She gets into the minds of criminals
Her job involves finding the mental trigger that can set offenders back onto the right path.
But don't tell her that her job is like being on the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) television show.
Ms Shamala Gopalakrishnan laughed as she told TNP that her job scope is very different.
Ms Shamala, 29, said: "It's way different. Forensic psychology is basically psychology applied to any setting in the criminal justice system. It can be applied in courts, police or prison.
"In CSI you see a lot of criminal profiling and DNA testing. It is more of a police setting."
Her job, however, sees her working in a prison setting with ex-offenders to rehabilitate them.
She tries to change criminal thinking so that the offender does not re-offend.
The psychology degree holder said: "I have always been interested in why people choose to behave in a certain way."
But a correctional psychology module at the National University of Singapore, where she was an undergraduate, sparked her interest in working with offenders in prison.
Her module conductor used to work at the Singapore Prisons Service (SPS), and inspired her to take up an internship with the SPS in 2009. The internship experience fuelled her spark.
Upon graduating, she joined the SPS and has been serving them for the last four years.
She recalls a case at the SPS which strengthened her practice: "I had a client who was very resistant, he didn't even want to look at me when I tried to do the intervention."
Ms Shamala felt defeated and did not know how to help him.
But one day, his daughter visited him and told the offender, 'I miss you but I don't know you.' That sentence stuck with him.
The next time Ms Shamala saw him, he broke down before her.
She said: "I realised that what he really valued was his family and being a good father. When we picked on that hook, the change was drastic."
She added: "Finding that change agent and helping (an offender) see that change is possible has always been very fascinating to me."
The case changed her, too.
It taught her that change is always possible if she persists with the case and finds that "hook" that can trigger an offender's rehabilitation.
She is now looking forward to pursuing a Master of Science in Forensic Mental Health at King's College London, thanks to a Ministry of Home Affairs sponsorship, later this year.
She anticipates learning from top researchers around the world and bringing home what she has learned from a large international community of like-minded psychologists.
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