Dr Liza Thia
Principal Educational and Child Psychologist
With over 20 years of experience, Liza has dedicated her career to supporting children’s learning, emotional, and social development. She’s a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a Registered Psychologist and Approved Supervisor with the Singapore Psychological Society.
Before founding her private practice, Liza spent more than a decade with the Ministry of Education, helping shape support for children with special educational needs. She continues to teach future educators as an adjunct lecturer and has trained thousands of teachers and parents through the Centre for Social Emotional Learning, which she co-founded.
Dr Liza believes in nurturing the whole child—with heart and insight.
- PhD (Psychology), Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia
- Masters of Science (Educational Psychology), University College London, United Kingdom
- Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (Distinction), National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), University of Calgary, Alberta Canada
Dr Liza Thia is a Principal Educational and Child Psychologist with over twenty years of clinical experience. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, a Registered Psychologist, and an Approved Supervisor with the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS). Before her private practice in 2009, Liza was with the Ministry of Education (MOE) for over a decade, where her leadership role as a Senior Specialist in Educational Psychology was instrumental in building local schools’ capacity to support children with special educational needs as well as in MOE’s policy formulation. Liza’s belief in evidence-based professional practices and dedicated pursuit of current knowledge and skills enabled her to coach and facilitate learning among fellow specialists and key stakeholders, including professionals from external agencies.
Liza first graduated with a First Class Honours Arts Degree in Psychology and was awarded the Dean’s List and several Recognition of Achievement awards. She also earned distinction in her Postgraduate Diploma in Education and was a Singapore Teachers’ Union Book Prize Winner. Under the MOE Post Graduate Overseas Scholarship, she pursued a Master of Science in Educational Psychology. Her PhD (Psychology) research focused on developing an emotional competence program for preschools in Singapore.
Presently, Liza provides psychological assessment and consultancy services for special educational needs and psychological well-being. Beyond her private practice, she also founded the SPS Educational Psychology Special Interest Group and volunteers actively in the Singapore Registered Psychologist (SRP) committee. Liza values opportunities to supervise psychologists and enjoys teaching and training at universities, schools and Voluntary Welfare Organisations. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the National Institute of Education and an Associate at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. In addition, Liza co-founded the Centre for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in 2010, which has trained more than 7000 educators and parents in the areas of SEL, Teacher-Student Relationships, Youth Mental Health, Inclusive Education and Special Educational Needs. She strongly believes that the education process should not focus only on children’s cognitive development, but more importantly, their social and emotional development.
Liza treasures her interaction with every child and appreciates the opportunity to support parents in their parenting journey and collaborate with other stakeholders in meeting the child’s needs. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and her teenage children, or going for walks and cycling around the island.
Note: The use of the title “Dr” indicates that the individual holds a doctoral degree in psychology, and is not a medical doctor.