About Deborah and North Ship Counselling
About Deborah Koh
I earned my Master in Guidance and Counselling from James Cook University, graduating with a Distinction. I completed my practicum at the university’s counselling centre, working with students struggling with anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, and problems with relationships and academics.
Before becoming a counsellor, I volunteered on the Helpline at AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research). I provided a listening ear to women going through difficult life situations, such as sexual assault and harassment and domestic/intimate partner violence.
Therapeutic Approach
I believe in strongly in cultivating compassion — especially self-compassion — as we navigate life’s various challenges. I seek to understand clients and help them understand themselves, not to pathologise or diagnose.
The work of therapy — that is, the work of compassion and understanding — is life-changing and lifelong. We are all ‘work in progress’, trying to do our best to figure out life with the tools we’ve been given. If you are struggling, let me listen to you, get to know you, and perhaps give you some new tools to help you live the life you’ve been looking for — the life that’s waiting for you.
Professional Memberships
Provisional Clinical Member (PCM) of Singapore Association for Counselling (SAC)
Registration number: D1171
Education
Master of Guidance and Counselling from James Cook University (Singapore/Australia)
MA Social Research from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom)
BA Sociology from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
Additional Qualifications
Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy Professional (C-DBT) Training
Gaslighting: Help Clients Escape and Rebuild from a Narcissist's Emotional Abuse
Gottman Method Couples Therapy (Levels 1 & 2)
Arizona Trauma Institute: Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist - Individual
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy course taught by Dr Russ Harris
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Weekend 1 from EMDR Singapore
Why “North Ship”?
Our name comes from a poem by Philip Larkin called The North Ship, published in 1945 (which you can read here). It’s a fable about three ships heading in three different directions: west, east, and north. But only the ship heading north is “rigged for a long journey” — it’s the only one prepared to go the distance.
The ship heading westwards has a quick and profitable journey, but of course that’s not always how life works. The ship heading eastwards has a difficult journey and never reaches its desired destination.
At the end of the poem, the westward and eastward ships return, in triumph or defeat.
But the north ship is still heading north on its long journey.
It’s a metaphor that appealed to me — life is not about whether you’ve had good or ill fortune, or whether you’ve reached some arbitrary goal or not. It’s about the journey!
And no matter where we came from, no matter what we’ve been through, with hope and determination, we can keep growing and changing and moving forwards. We have to be prepared for a long journey — that’s the only way to know that we’ll go far.