With HEART: Taylor's Brings Affordable Mental Healthcare to the Community

07 Aug 2026

6 Min Read

Dr Lim Hooi Shan (Academic Contributor), The Taylor's Team (Editor)

IN THIS ARTICLE

Taylor's University marked a significant milestone last week with the launch of a new digital platform for HEART Psychological Services. Through the new site, the team aims to bring its established psychological services within easier reach of more people: professional, affordable mental health support for students, staff, and, notably, the wider public.

Located at LG2-10, Syopz Mall on the Taylor's Lakeside campus, HEART, short for Healing, Educating, Assessing, Relating, and Thriving, is the clinical training facility of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS). The service is not new, but its refreshed digital home gives it a clearer public front door, and signals the University's intent to extend its expertise beyond the classroom and into the community around it.

A Timely Response to a Growing Need

The need is real and growing. Worldwide, close to a billion people live with a mental health disorder, and most do not receive effective care, a gap the World Health Organisation attributes to underdeveloped health systems and support services.

In Malaysia, as highlighted by the World Health Organisation's Malaysia office, the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 found that the prevalence of depression doubled between 2019 and 2023, with the highest rates among those aged 16 to 29. That age band maps almost exactly onto the university years, a stage often marked by academic pressure, financial strain, and the upheaval of stepping into adulthood. For many in this group, and for the wider community around them, professional support still feels out of reach, whether because of cost, limited availability, or the stigma that can surround asking for help.

HEART is designed to lower each of those barriers.

Where Care and Learning Meet

At the centre of the training centre is a model that does two things at once. Care is delivered by postgraduate trainees completing their Master of Clinical Psychology or Master of Counselling, each working under the close supervision of practitioners registered with the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council or the Malaysia Board of Counsellors. No trainee works alone, as every treatment plan is overseen by a supervisor, and sessions may be reviewed or, only with a client's explicit written consent, observed, so that those who come through the door receive effective, evidence-based care.

Student participating in the launch of the new HEART service digital platform

This supervised training approach is what makes HEART both credible and genuinely affordable. Clients benefit from fresh, current practice at a tiny fraction of typical market rates , while a cohort of more than thirty trainees gains the supervised clinical hours their qualification demands. The community heals, and the next generation of Malaysian mental health professionals learns. One mission strengthens the other.

‘At HEART, we are a training nexus and compassionate sanctuary that bridges clinical and counselling disciplines while honouring the professional worth of every trainee. Excellence begins at the HEART, rooted in ethical stewardship and evidence-based practice,’ shared Dr Hooi Shan, Programme Director for the Master of Applied Counselling.

What Is on Offer, and Who It Is For

The centre's work falls into three areas. The first is psychotherapy, counselling, and psychological consultation: one-to-one confidential sessions that use evidence-based approaches to support emotional wellbeing and resilience. The second is psychological assessment, a structured evaluation of cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and personality functioning that can inform diagnosis, guide treatment, or simply offer a clearer understanding of oneself. The third covers workshops and talks, interactive sessions that groups and organisations can request on a range of mental health and wellbeing topics.

Importantly, these services are open to everyone, not only to the Taylor's community. An individual psychotherapy or counselling session costs RM20 for students and staff and RM45 for the public, with multi-session packages bringing the per-visit cost down further. Sessions run on weekdays and Saturdays, in person in private consultation rooms for both trainee counsellors and trainee clinical psychologists or, for trainee clinical psychologists, online through secure, encrypted platforms.

Group of student participating in the event

Confidentiality runs through all of it. Physical sessions take place in private rooms, online sessions use protected platforms, and client privacy is upheld except where the law requires disclosure or where there is a risk of harm.

The First Step of a Longer Journey

The new digital platform is the first phase of a broader digital ambition. Building on it, Taylor's has signalled plans to invest in an integrated digital clinical management platform that will further strengthen service quality, client experience, and the training of future practitioners.

For now, though, the message from the centre is a simple and human one, captured in its own words: from healing to thriving, with HEART. Taking the first step can feel hard, and the team is there when you are ready.

Appointments can be booked through the HEART Psychological Services digital platform at heart.taylors.edu.my.

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