The very question I needed someone to ask me at 18 years old, before my life went downhill.
Have You Ever Found Yourself…
You’re not alone. What’s heartbreaking is that many people discover reaching out for help can leave them feeling worse than before.
Here’s the truth: The problem isn’t you.
It’s a system that tries to squeeze unique human experiences into rigid boxes, treating your story like a chapter being rewritten without your full informed consent.
That’s why my work – whether through therapy, speaking, or training – focuses on one core mission: helping you break free from these boxes and reclaim your voice.
This isn’t just my story. This is about what happens when the system meant to help becomes the very thing that silences you.
At 18, exhausted after seven sleepless nights, I walked into Singapore’s psychiatric hospital. All I wanted was help sleeping after my family doctor declined to prescribe sleeping pills.
One misunderstood question during assessment changed everything.
“Do you hear voices?”
In my sleep-deprived, distressed state, thinking of my teacher’s harsh words echoing in my thoughts, I said “yes.”
(I didn’t know then that they were asking about something else entirely – that this simple question about my teacher’s words replaying in my mind would be interpreted so differently because of the view that they hold.)
That “yes” changed the course of my life:
The cruel irony? After just two nights in the hospital, I got what I came for — sleep. The nurses even noticed, asking “You look ok, why are you here?”
But by then, the wheels were already turning. At discharge, they handed me a diagnosis I didn’t even understand. I chose to be transparent about this label in my applications, facing rejection as a result.
While I was officially discharged after two years, it was only years later when my request for memo for applications revealed a striking reality: the same experiences that once earned me a serious psychiatric diagnosis were now described as “nervous breakdown because of school stress,” with my national electronic health record showing “no mental illness.” Guess what I was told? “Diagnoses change.” While relieved, I felt confused, upset and angry. My story hadn’t changed — but its meaning had.
Have you ever had your experiences dismissed by the very people meant to help you understand them?
Seeking to understand and reconcile with this experience, I turned to therapy for the first time. But what I found next shattered my trust even further:
The hardest part? I had silenced my own voice.
Deep down, when I first received the diagnosis at 18, I knew something was wrong, but I brushed off that inner voice. I didn’t speak up. I was not sure. I felt afraid.
This is why I created Therapy Without Boxes.
Because you deserve to be the author of your own story. Not defined by a diagnosis*. Not confined by others’ theories. Not limited by society’s expectations.
(*While diagnoses can be useful tools when they serve individuals’ long-term wellbeing, they shouldn’t become boxes that confine your story or limit your possibilities.)
Through my journey, I discovered my mission: helping those silenced by mental health services reclaim their voice and trust their inner wisdom again.
If you’ve ever:
I understand. Not just as a professional, but as someone who’s been there.
When your inner knowing has been questioned or dismissed, it becomes harder to trust yourself. But that wisdom isn’t gone — it’s just waiting to be heard again.
Real transformation isn’t about finding the right technique or getting a diagnosis (though sometimes we need one for practical purposes), or following someone else’s healing blueprint.
It’s about reconnecting with your inner wisdom — the very thing many of us learn to silence.
Today, my relationship with life’s challenges looks completely different:
It’s about reclaiming your power to write your own story and live your truth.
That single misinterpreted question — one that confined me within a diagnosis for years and experienced stigma — taught me something crucial about ‘mental health’. While the medicalization of human distress dominates our mental health landscape — influenced by the globalization of American psychiatric framework — it represents just one way of understanding human experiences.
Your distress can be made sense through other lenses — whether trauma-informed, spiritual, or cultural. What matters most is your complete story — how your experiences align with your upbringing, your circumstances, your reality. Not something ‘abnormal’.
💡 Pro-Information
This is why I’m deeply pro-information. It means understanding various approaches and their long-term effects. It means exploring possibilities beyond what’s commonly offered. It means having honest conversations about both benefits and limitations of each path forward. Because real choice only comes with comprehensive information with the intention to benefit one in the long run.
🎯 Pro-Choice
The loss of basic freedoms — down to my phone access — taught me the devastating cost of having choices taken away, even when i was obedient. This experience shapes my pro-choice commitment today: ensuring you always have a choice in your journey. Your path forward should be yours to choose, not dictated by others.
🧭 Pro-Wisdom
When therapists dismissed what happened to me or tried to impose their expertise on my experience, I learned the deep price of silenced inner wisdom. This understanding grounds my pro-wisdom stance: helping you reconnect with and trust your own inner knowing. Because often, deep down, we sense what we need — even if we’re afraid to trust that voice.
These aren’t abstract principles — they’re hard-earned insights that guide every conversation, every decision, every moment of our work together.
If these principles resonate with you and you’re curious to learn more, I’m here to listen and explore how I can support you. Feel free to reach out for a thoughtful, pressure-free conversation about what matters most to you.
Here, you won’t find:
Instead, you’ll discover:
Life has a way of surprising us. After a series of harmful experiences in the mental health system, I became a service avoider. Psychology chose me, with two bond-free scholarships, and my passion for self-improvement became my path forward when I was too afraid to seek help again. With the steadfast support of a few key individuals who came into my life at pivotal moments, I found the strength to carry on through the years, gradually turning my life around one step at a time.
As I transitioned from patient to professional, I encountered new ways of being silenced — from being asked to censor my story in a peer support program to facing pushback for suggesting clients deserved complete information. These experiences of professional oppression strengthened my resolve to create not just something different, but something truly life-giving — an approach guided not just by textbooks and theories, but by an intimate understanding of how the mental health system can both help and harm.
In spite of my reservations, I found myself inexplicably drawn to this work. Even as I grappled with my own skepticism, an inner voice persistently called me toward this path. Looking back, my journey took an unexpected turn when I secured the coveted internship at the same hospital where my story began, becoming their first official intern in one of the teams — a reminder of how our deepest traumas can lead us to unexpected places.
I became determined to build a space where people could reclaim their voices, reconnect with their inner wisdom, and find the freedom to write their own stories.
My work brings together:
But credentials are just part of the story. What truly shapes my work is the combination of academic knowledge, professional training and experience, as well as deep personal understanding of what helps — and what hurts — when seeking support.
If you’re looking for support that:
The first step is simple: a free, confidential 15-minute conversation to explore what matters to you, in a space that honors your complete experience — no boxes, no pressure.
“True healing and growth happen when we’re seen, understood, and supported in finding our own way forward.”
— Roxanne Koh, Founder of Therapy Without Boxes
