At the beginning of Dr Ngai’s career, she practiced therapy approaches such as structural, intergenerational, and psychodynamic. Dr Ngai has been learning and practising the collaborative dialogic approach since she met Dr Harlene Anderson, one of the founders of the approach, in 2007. Her areas of clinical interest and specialty include couples counselling, parenting issues, and intergenerational relationship, infidelity, divorce recovery and remarriage, and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. For the past few years, she introduced the Open Dialogue approach, which is also based on social constructionism and dialogic theories, to Hong Kong. The Open Dialogue approach is the most successful treatment model for the most challenging mental illness such as psychosis in the world. After treatment, over 80% of the patients who suffered from psychosis recovered without medications and return to fulltime employment. Invited by Dr Jaakko Seikkula, Dr Ngai joined the Open Dialogue Trainers’ Programme conducted by Dialogic Partners and the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland between May 2018 to February 2020.  

In the process of understanding the power of dialogic approaches, Dr Ngai came across interpersonal neurobiology that applies brain research to psychotherapy. In the meantime, she has been studying and exploring ways trauma treatment models can be integrated into systemic therapy. In addition, Dr Ngai applies the collaborative dialogic concepts in organizations. Along with other experienced family therapy teachers and practitioners, she established the Hong Kong Marriage and Family Therapy Association as the Founding President.

• Ph.D. with a research focus on Chinese intergenerational relationships
• M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy
• B.A. in Psychology

• Clinical Fellow and Approved Clinical Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
• Certified Counselor and Certified Supervisor of the Hong Kong Professional Counseling Association
• Certified Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Clinical Supervisor of the Hong Kong Marriage and Family Therapy Association
• Approved International Trainer on the Open Dialogue Approach