Imi Lo is an internationally published author, independent consultant, and philosophical counsellor working with emotionally and intellectually intense, existentially aware adults. She has published three books with Hachette: Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity (2018, translated into seven languages), The Gift of Intensity (2021), and The Gift of Empathy (2025).
With three master’s degrees in Mental Health (University of Queensland), Buddhist Studies (University of Hong Kong), and Global Cultures (King’s College London), Imi brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her work. After more than a decade of clinical practice as a psychotherapist and art therapist, including work with Médecins Sans Frontières and the UK National Health Service, she transitioned to independent consulting and philosophical counselling.
She has trained in Jungian psychology, mentalization-based treatment, schema therapy, EMDR, and trauma-informed modalities. Her current research focuses on the philosophy of emotion and death across Hellenistic and East Asian traditions.
More about my professional journey
Hi! I am Imi. I work with highly intense, curious, existentially aware humans.
I started in mental health as a suicide counsellor in 2009. Over the years I found myself drawn increasingly to the spiritual, philosophical, and creative dimensions of human struggle. I moved away from conventional psychotherapy toward something broader, something that goes beyond the medical model, which often pathologises people rather than understanding them. I have found more clarity in ancient wisdom than in diagnostic manuals, drawing particularly from Stoicism, Buddhism, and Daoism.
I hold a Master’s in Mental Health from the University of Queensland’s School of Medicine. Seeking to incorporate a spiritual dimension into my practice, I pursued a Master’s in Buddhist Studies, with my dissertation exploring the intersection between Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and Buddhist scriptures. I do not identify as a Buddhist and do not advocate for any specific religion, but I find wisdom across diverse philosophical traditions and bring that breadth into my work. Later, I studied Global Cultures at King’s College London, where I get to study how identity, belonging, and meaning are shaped when a person lives between worlds, as an immigrant, a misfit, someone whose experience does not map neatly onto any single cultural frame.
I have held clinical and supervisory roles in several countries, including Mental Health Supervisor at Médecins Sans Frontières and Clinical Practitioner in an NHS Community Mental Health Team. Through that work I saw firsthand how neurodivergent individuals are often misunderstood by the systems meant to help them. That recognition was one of the things that eventually led me to philosophical counselling, where the starting point is the person’s own experience of the world rather than a clinical framework imposed from outside.
In 2022, I voluntarily stepped away from my UK clinical registrations to develop a more whole-person, philosophically grounded approach to my work. The shift allowed me to engage with the questions that matter most to my clients without the constraints of the regulated clinical frame.
My work now centres on emotionally and intellectually intense adults, a population whose needs are largely invisible in mainstream mental health discussions. Resources for gifted children are abundant. For gifted adults there is a noticeable silence, particularly around the loneliness of being chronically misunderstood, the exhaustion of performing a smaller version of yourself so others can be comfortable, the weight of having been the one who held everything together since childhood, and the terror of suspecting that you are capable of far more than you have ever been able to reach.
I tend to be direct. I understand that is not for everyone, but I believe clarity, even when uncomfortable, is what actually helps. Underneath all the frameworks and philosophies, it is the genuine encounter between us and the insights we arrive at together that creates lasting change.
If you are interested in my personal journey and what got me here, I wrote about some of my personal histories and struggles. I also spoke about my childhood experience and journey in this conversation with the brilliant Adam Williams from Humanitou.
- A video interview with Corrie Lo about my personal journey.
- And here are some videos about the work itself
I look forward to being with you!
Imi
Education
- Master of Arts in Global Cultures (Distinction); King’s College London
- Master of Mental Health (Distinction); School of Medicine, University of Queensland
- Master of Buddhist Studies (Distinction); The University of Hong Kong
- Postgraduate Certificate in Psychological Studies; Metanoia Institute, Middlesex University
- Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology; University of Derby, UK
- Yale Summer Art Program; Distinction; University of Yale
Certificates and Diplomas
- Certificate in Jungian Studies – C.G. Jung Centre
- Certificate in the Principles of the Theory and Practice of Supervision – Metanoia Institute, London UK
- EMDR Training (Full training completed)- EMDR Europe
- Certificate in Logic-Based Therapy- The Logic-Based Therapy & Consultation Institute/ National Philosophical Counseling Association
- Solutions Focused Coaching Fundamentals (67 hours)- Solutions Academy (ICF Accredited Program), Germany.
- Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Psychotherapy – Beeleaf Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, UK
- Mentalization-based Therapy (Advanced) Training – Anna Freud Centre, University College London (UCL), UK
- Oxford Executive Leadership Program – University of Oxford, UK
- Psychosynthesis Foundation- The Institute of Psychosynthesis, UK
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Clinical Training Retreat – Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, UK
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Practicum – Openground Australia
Professional Experience
- Mental Health Supervisor- Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders
- Clinical Supervisor- Mind
- Psychotherapist/ Mentalisation Therapist– NHS Personality Disorder Team
- Trainer and Module Leader – Beeleaf Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy
- Social Worker/ Clinical Practitioner- NHS Personality Disorder Community Team
- Wellbeing Centre Officer– Mind, Richmond Royal Hospital
- Mental Health Mentor- Randstad Student Support, UK
- Suicide Counsellor – Samaritans Suicide Crisis Intervention Centre, HK
Awards
- Tung Lin Kok Yuen Postgraduate Scholarship for Buddhist Studies, 2020
- Dean’s Commendation for High Achievements- University of Queensland, 2011
- Endeavour Award (International), 2010 – Australian Government
- Dean’s List Recipient, School of Social Work, 2009, CUHK
- HSBC Social Work Scholarship, CUHK
- Social Work Departmental Prize, CUHK
Voluntary/ Honorary Positions
- Director, Honorary Secretary, Committee Member- Mensa HK
- Non-Executive Director- Emergence Plus (Personality disorders service-user-led organization) UK
- Honorary Psychotherapist- London Friend (LGBT Charity)
- Art Therapist – Tennyson Special Education School, Australia
- Art Therapist and Counselling Practitioner- Centacare Family Services, Australia
- Taipei Psychiatric Hospital Drug & Alcohol Unit, Taiwan
Teaching and Training
- Faculty Member/ Module Lead- Beeleaf Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy, UKCP Accrediting Organisation
- Consultant— ‘Working with Challenging Clients’ — True Mind + Body Centre, Chicago
- Workshop — ‘Schema Coaching’— Henley Business School, University of Reading
- Workshop — ‘Why we react the way we do at work’ — Brinks Women’s Network
Books and Published Works
- The Gift of Empathy – Printed and Audiobook, published by Hachette in 2025
- The Gift of Intensity– Printed and Audiobook, published by Hachette, 2021— Published in English, French, Chinese; also as an Audiobook.
- Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity– Published by Hachette, 2018— Published in English, French, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, and German
- Introduction for the Art for Mindfulness Colouring book series, published by Harper Collins
- Writer on Psychology Today
Reviews, References, and Testimonials
Throughout the years, I have had the honor of working with many wonderful people. Here are some kind words and professional references from coachees, supervisors, and colleagues.
Conference Presentations and Academic Publications
Conference Presentation:
“Beyond East-West Binaries: A Pluriversal Reading of Death Anxiety in Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations and Laozi’s Daodejing”
“Friendship, Death, and Loss in Zhuangzi and Roman Stoicism”
“Leadership Philosophies in Ancient Texts: A Comparative Analysis of Meditations and Daodejing”
“Sensibility and Emotional Intensity in Gifted Adults and the Medical Paradigm: Trauma and neuroatypicals”
“Social and Ethical Wisdom for Modern Living: The Dhammapada and Meditations in Philosophical Practice”
Academic Publications:
“Exploring Intersections Between The Dhammapada and Meditations”
“An LBT Session with a Client Going Through a Breakup”
“A heuristic and art-based inquiry: The experience of combining mindfulness practice and art making”
Public Work
- Panel Member— ‘Absolute Truth Talks,’ Philharmonia Orchestra and House of Absolute, London
- Podcast Host— The Intense Mind Podcast
- Host— Eggshell Collective BPD Group in Central London
Intensity, Giftedness, and the Inner Life
Working with adults who have always known they experience the world differently: the relentless inner life, the pattern recognition that never switches off, the fact that you have always cared about things other people seem able to shrug off. The loneliness that comes from a lifetime of being told you are too much, too intense, too complicated. The gap between what you are capable of and what your life currently reflects.
Existential Questions and Moral Sensitivity
Working with people who hold themselves to standards no one asked them to meet and cannot stop. The guilt that arrives before you have done anything wrong, the relentless self-scrutiny, the sense of being responsible for things that are not yours to carry. You have been called a perfectionist, but what you are struggling with may be closer to a moral seriousness that will not let you rest.
The Aftermath of Being Misunderstood
Working with adults who were parentified in childhood, who carried responsibilities that were never theirs, who learned early that their needs would not be met and their intensity would not be welcomed. People who grew up in families that could not hold who they actually were, who were shamed, silenced, or made invisible, and who carry the effects of that into adulthood in ways that do not always look like “trauma” from the outside but have shaped how they attach, how much they trust, sensitivity to criticism and the ability to take up space.
Mortality, Meaning, and Life Transitions
Working with people in the grip of a midlife or existential crisis, a quarter-life unravelling, or the point where questions about death and whether your life actually means anything. Informed by Hellenistic philosophies, Buddhism, Jungian depth psychology, and my doctoral research on ancient philosophical responses to death anxiety.
Living Between Worlds
Working with people navigating cross-cultural identity, migration, diaspora, and the exhaustion of never quite fitting in anywhere. Second-generation immigrants who grew up translating between two worlds and belonging fully to neither. Third-culture kids who have lived in many places that the question “where are you from” has no honest answer. Expatriates and people whose family carries the weight of displacement, war, or cultural rupture across generations.
Interviews and Media Consultations
Thank you for being here, and I look forward to meeting you!
Imi