Journal of Dr Hiro Koo, Industrial & Organizational Psychologist and hypnotherapist in Kuala Lumpur: workplace mental health, coaching and hypnotherapy.
UTAR Mathematics & Science Fair 2026, Sungai Long campus. 拉曼大学双溪龙校区 Mathematics & Science Fair 2026。
AT UTAR SUNGAI LONG
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) invited New Mind Brain Health Centre to its Sungai Long campus for the Mathematics & Science Fair 2026, where we took part as an Educational Partner. I am grateful for that invitation.
The fair poster: 28 October 2026, MPH, KB Block, UTAR Sungai Long. 活动海报：2026 年 10 月 28 日，拉曼大学双溪龙校区 KB Block MPH。
WITH THE STUDENTS
Our practitioners, Jun Ming and Leon, brought the students an educational sharing on applied brain science, along with an interactive experience. Drawing on psychology, brain science and technology, they introduced the students to the brain, self-regulation and personal potential.
Jun Ming and Leon with the students, at the talk and at our booth. Jun Ming 和 Leon 与同学们，在分享会上，也在我们的展位。
A REFLECTION
For a long time we have hoped to make brain science easy to understand and something people can experience for themselves, so that it becomes useful in everyday life. I was very happy that this time we could bring that kind of learning onto a campus.
Thank you to the organisers for their trust, and thank you to Jun Ming and Leon for the care they put into it.
A Certificate of Appreciation from the Centre for Foundation Studies, UTAR Sungai Long. 拉曼大学双溪龙校区基础课程中心（Centre for Foundation Studies）颁发的感谢状。
Speaking at the Macau Psychology Association 2026 Annual Academic Conference, 24 October 2026. 在澳门心理学会 2026 年学术年会上演讲，2026 年 10 月 24 日。
FROM MACAU
On the afternoon of 24 October, at the Rio Hotel, Macau, I joined psychologists from Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China. I was there as a Malaysian Industrial & Organizational Psychologist, invited by the Macau Psychology Association (Associação de Psicologia de Macau) to speak at its 2026 Annual Academic Conference, which also marked the installation of the Association's 14th board. The conference theme was workplace mental health in the age of AI.
ON THE STAGE
My talk was titled "Invisible Occupational Injury in the Age of AI", and it followed one thread: from workplace trauma and burnout to a cultural path back to work. I opened with a slide from Invisible Disabilities Week 2026 that read "I Am Invisible No More".
Opening the talk with “I Am Invisible No More”. 演讲开场投影片：「I Am Invisible No More」。
I also wanted the room to hear about Malaysia. I spoke about the work the Malaysian Psychological Association (Persatuan Psikologi Malaysia, PSIMA) has been doing in recent years to develop psychology as a profession, and about where counselling and psychology in Malaysia now stand on the road to professionalisation. I shared, too, the workplace mental health and psychosocial risk management initiatives that DOSH, Malaysia's Department of Occupational Safety and Health, has been actively driving.
The academic discussion that closed the afternoon. 下午最后的学术讨论环节。
The programme also included Professor Luo Yuejia, President of the Chinese Psychological Society, on the development of psychology and talent in China, and Mills Wong, an organisational psychologist from Hong Kong, who asked what AI takes from us beyond our job skills. The afternoon closed with an academic discussion among the speakers.
A REFLECTION
What stays with me is how colleagues from different places responded. They were impressed by Malaysia's progress in developing the psychology profession, our counselling system and our work on mental health at work. Being able to let more international colleagues see the effort of Malaysia's psychology community means a great deal to me.
My sincere thanks to the Macau Psychology Association for the invitation and for such warm hospitality. I hope there will be many more exchanges between our regions, so that psychology can be put to practical use in workplaces and in society.
Saya Anak Malaysia.
Warmly, Dr Hiro Koo
If your organisation is beginning to look at psychosocial risk and how people return to work after a difficult season, I would be glad to talk it through with you. Psychosocial risk assessment at New Mind
Presented my research paper today at the International Psychology Conference 2026, organised by Persatuan Psikologi Malaysia together with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and HELP University.
My study examined traumatic stress exposure and burnout among 120 Malaysian corporate employees using the LEC 5 and Burnout Assessment Tool.
The findings suggest that the relationship between traumatic stress and burnout may be more complex and dimension specific than a simple “more trauma, more burnout” pattern.
The clearest signal appeared in exhaustion. The regression model for exhaustion was significant and explained 23.1% of the variance.
This leads to an important direction for future research.
I would like to explore this with larger and more diverse samples, while examining cumulative trauma exposure and moderators such as job demands, job resources, resilience, social support and perceived control.
I am also interested in whether subjective exhaustion always matches physiological regulation.
Some employees may become accustomed to chronic stress, underreport exhaustion, or experience reduced awareness of their own physiological load.
Future studies could therefore combine self report measures such as BAT with psychophysiological indicators such as heart rate variability and biofeedback derived regulation measures.
The question may not only be “How burned out is this employee?”
It may also be “What pattern of resource depletion is developing, what is maintaining it, and can we detect it before it progresses further?”
This is the direction I hope to continue exploring within Occupational Health Psychology.
A meaningful milestone in my professional journey.
Today, while attending the 2026 International Innovation Conference on Brain-Computer Interface and Neuromodulation Technology in Shanghai, I was humbled to learn that the newly launched textbook, Neuronal Plasticity: From Theoretical Foundations to Practical Applications, was featured in official media coverage following the conference.
What makes this particularly meaningful to me is that parts of the book were developed from my PhD research, and I had the privilege of contributing as one of the authors.
As researchers and practitioners, we often spend years exploring questions, conducting studies, analyzing data, and translating findings into practical applications. Much of this work happens quietly behind the scenes. Seeing a portion of my doctoral research evolve into a published textbook is both humbling and deeply rewarding.
The book brings together contributions from international experts in neuroplasticity, neurofeedback, neuromodulation, and brain health. Its aim is to support education, professional training, research, and evidence-informed practice in these rapidly developing fields.
I was also honoured to serve as the moderator for the international roundtable discussion at the conference, representing the Asia Pacific Neurofeedback and Biofeedback Association (APNA) as my role as vice president, alongside distinguished experts from around the world.
Over the years, my work has focused on bridging neuroscience and real-world application through neurofeedback, biofeedback, psychophysiological assessment, brain health, workplace wellbeing, and trauma-informed practice. Experiences like this reinforce my belief that research achieves its greatest value when it can be translated into knowledge that supports practitioners, organizations, and the people they serve.
My sincere gratitude to my supervisors, mentors, collaborators, students, and colleagues who have contributed to this journey.
Still learning. Still growing. Still committed to advancing the science and practice of neurofeedback and biofeedback for brain health and human potential.
Training medical and psychology officers requires more than just a review of standard protocols; it requires a deep dive into the physiology of human connection. Recently, New Mind Academy had the privilege of conducting a specialized training session on Trauma First Aid for officers from Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya.
While standard Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a vital foundation, our session explored how a trauma-informed lens serves as a critical adjunct for supporting individuals presenting with trauma-related symptoms.
Moving Beyond "Ask, Advise, Reassure"
In high-pressure clinical and emergency settings, the natural instinct is to fix the situation. This often leads to a heavy emphasis on:
Asking for details of the event.
Advising on next steps.
Reassuring the individual that they are now safe.
However, many practitioners find that despite these efforts, individuals may remain unresponsive, dissociative, or hyper-aroused. The insight we shared with the KKM team was simple yet profound: The issue is often not the intervention itself, but whether the recipient's nervous system is ready to receive it.
The Trauma-Informed Shift: Regulation Before Engagement
A trauma-informed psychosocial support framework shifts the practitioner’s focus from the narrative to the state. To reach someone in the throes of a traumatic response, we must prioritize physiological safety.
Three Pillars of Trauma-Informed First Aid:
Attend to the State, Not Just the Story: Watch for signs of dysregulation (shallow breathing, scanning the room, or "shutting down") rather than just listening to the words being said.
Slow Down and Reduce Stimulation: In a crisis, less is often more. Lowering the volume of the environment helps prevent sensory overload.
Support Regulation First: Engagement and cognitive processing cannot happen if the brain is in "survival mode." We must help the nervous system settle before expecting a person to follow instructions or process information.
Key Takeaway: When the nervous system feels safe, communication and recovery follow naturally.
Building a Psychological Safety Climate
The application of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) extends far beyond the clinical cubicle. For organizations and public health entities, integrating these principles is essential for building a Psychological Safety Climate.
By understanding trauma, organizations can:
Strengthen internal support systems for frontline workers.
Improve public health outcomes by making services more accessible to vulnerable populations.
Create environments where individuals feel safe to engage, express, and function effectively without fear of re-traumatization.
A Continued Collaboration with KKM
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to KKM Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya for their invitation and their commitment to evolving the standards of psychosocial support in Malaysia. Collaborative sessions like these ensure that our healthcare heroes are equipped with the most empathetic and neuro-biologically informed tools available.
Is your organization looking for Trauma-Informed Psychosocial Support Training?
[Contact New Mind Academy today via WhatsApp 0167154419] to learn how we can tailor our Trauma First Aid frameworks for your team.
I recently had the opportunity to share my thoughts on RTM AiFM radio station on the topic of workplace mental health and psychosocial risk from an Industrial and Organizational Psychology perspective. During the interview, I discussed the growing importance of psychosocial risk assessment in organisations, particularly in light of Malaysia’s PRisMA (Psychosocial Risk Assessment and Management at the Workplace) Guidelines 2024 introduced by DOSH. As a DOSH-certified Psychosocial Trained Person (PTP), I also shared insights from my work supporting organisations in identifying and managing psychosocial risks, including key factors such as job demand, job control, and job support, and how these workplace conditions influence employee well-being, engagement, productivity, and burnout prevention. The conversation highlighted how organisations can build healthier and more sustainable workplaces by strengthening psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and organisational support systems. I also shared another perspective on reframing this psychosocial risk assessment guideline as a training needs analysis approach, rather than viewing it solely as a way to fulfil legislative requirements. This perspective helps organisations identify their psychosocial risk areas and develop tailor-made interventions and training programmes that address their specific needs. I strongly resonate with thePersatuan Psikologi Malaysia (PSIMA)movement in advocating that psychology should not remain confined to clinical settings, but should also extend its impact to the public health and workplace sectors, where it can contribute meaningfully to the well-being of society.
Contact us via +60167154419 (Whatsapp) or contact@brainhealthspecialist.com if you would like to know more about Psychosocial Trained Person (PTP) related services in psychosocial risk assessment or training.
We are deeply grateful to see the work of New Mind Brain Health Centre featured in the March edition of Batik Air Malaysia inflight magazine. The article highlights our integrated approach from an organizational psychology perspective, combining Neurofeedback (brainwave self-regulation training) and Hypnotherapy (working with unconscious processes of mind) to support people dealing with work stress, early signs of burnout and cognitive overload. Our work focuses on self-regulation, resilience and prevention, and complements, rather than replaces, medical or psychological treatment.
Platforms like Batik Air’s inflight magazine allow these conversations about brain health and preventive mental well-being to reach a wider audience across Malaysia and beyond, helping more people understand that mental health is not only about treatment, but also about early regulation, sustainable performance, and long-term well-being.
