About Dr. Ong Mian Li
Clinical psychologist. Researcher. Neurodivergent. Mayo Clinic–trained. Registered in Singapore.
A neurodivergent clinician shaped by research and real-world complexity.
I’m the founder of Lightfull Psychology and a registered psychologist with the Singapore Psychological Society (SRP No. 2512014). I’m also a review member for the Singapore Register of Psychologists (SRP), meaning I sit on the panel that evaluates other psychologists’ credentials when they apply to the registry. You can verify my SPS membership and SRP registration directly.
A note on the title: “Dr.” refers to my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, not a medical degree. I am a psychologist, not a psychiatrist or physician.
I’m also neurodivergent. I have ADHD, and I built my career with it, not in spite of it. I navigated a PhD, a Mayo Clinic fellowship, a research career with 100+ research contributions, and the founding of a nonprofit and a private practice, all while learning to work with a brain that doesn’t operate on the standard template.
That experience informs how I think about assessment, treatment, and the people who walk through my door. I know what it’s like to wonder whether there’s an explanation for how you’ve always been, and what it means to finally get a clear answer.
Clinical training across the full spectrum of complexity.
My doctoral mentor was Dr. Eric Youngstrom at UNC Chapel Hill, one of the world’s leading experts in evidence-based assessment and a driving force behind making psychological science accessible to the public. That family-like mentorship shaped how I think about clinical work: rigorously, transparently, and always in service of the person in front of you.
The training years ran from research at Temple University, through the Ph.D. at UNC Chapel Hill, a doctoral rotation at Duke’s Center for Autism and Brain Development in Dr. Geraldine Dawson’s group, and an internship at UT Health San Antonio with Dr. Stacy Ogbeide and Dr. Kathryn Kanzler, to a postdoctoral fellowship at Mayo Clinic that moved from the anxiety clinic to the inpatient unit to chronic pain rehabilitation. Rooms across the full spectrum: primary care, school, state hospital, ICU. What each one taught me, and who supervised which decisions, is on the training and credentials page.
I’ve stayed close to colleagues from those years, see the clinicians I trust abroad.
This breadth means I have worked with a wide range of clinical presentations, from common anxiety and mood concerns to diagnostically complex cases where other providers weren’t sure what was going on.
Training and credentials.
| Mayo Clinic, Rochester 2019–2021 | Postdoctoral fellowship in clinical child psychology, APA accredited. Five rotations, anxiety clinic to inpatient unit to pain rehabilitation. |
| UT Health San Antonio 2018–2019 | Predoctoral internship, APA accredited. Primary care behavioural health, inpatient psychiatry, parent-child interaction therapy. |
| UNC Chapel Hill M.A. 2015 · Ph.D. 2019 | Clinical psychology, APA and PCSAS accredited. Doctoral mentor: Dr. Eric Youngstrom. |
| Duke University doctoral rotation | Center for Autism and Brain Development, under Dr. Jill Lorenzi in Dr. Geraldine Dawson’s group. |
| Temple University before the doctorate | Research assistant in Dr. Lauren Alloy’s Mood and Cognition Lab. |
| SUNY Buffalo B.S. Psychology | Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. |
Registered Psychologist, Singapore Psychological Society (SRP No. 2512014) · PCIT-Trained (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy) · Professional Member, International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) · Mentor, Advisory Singapore (since 2024) · Sessions in English and 中文 (Chinese)
How I Work
My approach is grounded in cognitive-behavioural therapy, focused on how emotions, thoughts, and behaviours interact, with mindfulness, acceptance, and self-compassion woven in where they help. Sessions are structured enough to produce real results and flexible enough to meet you where you are.
A session with me is a full sixty minutes. I stagger thirty minutes between clients, partly so I can write notes and catch my breath, and partly so you never run into the person before or after you.
Not every concern requires long-term therapy. My training in Primary Care Behavioral Health means I can also deliver focused, single-session interventions that produce measurable change. Whether you need a comprehensive treatment programme or one targeted consultation, the approach is built around what will actually move the needle for you.
Professional Contributions
I’m involved in efforts to register psychology as an allied health profession in Singapore.
I serve as an ad hoc peer reviewer for scientific journals in clinical psychology and assessment.
I’m working toward registered supervisor status, committed to training the next generation of clinical psychologists in Singapore.
Work with me
Whether you’re a parent seeking assessment for your child, an adult exploring an ADHD diagnosis, or a professional looking for consultation, I’m specific about who I work with, and I’ll be straight with you about whether I’m the right fit. If I’m not, I’ll point you toward someone who is.
Many of the people I work with carry their professional roles into the room, performers, athletes, executives, and others whose work places them under sustained public attention. I have ADHD, and my own career has run through high-performance environments in the US and Asia, so the cost of functioning well while being watched is something I’ve lived with. The therapy itself doesn’t change much because of that. The care around it does, confidentiality, scheduling, and who has access get more deliberate attention.
See who I work with, and who I don’t →
- Adult ADHD Assessment
- Child & Adolescent Services
- Adult Therapy
- Consulting & Corporate
- Research & Publications
- Book a Free Meet & Greet
If you’re a man considering reaching out, I wrote this for you →
If you need a summary to forward to a referrer or programme committee, the speaking page has what they usually ask for.