Principal Counsellor

Professional Registrations

• Clinical Member & Registered Counsellor, Singapore Association for Counselling
• Full Member, Singapore Psychological Society

Academic & Professional Qualifications

• Master in Counselling, Monash University
• Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), National University of Singapore
• Specialist Diploma in Career Counselling, Republic Polytechnic
• Professional Diploma in Psychotherapy, The School of Positive Psychology
• WSQ Certified HR Professional (Recruitment & Selection), Human Capital (Singapore)
• WSQ Advance Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP), Institute of Adult Learning (IAL) Singapore.

Counselling Approaches

• Career Counselling
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
• Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
• metaFox Cards Coaching & Therapy
• Motivational Interviewing (MI)
• OH Cards Exploration
• Person-centred Approaches
• Personal Therapy

Client Profile: NSF, NS regular, young adults, working adults, tertiary students, educators, and male population

James supports individuals experiencing a range of mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).

He also works with trauma, adjustment issues, anger management, addiction, sleep problems, social anxiety, stress and burnout, exam-related stress, and National Service (NS)-related issues. Additionally, James provides personal therapy for mental health trainees.

The Lion Mind

As the Principal Counsellor of The Lion Mind, James provides counselling and psychotherapy services to clients. He also facilitates public talks, webinars, workshops, and seminars. Through the collaboration with Healthway Medical, he provides Total Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) talks to workers in the construction industry.

James adopts a person-centred approach, integrating expressive and experiential methods to support clients through the counselling process. He creates a safe, affirming, and non-judgemental space for clients to explore personal challenges and emotional growth.

Clinical Knowledge & Skills

James brings over 15 years of experience across education, healthcare, mental health, non-profit organisations and social services.

His counselling and psychotherapy work draws on psychological knowledge and relevant therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing and Solution-focused Brief Therapy. He works with clients to understand their concerns, explore emotional experiences and develop practical ways forward that reflect their needs and circumstances.

His clinical experience includes addiction counselling, career counselling and psychiatric rehabilitation. He has completed foundation and intermediate training in OH Cards facilitation, together with training in metaFox coaching tools . These approaches offer ways to explore feelings, experiences and personal meaning through images, words and guided conversation.

His formal education has also included the administration, scoring and interpretation of psychological tools, contributing to the psychological foundation that informs his counselling work.

Other Experiences

James is an Associate Lecturer at Republic Polytechnic’s School of Sports & Health. In this role, he facilitates healthcare-related modules including ‘Advanced Integrated Care Planning’, ‘Advanced Care Coordination & Navigation’, ‘Biopsychosocial Aspects of Ageing’, ‘Communication & Health Coaching’, 'Communicating with Community Partners', ‘Healthcare Operations Management’, ‘Social & Family Dynamics’, ‘Sociology of Health and Social Care’, and ‘Multidisciplinary & Multisectoral Care for Seniors’.

James is registered as an Associate Adult Educator under the Training and Adult Educator Professional Pathway (TAEPP), with registration number AE250011532.

In addition, James serves as a Flexi-Adjunct School Counsellor with the Ministry of Education, providing counselling support and case management for students.

James has previously served as the Honorary Treasurer and an Executive Committee (EXCO) member of APACS (2020 to 2022). As a representative of APACS, James worked closely with other mental healthcare practitioners, and policymakers to shape the local mental healthcare scene. Through the APACS-HSEU-NTUC retainer clinic programme, James provides counselling to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Jurong Community Hospital staff from 2020 to 2022.

James has presented in two oral presentations during the 5^th Asia Pacific Rim International Psychotherapy and Counselling Conference 2017 in Singapore, and has published a peer-reviewed paper in the Australia Counselling Association (ACA)’s Counselling Australia Magazine.

Affiliations

Book a Counselling Session

James provides 50-minute counselling sessions in English. His fees are **S$200 for face-to-face counselling** and **S$250 for online counselling**. He welcomes first-time clients and provides LGBT+ affirmative support.

The booking calendar reserves one hour for each appointment: 50 minutes of counselling and a 10-minute buffer. The counselling session itself lasts 50 minutes.

Book a counselling session with James.

James believes in walking alongside his clients as they navigate life’s challenges, with empathy, respect and curiosity.