Dr Dean Kilian

Why therapy? Because life is just too short to be unhappy. Therapy is a way of finding new ways of being and doing; ways that allow you to achieve growth and change. I believe therapy is a thumb-print: every clients’ needs are individual and need to be addressed thoughtfully and specifically.

Areas of Special Interest

• relationship problems
• eating-related disorders
• addiction (sex, pornography, alcohol and substance abuse)
• personality disorders
• mood/anxiety
• trauma related to childhood sexual abuse
• couple’s therapy
• family therapy
• personal growth
• LGBTQ+

Counselling/Therapy Services

My guiding motto as a therapist is: “life is just too short to be unhappy”. I have been practicing therapy, counselling and assessment for 16 years and have always found the best way to help clients is to abide by this motto. I offer short-term therapy and long-term, depth work depending on the needs of my clients; I endeavour to work collaboratively with them in order to achieve a more integrated way of being in the world and of being able to translate the insight of therapy into ongoing, meaningful actions and experiences of living.

I believe that every client arrives as an individual and that every therapy started is thumb-print, something specific to what you and I create and can achieve together for you. Sometimes, short-term interventions are enough and sometimes long-term therapy is needed or wanted. I have been working with people who live with addictions, eating disorders, trauma, relationship problems, personality disorders, depression and illness for some time and believe that there is very little that cannot be worked through in the safe space that therapy creates and offers. In addition to traditional talk therapy, I also use art and drama in therapy if it works for or is requested by my clients.

Background and Experience

I have been working with people for the past 21 years; for 17 of those years as a clinical psychologist and the rest as speech-language therapist/audiologist. In my work, I have discovered that people have the spirit of endurance, the capacity for change and growth and the yearning to find something more than they have known.

Therapy is a collaborative effort; you and me working towards goals that are meaningful. Sometimes, it may be short-term therapy; sometimes, it may long-term therapy. You and I will find the best way for you to bring about the growth and change you need to feel that your life can improve in some way. No matter what it is, we will find a way to figure it out and work towards the goal of a better life.

Supervision Services

I offer supervision to psychologists, counsellors, psychiatric nurses, expressive arts therapists and psychotherapists. I have been supervising for more than a decade and have had some training in supervision through various institutions, including the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (New York). I enjoy collaborating with supervisees to reach their full potential as clinicians allowing them a space to explore, debrief, learn, grow and find their own voice as a clinician. I see supervision as mutual journey toward finding the best way of working for my supervisees. I offer individual and group supervision.

I have published in peer-reviewed journals and presented internationally on topics that have included: sexual addiction, drug/alcohol addiction, therapeutic relationships, deafness studies, research methodology, art therapy and forms/ways of healing in therapy.