​About Brett Deacon
I am a clinical psychologist, practitioner, scientist, educator, and anxiety specialist. Originally from the United States, I relocated to Australia in 2014 and live in the Wollongong area. I work as a clinician in private practice, train and supervise psychologists, and conduct research. 

​I specialise in working with clients seeking help for anxiety-related issues including panic attacks, agoraphobia, obsessions and compulsions (OCD), social anxiety, generalised anxiety, phobias, health anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (PTSD). I have devoted my career to becoming an expert in exposure therapy, a form of cognitive-behavioural therapy that is the most scientifically supported approach available for these problems. I have over 20 years of experience and am recognised internationally as an authority on the nature and treatment of anxiety. 

---

I trained in anxiety clinics at Northern Illinois University, the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Mayo Clinic in the US. Prior to leaving academia for clinical practice in 2017, I worked at the University of Wyoming from 2004-2014 as an Assistant and then Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, and at the University of Wollongong as an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology from 2014-2016. I am now a Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales. As a professor, I teach and supervise clinical psychology students and conduct research on evidence-based therapy for anxiety and related topics. I am an AHPRA-registered psychologist with an area of practice endorsement in clinical psychology as well as a board-approved psychology supervisor. I also have a working with children clearance.

​Education

• B.A. in Psychology - Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri (1996)
• M.A. in Psychology - Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois (1999)
• Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology - Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois (1999)

• Predoctoral Internship - Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (2001-2002)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship - Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (2002-2004)​

---

Achievements
I am a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in the United States and chaired the organisation's 2015 convention in Chicago. I was editor of the Behavior Therapist (2014-2016) and associate editor of the Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy (2013-2017) and currently serve on numerous journal editorial boards. Together with two colleagues from the Mayo Clinic, I co-authored Exposure Therapy for Anxiety: Principles and Practice, published by Guilford Press in 2011 with an updated second edition due out in 2019. I have published more than 100 journal articles, book chapters, and books, and my research is among the most cited of any clinical psychologist in Australia. As a professor, I received awards for research, teaching, and student mentorship. I present popular clinical workshops on exposure therapy for anxiety to national and international audiences. I am a member of the Australian Psychological Society, Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, and Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. 

My curriculum vitae lists the full details of my training, experience, and achievements. My scientific publications can be viewed on Google Scholar and on my research page.
​
When away from the office, I can often be found on the baseball diamond, tennis court, golf course, walking my dog at the beach, or indulging in my passion for landscape photography. ​