Claire Leong


CURRENT WORK
CONTACT EMAIL


CCTSI - Expires August 2023

MEMBERSHIPS / REGISTRATIONS

Singapore Association for Counselling
Provisional Member
Ministry of Education
Instructor - exp. May 2024
Trauma Institute International
Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist - exp. Jul 2024


Education

- Master of Counselling
- BA Psychology (min. Org Psych)


Work Experience

- Counsellor
- Youth Outreach Officer
- Equine-Assisted Learning Instructor


Media and press

Articles
Interviews
Panel discussions


Creative Work & other skills

Writing
Canva (Infographics, Posters)
Theatre
Public speaking


Education & Training


EDUCATION
MASTER OF COUNSELLING
Murdoch University
2017 - 2019
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Minor in Organisational Psychology
Monash University
2015 - 2017
DIPLOMA IN COUNSELLING
Kaplan Higher Education Academy
2014


CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAININGEMOTIONALLY FOCUSED FAMILY THERAPY LEVEL ONE
ICEEFT x SGEFT
2023
EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED THERAPY TRAINING: EXTERNSHIP
ICEEFT x SGEFT
2023
2-DAY ADVANCED WORKSHOP: CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS (IFS) WITH FRANK ANDERSON MD [Digital Seminar]
Pesi AU x Dr. Frank Anderson
CLINICAL & ETHICAL BEST PRACTICES FOR HIGH CONFLICT FAMILIES: CHILD-FIRST STRATEGIES FOR DIVORCE, CUSTODY, COPARENTING, AND COURT [Digital Seminar]
Pesi AU x Bradley Craig
2023
HEALING FROM AFFAIRS: MOVING PAST THE TRAUMA OF BETRAYAL AND INFIDELITY [Digital Seminar]
Pesi AU x Tammy Nelson
2023
IFS IN ACTION: LEADING CLIENTS TO SELF-LEADERSHIP [Digital Seminar]
The Professional Development People x Dr. Richard Schwartz
2023
ATTACHMENT-FOCUSED EMDR FOR AN EATING DISORDER [Digital Seminar]
The Professional Development People x Dr. Laurel Parnell
2023
REWIRING THE ADDICTED BRAIN WITH EMDR
PROMISES x Parnell Institute
2022
CERTIFIED CLINICAL TRAUMA SPECIALIST - INDIVIDUAL
Arizona Trauma Institute
2022
REBT: TAKING A COMPASSIONATE AND EMPOWERING COGNITIVE APPROACH
Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis
2022
NARRATIVE THERAPY: FOUNDATIONS AND KEY CONCEPTS
Re-authoring Teaching
2022
PREPARE-ENRICH ACCREDITATION
Marriage and Family Institute
2021
COLUMBIA SUICIDE SEVERITY RATING SCALE (C-SSRS)
The Columbia Lighthouse Project
2021
GENERAL PSYCHIATRIC MANAGEMENT FOR BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Harvard Medical School
2021
FORUM THEATRE PERFORMANCE FACILITATION (JOKING)
Mixed Company Theatre
2021
INTRODUCTION TO FAMILY THERAPY
National Council of Social Service - SSI
2020
ADAPTING PROGRAMMES FOR PWD
Rainbow Centre
2020
LEVEL 1 E3A CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER
Equine Experiential Education Association (E3A)
2018
DESIGNING THE WINNING LOCKER-ROOM
SMU Academy, Real Madrid
2018
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID
National Council of Social Service - SSI, Mental Health First Aid Singapore
2018
TOOLS AND SKILLS FOR SUPPORTING YOUTHS WITH MENTAL HEALTH DISTRESS
National Council of Social Service - SSI, Community Health Assessment Team [CHAT]
2018
FAMILY AND ADULT SUPPORT TOOL (FAST) - USER
National Council of Social Service - SSI, John Praed Foundation
2018
VALUES AND PRINCIPLES IN SPORTS
Singapore Sports Institute, Ministry of Education
2018
CERTIFIED CAREGIVER SUPPORT SPECIALIST
Caregivers Alliance Limited
2016

WORK EXPERIENCE


CURRENTCOUNSELLOR
Sofia Wellness Centre (Freelance)
- Adolescents (10 years old and above), adults, and couples
- Addiction, anxiety, emotion regulation and management, depression, motivation, self-harm, identity, sexuality and gender, pre-marital counselling
- Created a workshop for burnout for public transport staff

PREVIOUSYOUTH OUTREACH OFFICER
Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre
Achievements
- Saved the organisation $165 per staff annually through negotiating with external services
- Formed new relations with community partners and social service agencies
- Created a Forum Theatre for At-risk Youth programme based on MOE's 21st Century Competencies framework
- Pioneered Youth Mental Wellness programmes

EQUINE-ASSISTED LEARNING INSTRUCTOR
Equal-Ark Singapore

Achievements
- Involved in the development of new equine-assisted learning (EAL) programme for families caring for children with special needs
- Proposed and actualised a Code of Ethics for the organisation
- Established a more robust measure for youth programmes
- Increased youth motivation by implementing “Equal Passports” to track achievements
- Put together new modules such as Mindfulness and enhanced the Forest School module
- Saved the organisation $263 per staff annually through negotiating with external services
- Set up database and resource-management tool for horsecare

CURRENT PROJECT
THE MENTAL HEALTH REPOSITORY
A pet project to increase mental health literacy in Singapore by making information accessible to the general public, and allowing the voices of individuals with mental health issues to be heard.
NOTION FOR MENTAL HEALTH
Creating a database management programme for mental health tracking and resources.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
COUNSELLOR (intern)
Caregivers Alliance Limited
Responsibilities
- Counsel caregivers and family members of persons with mental illness
- Counsel persons with mental illness
CAREGIVER SUPPORT SPECIALIST (volunteer)
Caregivers Alliance Limited
Responsibilities
- Teaching Caregiver-to-Caregiver psychoeducation classes designed to provide caregivers of persons with mental illness knowledge and support
- Provide caregivers with emotional support

MEDIA AND PRESS


ARTICLES
Today Online - Interviewed for article
The Big Read: Teenagers hooked on social media — what’s the cost to their mental health?
By Deborah Lau | July 2023
ISCA Journal - Wrote an article
Safeguarding Your Mental Health: When and Where to Seek Help
By Claire Leong | October 2022
The Soothe - Interviewed for an article
7 Red Flags in Relationship
By Rebecca Morais and Sophia Goh
VIDEOS
Viddsee - Interviewed for a video
POV: Parenting Ep 4 – Growing Pains
Milieu Insight - Panel discussion
Milieu Conversations | Episode 1: Exploring the relationship between social media on mental health

Creative work &
other skills


SKILLS
COUNSELLING
- Experience working with caregivers, individuals with mental health issues, special education needs, and mild intellectual disability in individual and group settings
- Children and young persons, adults, couples
- Relationship issues, gender and sexual identity, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, safety planning, suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-harm & injury
- Person-centred eclectic approach combining techniques and principles from various modalities, including but not limited to cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT), dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), emotionally-focused therapy (EFT), and internal family systems (IFS)
WRITING
- Professional journalism with The Straits Times and Game Axis
- Creative writing as a freelance writer
PERFORMING ARTS (THEATRE)
- Involved in a start-up theatre group as a youth.
- Worked with Babes and Beyond Social Services to put together a forum theatre play to increase awareness about teenage pregnancy - later invited to the Singapore Drama Educators' Association Arts Conference
- Taught speech and drama for one term with Acropolis English Centre
- Developed and piloted a forum theatre programme for at-risk youths from a secondary school (cancelled halfway due to COVID)
SOFTWARE AND PROGRAMMES
Notion (Intermediate) - Database management and presentation software; created database for horse and resource management at EQUAL
CANVA (Intermediate) - Posters, infographics, cards
SketchWow (Beginner) - Infographics, mindmaps, posters
OTHER SKILLS, SOFTWARE, AND PROGRAMMES
Case formulation | Debate | Dropbox | Equine-assisted learning | Google Drive | Leadership | Microsoft Word, PowerPoint | Online counselling and telehealth | Programme management | Psychoeducation | Public speaking | Rational emotive behavioural therapy | Resource tapping | Socratic questioning | Theory of change development | Trauma-informed therapy

Contact

EMAIL [email protected]
TELEGRAM @clairethecounsellor

Last updated: 1 November 2023


© 2022-2023 Claire Leong