Meet the Team
Our journey was long in the making. Since 2014, our directors have been collaborating as a diverse team of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and counsellors to promote family therapy in Malaysia – culminating in the setting up of the Andolfi Family Therapy Centre in 2021. Here's a quick introduction to the team.
Honorary Consultant
Prof. Maurizio Andolfi
Maurizio Andolfi, is a family therapist who initially trained as a child psychiatrist. He lived in New York City in the early 70’s where he worked extensively in the South Bronx, and later in South Philadelphia with disadvantaged families.
During his time in the USA, Andolfi studied with Salvador Minuchin, Jay Haley, as well as Carl Whitaker in the following years.
Dr. Andolfi is Professor of Psychology at La Sapienza (University of Rome), Director of the Accademia di Psicoterapia Familiare in Rome Italy, and Editor-in-Chief of the Italian family therapy journal: Terapia Familiare.
In 1999 he was the winner of an American Association of Marital & Family Therapy award for Special Contribution to Marital and Family Therapy. He's the Co-Founder of the European Family Therapy Association and the past-President of the Italian Family Therapy Society. He contributes to the Andolfi Family Therapy Centre by providing training and supervision.
Counsellors
Sharmilla Bt Abdullah
Sharmilla is a registered and licensed practising counsellor who works with individuals, couples and families. She holds a Master of Counseling and a Post Graduate Diploma in Multi-Generational Family Therapy (Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia, Rome ).
She is committed to providing her clients with a safe, confidential and non-judgemental environment to work through their concerns together.
Before pursuing her passion of becoming a counsellor, she worked in the banking industry for nine years.
Yvonne Teo
Yvonne journeys with her clients to work on issues arising from interpersonal relationships and the wider family system, and she does this by bringing together her clients and their families.
In the past, Yvonne was with the YWCA Vocational Training Opportunity Centre, where she counsels young women and girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Today, she volunteers in various religious organisations to provide psychological support to adolescents, young adults, elderly individuals, as well as couples and families who struggle through challenges. Yvonne holds a Master of Counselling and a Graduate Certificate of Family Therapy Programme (The Delta Clinic, Australia), and she’s registered with the Board of Counsellors Malaysia.
Cheryl Chin Yi Fen
Cheryl is a dedicated and experienced registered and licensed counselor. She is also a certified clinical supervisor with Board of Counsellors Malaysia (LKM). She sees individuals, couples and families in her clinical work. Her journey into the field began with work surrounding trauma, grief and loss, crisis intervention and then she further ventured into emotion, systemic and relational work in both clinical and corporate settings.
Cheryl holds a masters in counseling, certification in family therapy (Australia) and graduate diploma in multigenerational family therapy (Italy), supervised by Prof. Dr. Maurizio Andolfi. Additionally, she completed her training in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), supervised by the creator of EFT, Dr. Leslie Greenberg (Canada). She is also trained as a family consultant in collaborative practice, managing divorce and separation cases together with lawyers and team. She strongly believes that a breakdown of marriage does not have to be the breakdown of family.
Minnie Chang
Minnie holds a Masters in Counselling from HELP University and a Graduate Certificate of Family Therapy from the Andolfi Family Therapy Center. When working with clients, she tends to utilize the systemic-focused approach to guide clients in sessions. Minnie has worked with individuals, couples and families. Some of which includes individuals with experience of trauma, loss, addiction, relationship concerns and work-related concerns as well with children with learning needs in schools.
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Minnie believes that each person is the expert of their own life and needs a space to feel safe when exploring their own past or experiences of life. She is committed to help clients find effective ways to manage life transitions by being the empathetic helper to journey alongside clients, empowering and holding space in the course of this journey.
Rachael D'Rozario
Rachael, a biotechnologist turned youth worker, is a registered and licensed mental health counsellor. She holds a Masters in Counselling from HELP University and completed her Graduate Certification of Family Therapy at Andolfi Family Therapy Center.
Rachael provides counseling for individuals and families; believes in creating a calming and nurturing space for clients to explore their journey. She has worked with clients from various social economic backgrounds in the area of anxiety, depression, grief and loss, navigating difficult life transitions, managing stress, career exploration and broken relationships in the family using a person-centered approach and the multi-generational family systems lens.
Rachael is passionate about accompanying people on their journey through life and makes therapy sessions feel supportive and uplifting with the intention that it helps clients feel held while working through their challenges.
Intern Counsellor
Ng Tsu Mae
Tsu Mae has completed her Graduate Certification of Family Therapy at Andolfi Family Therapy Center and is pursuing her Masters in Counselling at HELP University. She is developing her skills in individual and family counselling using a systemic lens. Her desire is to enable her clients to navigate life transitions and move forward with self-acceptance, resolving areas of persistent “stuck-ness.”
Her areas of interest include family therapy, mid-career counselling and transitions, life transitions and acceptance, financial therapy, and third culture children and individuals. She has over 20 years of corporate experience in financial services industry at small and large organizations and has grown up living in different countries.