Yan Deng

Yan's Story

Dealing with life's challenges is never easy, but you don't have to face them alone. Yan is committed to assisting her clients in overcoming obstacles, addressing negative thought patterns, developing healthier coping mechanisms, and improving self-awareness and resilience.

Yan holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University. She has experience in assisting adults, adolescents, and families in crisis with a variety of mental health issues. Yan is registered in Ontario, Canada. She has received formal training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). She provides individual, family, and couple therapy to clients in an inclusive and non-judgmental manner. Yan has over 13 years of experience working with mental health research participants in Canada, the USA, and China.

Yan has lived experience working with neurodiverse populations. She is dedicated to providing psychoeducation to parents with children facing mental health challenges. She offers therapy groups, individual counselling, and parenting coaching to neurodiverse clients and their parents.

As an immigrant in Canada, Yan has undergone the acculturation process and understands the struggles and challenges that immigrant individuals and families face. She provides culturally informed care to her clients. Her strong medical and research background helps her approach cases from a biopsychosocial perspective. She is dedicated to community service and has conducted workshops for Syrian refugees, Chinese immigrant families, and youth in the GTA and Kingston areas.

Yan is a lifelong learner who continues to expand her skills and knowledge through continuing education. She enjoys travelling, skiing, and playing badminton in her spare time.

Community Services

• Facilitator of mental health talk: "Feeling overwhelmed, youth mental health talk", Kingston Chinese Alliance Church

• Facilitator of Workshops:  "Emotional regulation: the code of parent-child connection", Toronto Chinese Christian Parenting Association

• Co-facilitator: "Building Resilience-Focus on Refugee Youth and Family Mental Health", Islamic Society of Kingston

Mental Health Research Publications

• Deng, Yan, Pannu, Amrita, Khalid-Khan, Sarosh. Efficacy of computer game based executive functions/attention training in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review. Poster, 68th annual conference of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), September 2021, Learn more

• Deng, Yan, Khalid-Khan, Sarosh. Building Resilience in Syrian Refugee Families-Focus on newcomer youth and family mental health. Poster, Annual conference of the Association for Humanistic Counseling (AHC), June 2021

Mental Health Research Projects

• A 24-week, Multicentre, Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Group, Phase 2 Clinical Trial to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)， Learn more

• A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Adjunctive Troriluzole in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Learn more

• Online Psychoeducation for parents with children with Anxiety/Depression/ADHD. (Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston)