Education/Experience
Dr. Deone Curling has been a therapist for the past 20 years. She has extensive experience providing individual and group therapy using evidence-based approaches. Her role as a therapist is informed by her community engagement and research practices that focus on the intersectionality of mental health that impacts marginalized communities.
She began her mental health career at a community health centre in Toronto addressing the distinct mental health concerns of black women and women of colour, working with an interdisciplinary team focusing on the intersectionality of mental health that impacts a diverse population.
Dr. Curling completed her EdD at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) in the Counselling Psychology program. Her doctoral thesis is entitled, I Heal We Heal: A Qualitative Study of Black Canadian Women’s Experiences of Depression and Coping. Her research uncovered the impact of intergeneration trauma that informs Black women’s depression. Her research informs her present practice of therapy.
Dr. Curling presents at national and international conferences on the topic of Multicultural psychotherapy throughout North America, Caribbean, and Asia.
She has co-authored various chapters in academic textbooks on the issues of multicultural and traditional healing practices in therapy. Including, the section: Religion, Spirituality and Counselling (2019), in the Handbook of Counselling and Counselor Education. Also, Tempering Trauma: Fostering Black Women Refugees Resilience in Afrocentric Therapy” in the textbook Afrocentric Social Work Practices (upcoming 2020)
Dr. Curling has published in peer-reviewed scientific journals on the impact of mental health in marginalized communities. Depression and discrimination in the lives of women, transgender and gender liminal people in Ontario, Canada,( 2017), depression and discrimination in the lives of women, transgender and gender liminal people in Ontario, Canada (2016). Does #Metoo Include #Ustoo? Notes on Depression, Violence and Intersectionality in the Lives of Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans* People (2019).
Research
Dr. Curling has done extensive research in the area of mental health with marginalized communities that have informed psychotherapy practices. Some of these research studies include Migration as a Social Determinant of Health (2011) a study that illustrates the resources and strategies immigrant women employ to promote their mental health. As well, Pathways of Effective Depression Treatment – Research for LGBTQ. A study in which the findings suggested that the mental health system in Ontario is not currently meeting the needs of many sexual and gender minority people due to discrimination and poverty. Dr. Curling continues to be active in research projects that inform her practice of working with marginalized communities.
Teaching
Dr. Curling helped establish the postgraduate Mental Health Intervention program and the honours Bachelor of Community Mental Health Degree Program at Seneca College. She was a professor at Seneca college in which she taught: Crisis Counselling, Health Promotion and Education and Dynamics of the Family.
Theoretical Approach
Dr. Curling’s approach to psychotherapy integrates techniques and theory from several well-researched and highly recommended strategies in which she has extensive training. She continues to stay up to date on new developments in each of these approaches including the following: Culturally Adapted Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-Based Approaches.
Dr. Curling works with a broad range of issues from workplace stress, trauma, to immigration/refugees destress) to clinical diagnosis (e.g., depression, anxiety, personality disorders, bipolar and PTSD).