Meet Frances Yeo

As a psychologist, Frances specializes in working with children and teens, together with their parents and families. She is experienced in a wide range of issues including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum, learning disorders, eating disorders, and esteem issues. As a mother, she understands fully how every child is different and how important for parents to understand the unique talents and personality of each child. Frances works with parents to better attune to the child’s needs and helps address the issues by recalibrating parenting styles and expectations.

The first step to helping a child usually starts with an accurate diagnosis of the underlying issues. With more than 20 years’ experience in the field of psychology, specializing almost exclusively on child and adolescent development for the last 16 years, Frances has been able to help many children through accurate testing and evaluation using standardized cognitive and academic tests. She regularly engages with teachers and schools to ensure a holistic treatment program for the children she sees.

Frances was trained in Sydney, Australia, where she obtained a Bachelor's degree at the University of New South Wales before completing her studies with a Master’s degree at the University of Sydney. She began her career at Singapore Prison Service, where she treated offending behaviors and assessed the risk of re-offending for two years. Subsequently, she joined KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) where she established the Psychology Service and, as the Principal Psychologist, grew the team to eight psychologists. During her 7 years at KKH, Frances worked with children, family, and adults, conducting diagnostic assessments for learning difficulties and ADHD. She also treated individuals with anxiety, stress, obsessive-compulsive disorders, eating disorders, self-harming, and depression. In 2009, Frances left KKH for private practice where she established The Child Developmental Centre Clinic at Novena Medical Centre. During her 5 years there, Frances grew the practice to integrated child development and allied health services centre with 22 clinicians and early intervention teachers. Since 2015, Frances has been practicing at Thomson Medical Centre. Passionate about doing more for students with specific learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental disorders, she leads the setup of Thomson Medical Group’s Thomson Kids Specialised Learning – a centre dedicated to helping students with learning difficulties through structured educational programs, derived from evidence-based interventions.

Like other fields of medical science, clinical psychology has seen rapid advances due to clinical research. Frances is trained in peer-reviewed and medically proven techniques such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR), and schema therapy. She contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers.