About emma

One of the greatest gifts from my work is to learn that every human being suffers, that we all want to be happy but often don’t know how to find happiness, and that this commonality connects us with everyone else.

I am a clinical psychologist trained in the UK with over 15 years of clinical experience both in UK and Singapore. I have also had the privilege of teaching at three universities in the UK and one in Singapore. 

I grew up as a third culture kid, living in Brazil, Chile, Rome and Milan, Portugal and finally doing my university studies in London. I learned about how different humans can live, feel and think. That there are endless ways of seeing the world. There are endless ways of living in this world. 

I witnessed how in Brazil people from smaller villages lived with very little. Had very simple lives.  And yet would sing and dance whilst cleaning. In Chile, I saw people take to the streets to risk their lives to challenge a dictatorship that had taken their livelihood and their family. In Rome and Milan, I made wonderful friends and felt loved for who I was despite us having very different views of women in work and race. We could argue and yet, at the end of the day life was good together. Our relationships mattered more than our differences.  And then finally, when I moved to London I was struck by how much of an outsider I was. Despite being half British, my life experiences had meant I didn’t belong. This curiously lifted again when I moved to Singapore. Where again I was surrounded by others who had more of a cultural jumble of experiences that resembled mine. 

What this taught me was to be fascinated by humans. I have always loved stories, and listening to how people see life, what they want from life and what makes them them. I think having had the privilege of seeing so many variations of humans, I can see that there are so many ways for us to live full and meaningful lives. It all starts with knowing what it is that is hurting and finding a way to move in a way that brings purpose and belonging.

I trained in the UK, having finished my PhD in 2007. I went on to work in the National Health Service in inner London and then onto a Child and Adolescent Mental Health team in North London. During this time, I started a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy program for adolescents and adults and learned about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I also trained students at the MSc for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Anna Freud Centre in London and worked on the Increasing Access to Psychological Therapy program at University College London. I was also a visiting lecturer at Institute of Psychiatry. 

I moved to Singapore in 2013 with my husband and two very young boys. I started working at National University of Singapore as an assistant professor teaching on the MSc for Clinical Psychology. I was there for five years. It was a great experience and I was able to start the Functional Analytical Psychotherapy groups for students which was a source of immense joy to me. In this time, I also ran a couple of research projects looking into the effect of these groups on empathy, compassion and burn out. 

Since leaving NUS, I have started two clinics. I founded and directed Thrive Family for four years and more recently I have started a clinic called Us, which has the aim of increasing access to psychological therapy across Singapore and reducing stigma, both very close to my heart.