Darshini has had a long career in the Singapore public health sector spanning many years. She first began with internships within the education and disability services. Next, over the course of completing her clinical training, Darshini was exposed to tertiary psychiatric services, private health services, and community family services. As a qualified Clinical Psychologist, Darshini first practiced at a tertiary psychiatric hospital. There she honed her clinical skills by working with individuals diagnosed with a wide variety of psychiatric issues ranging from moderate to severe. This included presentations of Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, Health Anxiety, Somatic Complaints, Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Intellectual Disability, Personality Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Adjustment Disorder, Grief and Gender Identity issues. Darshini also learned to create clinical services, and to coordinate her department’s response to national civil emergencies. In the course of her work, Darshini developed a specific interest in treating individuals suffering from Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Trauma. She also began to supervise students undertaking their clinical training with the National University of Singapore-University of Melbourne joint Clinical Psychology Masters program.

Darshini then went on to practice with child protection and youth rehabilitation services to further her interest in working with trauma, across a broader age group. In the course of this work, Darshini also learned to implement services at a wider community level, and supervised community practitioners in Voluntary Welfare Organisations. Darshini conducted training for community practitioners to help them better understand and respond to trauma in their clients. Darshini’s last place of practice was with the military services, where she returned to a more general psychiatric practice setting, serving military personnel with different mental health presentations. Here she supervised junior psychologists within the organisation, to develop their clinical skills. Darshini also manualised and conducted a group therapy program for the rehabilitation of servicemen. Darshini conducted regular training for commanders on managing servicemen with psychiatric illness.

Darshini has since practiced in the private health sector. She first headed a team of clinical and counselling psychologists, counsellors and junior psychologists, managing their professional development and service provision. Darshini also worked with a variety of corporate organisations on crisis support needs, mental health training, and other corporate wellbeing activities. Darshini went on to practice independently as a freelance clinical psychologist, working directly with clients with mental health concerns. She teaches at the National University of Singapore, and continues to supervise mental health practitioners from an interest to contribute back to and continue to grow the mental health field.

Darshini holds a postgraduate Master of Clinical Psychology degree from the University of Melbourne and the National University of Singapore. Prior to this she graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) Psychology degree. Darshini is a Full Member of the Singapore Psychological Society, and a Registered Psychologist and Approved Supervisor with the Singapore Register of Psychologists. She is trained in, and practices from a variety of evidence-based treatment modalities. These include: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Skills Training, Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), Schema Therapy, Mindfulness, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, and Behaviour Modification. As a Clinical Psychologist, Darshini is trained to make clinical diagnoses and to assess and evaluate for different mental health conditions. This includes the use of appropriate psychometric assessment tools, such as: ABAS-3, Vineland-3, WAIS-IV, CTONI-2, TONI-4, D-KEFS, WMS-IV, MMSE, IPDE, MCMI-IV, PAI, BAI, BDI-II, PCL-5, and so on. Darshini delivers psychological services in English and Tamil.

Darshini believes in understanding how each client’s unique life experiences have shaped them. She hopes to empower clients through this understanding, to enable them to make choices, learn skills, and ultimately move closer to their desired lives. Accordingly, Darshini’s approach is personalised to the needs of each individual client in an open-minded, emotionally attuned, respectful manner.

At CEL, Darshini works primarily with adults and adolescents, in areas that include, but are not limited to: Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Dysthymia, Trauma, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Complex Mental Health Issues, Behavioural Change, Wellbeing, Clinical Supervision for Clinicians, and Psychological Assessments (Intellectual Disability, Personality Disorders, Cognitive and Neuropsychological Assessments).