Dr Joanne Gillespie

Dr Joanne Gillespie received a BSc Honours (BioPsychology) from Mount Allison University (1997), a MA in Experimental Psychology from The University of Western Ontario (1999), and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from The University of Western Ontario (2005). She completed a pre-doctoral residency in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology at the IWK Health Centre in 2004, and has been registered with the Nova Scotia Board of Examiners in Psychology since 2006.

In addition to her work at Dr Kathy Hubley Carruthers Counselling & Psychological Services, Dr Gillespie is employed full-time at the IWK Health Centre in the Pediatric Health Psychology Service. She is also a Clinical Associate in the Department of Psychology at Dalhousie University, where she is actively involved in teaching and clinical supervision of PhD students.

Dr Gillespie specializes in health psychology, and has expertise working with preschoolers, school age children, adolescents, and families experiencing challenges with chronic illness, medical and dental anxiety, pain, medication taking (including treatment adherence and pill swallowing), stress management, toilet training, enuresis (bed-wetting and daytime urine accidents), and encopresis (fecal soiling). Given her broader training in child clinical psychology, Dr Gillespie is also able to provide treatment for a variety of additional challenges (e.g., anxiety, sleep, adjustment difficulties). She has experience working with typically developing children and youth, as well as those with developmental differences.

Dr Gillespie values the collaborative nature of the therapeutic relationship, and works with children, youth, and families to identify behaviours they would like to change. She provides evidence-based treatment that primarily involves behavioural, cognitive-behavioural, and motivational interviewing techniques, as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

For more information about Dr Gillespie, please refer to www.hubleycarruthers.com