How I got here (not the usual route)
When I was 18, I signed up for a degree in Accounting, Business and Computer Science. The admissions office ticked the wrong box and gave me Psychology instead of Accounting. It was full, so I thought, fine, I’ll try psych for a semester and switch later.
LOL. I got hooked and ended up majoring in Psychology.
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| Tom and I - back when we were young and pretty! |
A few years later, I met Tom on a visit back to Madrid. With Spain having an economic melt-down, we moved to Sarawak in Borneo. He’s an academic, I’m entrepreneurial. We agreed he’d take the steady path while I built something portable. So I started a content business. It took off. I wrote and sold 4,000 articles worldwide.
In 2014, Women’s Weekly asked me to write a feature on rape and sexual violence. What I heard made my blood boil: women being attacked in their homes, on the street, in taxis—then blamed by authorities and family for “asking for it.” Support existed, mostly through feminist NGOs, but abuse was taboo. Some survivors didn’t know help was available.
Women’s Weekly publishing that piece helped tens of thousands of women. It also changed my life.
Print media was shrinking. I knew magazines were next. So I pivoted. Six months later I signed up for a Master’s in Counselling. My goal? To train properly so I could offer a safe, trauma-informed space for people living with the aftermath of violence.
I had a Psychology degree with honours, which gave me a solid base in science, critical thinking, and mental health theory. The Master’s helped me refresh that and focus on practical support.
My placements:
• All Women’s Action Malaysia (AWAM): supporting people recovering from rape, abuse, incest, DV, harassment.
• Dresser-Rand–Siemens: career stress, layoffs, cross-cultural comms, mental health at work.
• Asia Pacific University (APU): international students & staff, issues like anxiety, depression, loneliness, friendship, identity, growth.
I also completed an extra course in Online Therapy and Counselling.
In 2016, I founded my own fully online practice. I focus on extreme privacy and practical trauma recovery.
I now work with clients across the world.
Half are adults recovering from historic abuse—incest, rape, trafficking, violence.
The other half are professionals who need a safe space to think, plan, and unload.
As one client said: “I dump all my angst on you and then go home to be with the people I love.”
Then, when Malaysia became increasingly hostile to foreigners, we gathered up our cats, Target, Tic Tac and Inkie, and moved again, landing in Thornaby, England in November 2023. It was exciting but it also
meant a rebrand. I've written about the need for that here.
I'm a Level 7 Registered Psychotherapist and Counsellor. I choose not to play the accreditation game because I’m heavily invested in my clients’ privacy.
This work can be tough, but it matters. I am also super lucky because I still write columns for The Star newspaper in Malaysia. I’m living the dream.
So, that’s me. If you’re looking for mental health support, contact me and we set up an appointment. The first 15-minute consultation is free.
