Andy Ho

Prof Andy Ho Hau Yan
Provost's Chair Professor in Psychology,
Professor of Psychology & Medicine,
Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Prof Andy H. Y. Ho, PhD, EdD, MFT, is a multi-award-winning psychologist, social scientist, and educator who specialises in thanatology, gerontology, psychotherapy, digital health, and community empowerment. He is Provost’s Chair Professor of Psychology, Professor of Psychology and Medicine, and Head of Psychology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. He is also the President of the International End of Life Doula Association (INALDA), Past President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and Board Director of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWGDDB).

A clinical innovator, Andy founded 14 acclaimed psycho-socio-spiritual interventions for health and mental health promotion. These include Family Dignity Intervention (FDI) for advancing holistic palliative care; Cardiovascular Disease National Collaborative Enterprise – Digital Personal Health Assistant (CADENCE D-PHA) for empowering chronic disease management; and Mindful-Compassion Art-based Therapy (MCAT) for burnout prevention and resilience building, to name a few.

A prolific writer and speaker, he has authored over 160 top-tier publications as well as delivered over 260 keynotes and plenary lectures to drive evidence-informed practices and policies that foster resilient and compassionate citizenry for overcoming major life adversities. Andy’s social and scholarly contributions are recognised with distinction around the globe. 

Presentation Synopsis
HM 11 - Compassion for Self, Others and Organizations to Alleviate Burnout and Foster Collective Resilience
Caring for the sick and the dying poses multifaceted challenges on professional caregivers situated in a complex web of institutional demands. These challenges include the necessity for excellent responsiveness, efficiency, clinical capability as well as emotional competency amidst the recurrent experience of loss and grief. Such stressors, when prolonged, can result in burnout and empathy fatigue. If not properly managed, they can threaten the quality and safety of patient care, while undermining personal health and wellbeing. Burnout has been well documented in the healthcare community, yet the bulk of coping strategies usually falls upon the already exhausted caregivers to practise privately with limited organizational support. This presentation will provide an overview on the source, mediating factors, as well as the physiological and mental health impacts of burnout and empathy distress among caregivers. It will present the theoretical foundation and cognitive neuroscience of compassion, dispelling the myth of compassion fatigue while illuminating the application of compassion for addressing workplace stress in the context of healthcare management. Finally, it will introduce several novel compassion-based approaches and intervention modalities including Mindful-Compassion Art-based Therapy (MCAT) and Slow Art Plus (SAP) for building collective resilience and a more caring community for professional caregivers.

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