About... Dr Elaine Sum Ph.D

Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming and Time Line Therapy™, Master Practitioner of Hypnosis, Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry.

Elaine is a personal (life) coach, specialising in wellness and performance. Emotional wellness is the cornerstone to having a happy and fulfilling life.

Her experience in NLP dates back to 1988 and she has been working in scientific research and project management since 1989. Her unique combination of skills and experience in personal development, science/engineering and corporate management benefit her clients tremendously in the areas of coaching and facilitating.

Elaine’s highest outcome is for the client to achieve his/her full potential, creating the life he/she really wants.

Elaine’s life story in brief...

Elaine considers herself a citizen of the world, having lived in Australia, Malaysia, England and Germany. She has learnt to speak English, Cantonese, Malay and German.

She was born in Sydney to Malaysian parents and went to school in Malaysia. She spent her primary school years in Kuala Lumpur and then moved to Sarawak on the island of Borneo while in secondary school. It was a shock to discover there was no television in 1975 in Sarawak. Living a life without television as a teenager had its advantages – lots of reading, playing board games with the family in the evenings, community activities and sports in school on weekends.

Returned to Sydney for senior high school and then university studies. After completing her PhD and a year at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Elaine went to United Kingdom and then Germany for postdoctoral research experience – it was a great opportunity to work and travel. The move to Europe was the first real step into independent adult life, made possible in part by learning about Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which empowered her – You are in charge of your mind and therefore your results. She lived in Germany for 6 years after getting married there. Had the opportunity to work on a scientific project which involved an international consortium of companies from Germany, Switzerland and Italy. It was also an interesting period in German history after reunification.

Elaine became a mother at age 33 at a time when husband was unemployed. She was very unhappy about having to leave her baby at home when he was 3 months old to go to work, particularly when unpaid parental leave was available for up to 3 years in Germany. She was resentful of being the sole breadwinner for a number of years and did not really let go of all the negative emotional burden until after completing Master Practitioner in NLP. By this time, Elaine had moved from Germany to Melbourne, Australia and had a second child in Australia. The key to releasing the emotional baggage is to get the positive learnings and move on. What was the purpose of those “unfortunate” events? How did my decisions lead to them?

Elaine has been living in Melbourne since 1997 and enjoys a multifaceted life. She works as a professional scientist and project manager in a multinational corporation and runs her own coaching and training business while maintaining a family life with two children. As a parent, she is very interested in child development and is an advocate of the Montessori and Suzuki philosophy in child education. Both Maria Montessori and Dr Shinichi Suzuki believed in nurturing the child to ensure the best possible future for mankind.

She believes that the way towards a better future for the world is through raising children to be independent, self-assured and creative. The best way to teach children is to walk the talk and model the desired behaviours in ourselves.