Dr. Jillian Satin: About Me

I would describe myself as an introvert who loves my family, travel, theatre, and more recently, cats. I was never a cat person but here we are! I dislike horror movies, not being at immediately good things (working on this), feeling at all hungry, and overstimulation.

My passion for perinatal mental health began in graduate school at The University of British Columbia when I completed a practicum in 2007-2008 interviewing new mothers as part of a for a research study conducted by Dr. Nicole Fairbrother. I did not grow up around babies, never babysat, never so much as held a baby, and so being invited into the homes of new mothers and seeing them interact with these tiny babies was eye-opening and awe-inspiring. Dr. Fairbrother’s research has since highlighted the importance of postpartum anxiety, whereas postpartum depression had previously been the focus of public and research attention.

The road to becoming a registered clinical psychologist is long, sometimes questionably long, but I look back proudly at the breadth and depth of research and clinical training opportunities I received.

I obtained my Masters and PhD in Clinical Psychology from UBC from 2005-2012. Throughout graduate school both in my research and in my clinical training, I sought out opportunities at the intersection of mental health and physical health. The research lab I was part of was The Behavioural Cardiology Lab run by Dr. Wolfgang Linden, who was a wonderful research mentor. I completed my masters thesis “Depression as a predictor for disease progression and mortality in cancer patients: a meta-analysis”, which I turned into a well-cited research paper in 2009. I completed doctoral thesis “Yoga and psychophysiological determinants of cardiovascular health: Comparing yoga practitioners, runners, and sedentary individuals”, which I also was able to publish as a research paper in 2014.

My practicum experiences included Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder, Interpersonal Behavioural Therapy, inpatient psychiatry, a hospital-based pain clinic, and a multidisciplinary rehabilitation centre.

I completed my clinical internship at the London Clinical Psychology Residency Consortium in London, Ontario in the Health/Rehabilitation Track. I trained in a variety of hospital-based programs including Cardiac rehabilitation, Rheumatology, and Behavioural Medicine.

I completed my supervised practice at The Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital as well as The Clinic on Dupont where I got a great education in working in a private practice which I had never experienced in my graduate training. I loved the flexibility of being able to work with clients without the constraints of a limited number of sessions or a limited focus of presenting issues.

By the time I had completed all my education and training to register with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, I had my first child. In fact, the oral examination by the college, which is the final step towards registration, was my very first time leaving my baby for longer than hour. It was a very anxiety-producing afternoon, but I very thankfully passed and my baby and I managed the separation!

Fast forward to my second maternity leave, fellow registered psychologist Dr. Samantha Waxman and I would meet bleary-eyed with our babies to discuss our shared dream of opening a perinatal mental health clinic. We became certified in perinatal mental health through Postpartum Support International and we opened our doors at 164 Eglinton Avenue East on February 1, 2019.

I am so proud of the clinic we have created. We weathered the pandemic together, and grew with the explosion of virtual mental health care. We are now a team of 15+ members who share a passion for providing high-quality, non-judgemental, compassionate, and professional care. While we started off focusing on perinatal mental health in a more narrow form (pregnancy and postpartum), our practice has evolved to include supporting clients who are trying to conceive, coping with fertility issues, and coping with loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss). This has become a significant part of my own clinical practice that I really value. I have also recently added couple therapy to my practice, training with Dr. Philip Jai Johnson in 2024. I have been finding it tremendously rewarding and it’s really nice to learn new skills to keep me growing and challenging myself.

It’s been a long personal and professional journey to today and I continue to learn and grow from my clients and colleagues. This is a profession with never-ending possibilities and I am truly grateful for it.