Simon Tan

I am a Registered Counsellor at the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (since 2013) and Senior Counsellor at the Little Portion Community Project (since 2010), a small mental health charity of which the patron is a retired Supreme Court Judge. I was an Accredited Counsellor at the National Counselling Society from 2016 to 2021.

In my career, I have worked as a lecturer in psychology, university researcher, government research officer, NHS project manager and local authority senior policy officer for health scrutiny.

My undergraduate and postgraduate training were completed at 4 universities in London, Southampton and Sheffield. I specialised in mental health and social analyses.

As a result of my advocacy work, communities across London elected me to serve as Governor of 20 major NHS Hospitals (combined they treated half of the UK population) and 5 Schools in the last two decades.

At the University of Southampton, I was elected Disability Officer in the Students Union (1997-1998) and represented issues on health & well-being for all 20,000 students (including the students who wished to disclose their disabilities).

In my professional life, I earned Fellowships of the Royal Statistical Society (2002-2021) and the Royal Society of Arts (2003-2021). I was a Senior Associate at the Royal Society of Medicine (2016-2020) and a Full Member of the Society of Expert Witnesses for 5 years (2016-2021).

On 20 October 2017 the President of the UK Supreme Court confirmed, in an official letter, my voluntary work is “fantastic” (this is a direct quote) after reading some of the charity reports.

On 12 April 2018 I became the first professional in recent British legal history to receive the recognition of being “extremely distinguished” (this is a direct quote) in an official letter from the third most senior Judge in the UK Supreme Court.

On 13 March 2019 I won an Expert Witness Award for Mental Health from the Lawyer Monthly magazine. 

I have won numerous awards for charity work, for instance, communities successfully nominated me for a Humanitarian Award from a well respected international health support network called Healed by Compassion. Their founding patron was the Right Honourable Baroness Mary Warnock (wife of former Oxford University Vice-Chancellor).

I became an Expert in mental health at the International Criminal Court on 9 January 2019 (5-year term), as confirmed by the Office of the Director of Judicial Services.

In the last decade, I have submitted evidence on mental health services to UK Parliament’s Select Committees, been active in many All-Party Parliamentary Groups in the House of Commons and campaigned for human rights around the world.

As an expert recognised by the International Criminal Court, I have many years of experiences in helping innocent people being framed as “bad and mad”.

I help you to cope with challenges, make positive changes in your life and enhance personal well-being. I work collaboratively with clients in a holistic, insightful and facilitative way to enable you to consider change.

I listen attentively to you in a safe and confidential setting. I offer you the time, empathy and respect you need to express your feelings. I offer clients hope in times of distress.

I have extensive experiences in helping clients with a wide range of complex difficulties which may revolve around severe stress, anxiety, major life changes, bereavement, health issues, relationship break ups and general dissatisfaction with life.

I am subscribed to the UK Government's Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Update Service and regularly undergo full background checks at DBS Enhanced Level (the highest level), which I always passed. 

Through continuous professional development spanning many years, e.g. I was a Professional Member of the American Counselling Association (ACA) from 2015 to 2018, I developed a wide range of advanced skills and creative resources to help new clients feel welcome, comfortable and at ease in the initial consultation.

Building good rapport and trust with a new client is always my first goal when starting a therapy session. A strong therapeutic relationship between the therapist and the client will lead to progress in the therapy sessions and provide you with a safe environment to talk about the challenges you face.

The professional experiences I accumulated over many years has advanced my skills in naturally building good rapport with clients in therapy to discuss your private and sensitive concerns in strict confidence. I approach a difficulty from the client's perspective in order to get a clear understanding of the key issues. I always give clients plenty of space to dictate the pace of the session.