Dr Prem Kumar Shanmugam.

Dr Prem is a clinical psychologist who has specialised in recovery from dependence and its co-occurring conditions for more than two decades. His approach combines lived experience with rigorous, evidence-based practice, and he is known across the Asia-Pacific for treatment that is structured without ever losing its compassion.

He founded Solace Asia in Kuala Lumpur in 2014. Under his leadership it has grown into a multidisciplinary centre with residential, outpatient, corporate and international programmes, and has treated more than five thousand people from over ten countries. Solace's model, which plans care across the biological, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of a person's life, is now taught to clinicians across the region.

Alongside clinical work, Dr Prem has shaped the profession itself. He is a founding member and Regional Director of the Asia Pacific Certification Board, which sets standards for recovery professionals across the region, and Solace is a NAADAC-approved education provider. He convenes ETMA, an international conference on evolving treatment methods, and holds an adjunct professorship.

Salus is the answer to a question he has been asked for a decade: how can this standard of care reach families who cannot afford a premium centre? His answer is the same clinicians, the same methods and the same advisory board, in a residential retreat designed to cost less.