“Lira is highly skilled in adapting her counselling style to meet the needs of each client, taking into account their background and experiences. She worked with many clients who identified with different cultures, worked in diverse industries, and sought therapy with Lira for a variety of personal or professional issues. Lira's own international background and keen understanding of different cultures allowed her to be sensitive to a client's personal circumstances and journey.  

Lira created a safe and nurturing environment for her clients to share their experiences and feelings. Her excellent communication skills and ability to listen and provide guidance were highly effective not to mention well-thought out and tailored for each client. She was dedicated in providing quality mental health support to her clients and demonstrated high level of initiative, flexibility, patience and empathy. 

We have also had the pleasure of attending Lira's workshops and presentations organised for our corporate clients. Her passion for mental health and trauma support is inspiring, and her ability to engage her audience and impart knowledge is exceptional.”

Shilpa Jain
CEO and Co-Founder – Talk Your Heart Out
Singapore

“When I first went to therapy, I was already at the edge of the cliff. I was unable to function like a normal person on a daily basis and my partner was at a loss as to how to help me. Lira gently took my hand and helped me walk away from it. 

Firstly, Lira always listened without judgement and validated everything I felt. It especially helped that we came from a similar background. Sessions with her felt like a big warm hug and a balm to my heart and I always looked forward to them.  

Secondly, Lira was able to quickly and accurately identify the issues at hand from every emotional verbal vomit (interspersed with some dark humour) I had for her during the sessions. She patiently explained why I felt everything I felt and helped me make sense of everything. As someone who constantly needs to rationalise everything, this was the most important part of the sessions for me. Lira understood this and managed it wonderfully.  

Last but in no way the least, Lira provided me with the tools to help me overcome the challenges I face whenever they arise in the future. I have since managed to identify many challenging moments before they even begin to manifest and I am still using those very tools Lira taught me during those sessions until today. Therapy with Lira changed my life and I am eternally grateful for her. I highly recommend it for everyone.”

Nadiah Harris
Rijswijk, The Netherlands

“I would describe my very first therapy session with Lira not only as incredibly comfortable, but even joyful. It felt like a genuine and organic two-way conversation; this made it easy for me to relax, to be myself and to speak honestly as I would with a trusted friend. It was a breath of fresh air, especially after some prior experiences I'd had with mental health support, which sometimes felt too one-sided and clinical.

Across our time together, she helped me to navigate a wide range of issues - from grief and caregiver burnout, to childhood trauma, to relationship struggles. She was always adept at picking out the key strands of whatever I was saying, even when I had difficulty distilling my thoughts coherently. I also felt that she was able to clearly appreciate the nuances of my cultural and religious milieu - which was vital, given the nature of the issues that we worked through together. I benefited so much from my individual therapy sessions with her that I even proceeded to engage her for couples counselling with my partner.

An excerpt from my diary after our second session:
Therapy was sick. I found myself in awe. Lira's clearly a damn skillful therapist. She knows her shit. The session flowed so organically, but by the end of it seemed to have had such a clear structure all along. I told her that. I said, wow, I've never experienced a therapy session that was so organic yet so structured... I love it. Thank you, Lira!”

Ziyad Bagharib
Singapore

“I first sought Lira’s expertise shortly after moving to France for work a few years ago and was looking for help navigating through the combined challenges of integrating into a new city and workplace, and constantly feeling isolated, overwhelmed and anxious, both at work and in my personal life.

Lira’s wealth of knowledge, understanding and experience with mental health support and trauma made me feel safe, and I instantly felt comfortable opening up to her. She was extremely patient, understanding, intuitive, and always able to relate and empathise with me, and her compassion always shone through. Lira was able to pick up on subtleties during our conversations, both sensitively and accurately, and I always felt listened to and understood. We worked on understanding some of the underlying reasons for my anxiety. Our sessions always offered a sense of clarity, a wider perspective, and a deeper understanding of myself and how I process my thoughts and emotions.

I have full confidence that anyone working with Lira will benefit immensely from her knowledge and experience with counselling and mental health support, complemented by her intuition, compassion and empathy.”

Felix Lim
London

“Working with Lira was an absolute pleasure. She was an invaluable resource for all mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) related issues both internally and with interlocutors and partners.

We were lucky to benefit from her contribution to one of our workshops, for which she crafted an informative and engaging session for our multicultural and multi-profiles team, which convinced even the most reluctant of us, of the importance of trauma awareness for our work.”

Sarah Zagoury
Project Officer – Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Geneva

“I've worked with Lira on both personal and professional fronts. She was my therapist while I was going through a challenging time, and she compassionately and patiently created an environment where I could deeply navigate my emotional landscape and history. Coincidentally, she was also engaged as a facilitator for a number of experimental group sessions in my previous company based in Singapore, focusing on managing challenging emotions and circumstances for regional team members from different cultures and countries across Asia during the pandemic. Her unique background in multiple disciplines really shined in supporting the multicultural participants to navigate their unique situations, while they were also able to connect meaningfully with each other through common humanity.

While we only connected online due to the physical distance and pandemic, I couldn't have had a better companion for myself and for my organisation to truly take care of our well-being and thrive throughout the challenging period. I'd recommend Lira to those who bravely want to navigate themselves inwardly and bring the best to the world with positive intentions.”

Yina Song
Korea/Singapore

“During her time as an associate of the Geneva/Oxford Process, Lira's ability to open doors discreetly and navigate sensitive social and cultural contexts at the national level was an asset to our mediation processes. Her networks, psychological experience and political knowledge of Asia and Europe helped the team craft creative strategies to find entry points for dialogue. I would recommend Lira to anyone looking for an experienced, empathetic and culturally-sensitive professional in conflict resolution.”

Dr. Louisa Chan Boegli MD
Director – Geneva Process
Geneva

“Lira’s passion is to help the victims of strife and conflict on a personal level. She takes the time to understand individual pain and suffering, and offer ways to find a path to inner peace in a turbulent world.”

Michael Vatikiotis
Writer and Private Diplomat
Senior Advisor – Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Geneva/Singapore