Bio
Dr. Stella Dentakos is a Clinical and Health Psychologist in Toronto, Canada.
She is a skilled clinician who has extensive experience working with children and youth with various mental health needs including stress and anxiety, low mood, attention, learning, emotion regulation, trauma, disruptive behaviors, and general adjustment difficulties.
As a health psychologist, Dr. Stella also addresses co-occurring physical and mental health needs, including chronic pain, physical symptoms (e.g., stomach aches, headaches, somatization/somatic symptoms), symptom interference with daily activities, needle and procedural fears, coping with a medical diagnosis and prognosis, as well as acute and chronic illness. Dr. Stella also delivers comprehensive parenting and caregiver support and is a certified Circle of Security Parenting™ (COSP) facilitator.
Background & Training
Dr. Stella obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Developmental Psychology at York University. She then completed a pre-doctoral residency and post-doctoral fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), where she remains employed as a staff Psychologist. Throughout her pediatric hospital roles, Dr. Stella has worked with various multidisciplinary medical teams including chronic pain, oncology, general pediatrics, genetics, gastroenterology, cardiology, and child maltreatment.
Dr. Stella is also the Founder and Director of Whole Kids Health, a private practice in Toronto providing clinical and health psychology services to children and adolescents. Dr. Stella has also received training at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the York University Psychology Clinic (YUPC).
Dr. Stella is registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and is a member of the Ontario psychological Association (OPA) and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).
Clinical Approach
Dr. Stella approaches treatment from an evidence and strengths-based framework, in which biopsychosocial formulations and conceptualizations are emphasized.
Dr. Stella has been trained in various modalities including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI), as well as behavioural and attachment-based approaches.
Dr. Stella is known for her warm, accepting, collaborative, and inclusive therapeutic style in which children and adolescents feel supported. She adopts an empathic, trauma-informed approach to care and provides an open, safe, and non-judgmental environment.
Education, Consultation, & Supervision
Dr. Stella is passionate about supporting children and youth with physical and mental health needs. She is dedicated to advancing the field of Health Psychology and to supporting best practices and care.
Dr. Stella values collaborative and interdisciplinary care, working closely with medical and allied health professionals and educational teams. She provides support and advocacy within the community and across healthcare services and welcomes opportunities for consultation.
Dr. Stella provides supervision and mentorship to psychology students, trainees, and supervised practice clinicians. She highly values the supervisor role and is enthusiastic about promoting high-quality care and best practices in pediatric clinical and health psychology.
Outside of clinical care, Dr. Stella is involved in clinical research, and delivers presentations, workshops, lectures and trainings to interdisciplinary audiences. She is available for speaking engagements and can tailor presentations to individual audience needs.
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