CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: As we have done for years, the Illawarra Anxiety Clinic provides video and phone services to all clients who request them. Medicare rebates are now available for these telehealth services.
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 therapist in private practice, train and supervise psychologists, and conduct research.
I specialise in working with clients seeking help for anxiety-related issues including stress, panic attacks, agoraphobia, obsessions and compulsions (OCD), social anxiety, generalised anxiety and worry, 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)