Emily Octavia holds a Master's Degree in Counselling and a Bachelor in Applied Social Science (majoring in Counselling). She has many years of experience counselling in university and social services. She brings with her years of working with clients from diverse socio-and multicultural backgrounds dealing with negative emotional issues (i.e., depression, anxiety, grief and loss, adjustment issues), relational problems (friendships, family issues) and with suicidal ideation and self-harm. Emily has on the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, adapted and is comfortable in providing e-Counselling using video-conferencing platforms.

Drawing on many years of training and experience from a working career in the corporate sector, in 2012, she joined All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), a non-profit organisation which actively fights for women’s rights and empowerment in Malaysia. She was involved with the services centre at AWAM, which provides legal information and counselling to women in crises. She worked with individuals, troubled teens, survivors of gender-based violence and cases in crisis situations, including sexual harassment, personal and relational issues, and couples with marriage and family issues.

As a person, Emily is open-minded, empathic, and is an advocate for supporting her clients through difficult life issues and working together towards progress, recovery, and change. She believes that each client has the innate potential and strength to resolve their issues and her role is to guide them towards change. Adopting the humanistic approaches, mainly Person-Centred Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy, Emily emphasises the experiential process of self-awareness and self-acceptance of individual in therapy sessions. She is committed to delivering client-centred support that gradually empowers individuals and enables them to make informed decisions.