Kevin
Psychiatric Nurse, In-Patient
Acom Kevin is a psychiatric nurse at the Bujjuko in-patient centre, caring for clients across a wide range of needs. Her skills run from therapeutic communication to acute psychiatric care and treatment planning — applied with the consistency that in-patient work demands.
Qualifications: Psychiatric Nursing.
Ainembabazi Stella
Social Worker
Ainembabazi Stella
Social Worker
Ainembabazi Stella is a social worker whose role combines client advocacy, administrative support and day-to-day coordination. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social work and social administration and works as part of the multidisciplinary team, helping make sure that practical and social needs are not lost in treatment.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Social Work and Social Administration
Shelda Uwera
Clinical Social Worker
Shelda Uwera
Clinical Social Worker
Shelda Uwera is a clinical social worker. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social work and social administration from Makerere University and supports clients and their families through assessment, care planning and follow-up.
Qualifications: Bachelor’s in Social Work and Social Administration (Makerere University)