Counselling Pioneer Known for Embracing Homosexuals as People

Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009 Posted: 2:41:13PM HKT

(Photo: CCC)

Anthony Yeo, who passed away on Saturday, will be remembered not only for his impactful contributions to the field of counselling in Singapore.

The unassuming man lauded as the 'father of counselling' by professionals also believed in standing up for the underdog as it were, particularly in his work with homosexual persons, divorced families and single persons.

Yeo, who is the first local Executive Director of Singapore’s premier counselling centre, highlighted the importance of relating to homosexuals as persons more than just their sexual preference, according to Mr Tan Boon Huat, the Executive Director of Counselling & Care Centre.

Speaking to The Christian Post, he expressed that Yeo would accept invitations from the homosexual community to speak. He would also write in to the press – to which he is an avid contributor – on the issue.

Mr Tan acknowledged that this became one of the controversial aspects of the counsellor’s ministry within Christian circles.

Yeo came from a Brethren background and is serving as advisor of an independent offshoot of Yio Chu Kang Chapel, according to one of his close associates. In doing so, the 60-year-old believed he was following in the footsteps of Jesus who was often found associating with public ‘sinners’ in the Gospels, he said to this paper.

CCC started out as the Churches Counselling Centre in 1966, primarily a ministry of Wesley Methodist Church in collaboration with St Andrew’s Cathedral, with the aim of offering counselling services to the community regardless of their religious belief and affiliation.

Thus the ministry evolved and in 1975 it was registered as an independent society and changed its name to the present Counselling and Care Centre to reflect its ministry among non-Christians, the website states. Led by Yeo, the centre’s aim was to train locals as counsellors in an Asian context.

Marking his 37th anniversary of service at CCC this year, Yeo has trained between 1,000 to 1,500 professional counsellors and around 5,000 (more realistic) lay counsellors, Tan estimated.

The counselling bigwig has also contributed to the training of counselling professionals in schools, prisons and the family court and pioneered family and trauma counselling. He was also involved in training SIA buddies to help those who were traumatised in the SilkAir and Singapore Airlines mishaps in earlier years in Indonesia and Taipei respectively.

He has written many books on counselling and served as an adjunct lecturer at Trinity Theological College in the areas of counselling and theology, the CCC Executive Director said.

Though a giant in counselling, Yeo believed that more than counselling, the Church and world needs strong Bible teachers and actually discouraged his students from pursuing counselling, a netizen who claims to have studied under him wrote on a weblog.

“Good strong biblical teaching will better help people live well so they do not need to go for counselling! If we have more good Bible teachers, we will need less counsellors trying to solve problems that [we] should not have in the first place,” he quoted Yeo as saying.

Moreover, his ministry was not confined to the local context. Yeo made trips around the region to places like the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and India at his own expense to train counsellors.

Perhaps an admirable and extraordinary aspect of the counselling pioneer was his attitude. Yeo believed in “[learning] to live so that I may learn to die”, he wrote in March. He was a regular columnist with the Sunday Times, answering questions from readers every fortnight.

Yeo, who was diagnosed last month with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a type of cancer of white blood cells that fight off infections, died of complications arising from the disease, leaving behind his wife, Soo Lan, and two grown-up sons.

CCC has opened the centre for members of the public to send their heartfelt condolences and also set up an online condolences section on its website. Anthony Yeo’s memorial service will be a private affair as is his wish.

Edmond Chua
Christian Post Reporter