About emma

I am a UK-trained clinical psychologist with over 15 years of clinical experience in the UK and Singapore. I have also taught at three universities in the UK and one in Singapore.
I grew up as a third-culture kid, living in Brazil, Chile, Rome, Milan and Portugal before moving to London for university. Growing up across cultures taught me that there are countless ways of seeing and living in the world.
I saw people find joy with very little, communities risk everything for what they believed in, and friendships thrive despite differences in culture, race and beliefs. I also experienced what it felt like to be an outsider, even in a place I was supposedly from—and later, the sense of belonging that came from finding people with similarly mixed cultural experiences.
These experiences sparked my fascination with people and their stories: how we make sense of life, what matters to us, and what gives our lives meaning. I believe there are many ways to live a full and meaningful life. Often, it begins with understanding what hurts and finding a way forward that creates purpose, connection and belonging.
I trained in the UK, completing my PhD in 2007, and went on to work in the NHS, including in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in North London. During this time, I developed a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy programme for adolescents and adults and trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I also taught on the MSc in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Anna Freud Centre, worked with the Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies programme at University College London, and was a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry.
I moved to Singapore in 2013 with my husband and two young boys and joined the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor in the MSc in Clinical Psychology programme. During my five years at NUS, I developed Functional Analytic Psychotherapy groups for students and conducted research exploring their impact on empathy, compassion and burnout.
Since leaving NUS, I have founded and directed two clinics. I ran Thrive Family for four years and more recently founded Us, a clinic focused on increasing access to psychological therapy across Singapore and reducing the stigma around seeking help—both causes that remain very close to my heart.