Workplace Mental Health Program Malaysia

 

Dragging yourself through work lately?

Brain fog. Tight chest. Poor sleep.

You tell yourself,

“I just need to try harder.”

But what if trying harder is exactly what’s burning you out?

Burnout isn’t always a personal weakness.

Sometimes it’s a system asking more than any human can sustainably handle.

And stress management alone won’t fix an unhealthy work climate.

Join us LIVE as we explore:

1) For individuals

How to recognise early brain and body distress signals

2) For organisations

Why systemic change matters more than stress management training

5 Feb 2026

8:30 PM – 10 PM

Facebook Live: New Mind Academy https://www.facebook.com/BrainHealthSpecialist/

From PhD to Professional Success: Rethinking Career Pathways Beyond Academia

On 17 December 2025, I had the privilege of being invited by INTI International University to participate in a timely and meaningful panel discussion titled “From PhD to Professional Success: A Conversation with Experts.” The session brought together academics and industry practitioners to address a reality that many doctoral students and graduates are currently facing: the academic pathway is no longer the only, nor the most accessible, route after a PhD.

The Changing Landscape for PhD Graduates

For many years, the implicit expectation for PhD holders was clear:
complete the doctorate, enter academia, and build a career as a lecturer or researcher.

However, global employment dynamics have shifted significantly. Universities are producing more PhD graduates than the academic system can absorb, while tenure-track positions continue to decline. As a result, career transitions into industry, professional practice, policy, consulting, and innovation-driven roles are no longer exceptions, but an emerging norm.

This panel discussion directly addressed that shift and invited an open conversation on how PhD training can remain valuable, relevant, and impactful beyond traditional academic settings.

A Conversation Across Academia and Industry

The session featured a diverse panel of speakers, each representing a different trajectory of doctoral training and professional application:

• Dr. Antonio Inserra, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

• Dr. Ratnadevi R. Shunmugam, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, INTI International University, Nilai

• Myself, Dr. Koo Kian Yong (Hiro), Director of Learning and Development, New Mind Academy 

A Message to Current PhD Students

If there was one message I hoped participants would take away, it was this:

Your PhD does not limit your future. It expands it, if you are willing to reimagine where your expertise belongs.

Career uncertainty after or during a doctorate is not a personal failure. It is a structural reality of a changing global system. What matters is learning how to translate depth into relevance, and knowledge into contribution.

Gratitude and Closing Reflections

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to INTI International University, the Centre for Postgraduate Study, and Professor Dr. Walton Wider for the invitation and thoughtful organization of this session. It was encouraging to see institutions creating safe and honest spaces for doctoral students to reflect on their futures.

Conversations like this are essential if we are to support the next generation of PhD graduates in building careers that are not only successful, but also meaningful, sustainable, and aligned with real societal needs.

From International Occupational Health Psychology to Practical Team Building in Malaysia

 

Recently, I attended the Joint Congress of ICOH-WOPS & APA-PFAW 2025, an international conference focused on work, well-being, and psychosocial factors at work. Researchers, practitioners, and policy contributors from around the world gathered to discuss one central question:

How can organizations design healthier, safer, and more sustainable workplaces?

As a practitioner based in Malaysia, this experience directly informs how I support organizations through team building, corporate training, and training needs assessment (TNA).

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Why This Conference Matters for Organizations

The sessions covered evidence-based topics such as:

• Psychosocial risk and burnout prevention

• Psychological safety and leadership responsibility

• Working time, workload design, and recovery

• Organizational-level interventions, not just individual coping

A key message repeated throughout the conference was clear:

Employee well-being is not only an individual issue.
It is a system and leadership responsibility.

This perspective is central to occupational health psychology, the field that guides my work with companies.

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Applying Occupational Health Psychology to Team Building

Many organizations approach team building as a one-off activity.
From an occupational health psychology perspective, effective team building should:

• Strengthen psychological safety and trust

• Improve communication and role clarity

• Support energy management and recovery, not just motivation

• Align individual strengths with organizational demands

This is why my team building programs are designed as purposeful interventions, not games without direction. They are linked to real workplace challenges such as stress, disengagement, and performance sustainability.

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Training Needs Assessment Beyond Surveys

At the conference, researchers highlighted the limitations of relying only on self-report surveys. A robust training needs assessment (TNA) should consider:

• Job demands and role expectations

• Leadership practices and team climate

• Psychosocial risks and protective factors

• Signals of burnout, fatigue, or disengagement

In my practice, TNA is not just about “what training people want”, but what the organization actually needs to function in a healthier way.

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Supporting Malaysian Organizations

The insights from this international congress reinforce a direction that is increasingly relevant for Malaysia:

• Evidence-based corporate training

• Psychosocially informed team building

• Organizational-level prevention, not crisis management

Organizations that invest in this approach tend to see better engagement, stronger leadership capacity, and more sustainable performance.

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Looking for Team Building or Training Needs Assessment in Malaysia?

If your organization is looking for:

• Team building with real psychological value

• Training needs assessment grounded in occupational health psychology

• Corporate wellness and psychosocial risk-informed training

This is the work I focus on.

International knowledge must ultimately serve local workplaces, and my role is to translate occupational health psychology into practical, culturally relevant solutions for Malaysian organizations.

Contact us via WhatsApp 0167154419 (New Mind Academy).