Dinuli Senaratne

Dinuli Senaratne is an HCPC-registered Occupational Therapist with a specialist interest and extensive practice experience across work and health, vocational rehabilitation, occupational health, neurodiversity, clinical rehabilitation and health and wellbeing. She is also the Independent Practice Lead for Work and Health at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), contributing to the visibility, development and professional community of independent Occupational Therapy practice within work and health.

Her career uniquely spans both Human Resources and healthcare, giving her an understanding of employment from the perspectives of the individual, clinician, manager and organisation. Before qualifying as an Occupational Therapist, Dinuli worked for several years within Human Resources, developing experience in employee relations, workplace support, organisational processes and the realities of managing people within the workplace.

As an Occupational Therapist, she is trained to work across mental health, physical health and learning disability, taking a holistic approach to understanding the relationship between a person's health, environment, daily functioning, meaningful activity and participation. Her clinical experience includes neurological rehabilitation, general physical rehabilitation, community rehabilitation, mental health, neurodiversity, vocational rehabilitation, occupational health and clinical case management.

A significant focus of Dinuli's work has been helping people prepare for work, return to work, remain in work and thrive at work. Her approach looks beyond simply securing employment to consider the person's strengths, physical and mental health, routines, confidence, executive functioning, sensory needs, environment, workplace demands and wider life circumstances. She has experience identifying barriers to work, developing practical rehabilitation plans, supporting graded returns to work, considering reasonable adjustments and working collaboratively with individuals, employers and other professionals.

Dinuli also brings a strong neurodiversity-informed perspective to her work. Alongside her professional experience supporting neurodivergent individuals, she has personal lived experience through her relationship with her partner, who has diagnosed ADHD and autism. This has further developed her understanding of how neurodivergence can affect communication, executive functioning, sensory processing, routines, relationships and participation in work and everyday life.

Her experience also includes working within prison services, where she supported individuals experiencing mental health difficulties to engage in meaningful occupations, everyday activities and rehabilitation. Her postgraduate research explored life-skills rehabilitation and the role of life-skills development in supporting the rehabilitation of people in prison.

Dinuli brings a practical, holistic and person-centred approach to employability and vocational rehabilitation. She recognises that becoming “work ready” is about much more than writing a CV or preparing for an interview. It may also involve developing confidence, routine, self-awareness, communication, emotional regulation, executive functioning, physical and mental wellbeing, life skills and an understanding of what an individual needs to function well within a working environment.

Through Function First Care, Dinuli is particularly interested in helping people recognise their strengths, overcome barriers to participation and build sustainable pathways into meaningful work and everyday life. She also hosts the Function First Care podcast, exploring preventative healthcare, wellbeing, work, lifestyle, rehabilitation and the factors that help people stay well, participate fully in life and reduce the risk of problems escalating.

Alongside Stuart's employability expertise, Dinuli brings the clinical, occupational and work-and-health perspective - helping participants not only move towards employment, but develop the foundations they need to enter, sustain and thrive in work.