Stella Dennett
“I believe in a compassionate, honest, and non-judgmental approach. Therapy is a relational experience, and it’s important to be open and receptive to the unique presentation of the multiple parts that make up humanness.”
Who is Stella Dennett?
In this month’s spotlight, we are diving into the story of Stella Dennett, LCSW – a licensed therapist in private practice specializing in addictions. She started her work in the mental health field in high school when she volunteered at Teen Line, a support phone hotline for teenagers. Following high school, she attended the University of Redlands and got a BA in Psychology and, after graduation, Stella went to the University of Southern California to a master’s degree in social work. During her time at USC, she was both a resident advisor and then a group facilitator at an eating disorder treatment center in Santa Monica. In addition, she also worked at a non-profit addiction agency serving the South LA area where she provided group and individual therapy. Returning to Teen Line in her second year of her masters, she took on the responsibility of training teen volunteers to be on the hotline. After graduating USC, she spent the next five years working at an addiction treatment center in West Los Angeles as a Primary Therapist working with adults and their families. She is currently a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute where she is writing her dissertation on archetypal astrology, individuation, and addiction recovery from a Jungian perspective. Stella also works in private practice providing individual therapy for teens and adults in the recovery process from substance use disorders and eating disorders, helping them maintain recovery, and develop a strong sense of self and purpose.
Finding her purpose: Stella always had an interest in spirituality and psychology. People working in the mental health field often forget about the spiritual component of substance use disorder recovery, but she is very interested in including unconventional spirituality approaches in her work like astrology. She is interested in research about how lack of spirituality may be a risk factor for relapse and research about millennials and younger generations gravitating towards unconventional spiritual practices like astrology. She is now writing her dissertation on archetypal astrology and its potential benefits for those in addiction recovery. She mentioned that if someone is geared towards using astrology, they have an opportunity to use it to nurture responsibility, increase mindfulness, develop a positive self-concept and purpose, and connect to something greater than themselves. Stella believes that these are some of the same components that are needed in recovery.
The connection between spirituality and mental health: Stella always had an interest in spirituality and psychology. People working in the mental health field often forget about the spiritual component of substance use disorder recovery, but she is very interested in including unconventional spirituality approaches in her work like astrology. She is interested in research about how lack of spirituality may be a risk factor for relapse and research about millennials and younger generations gravitating towards unconventional spiritual practices like astrology. She is now writing her dissertation on archetypal astrology and its potential benefits for those in addiction recovery. She mentioned that if someone is geared towards using astrology, they have an opportunity to use it to nurture responsibility, increase mindfulness, develop a positive self-concept and purpose, and connect to something greater than themselves. Stella believes that these are some of the same components that are needed in recovery.
Why this matters: What I love most about talking with Stella is how her own mental health struggles have helped her connect with others, and how she understands other mental health struggles in a different light. Whether she’s working with people who have an eating disorder or substance use disorder, or working with people who struggle with something else, she deeply values her patient’s lived experience no matter what. For Stella, the best education comes from her clients, and that is shown through her engagement and curiosity when talking with her patients. Stella emphasizes the importance of spirituality in the process of recovery, and I think it's very interesting to think about the relationship between spirituality and addiction recovery. People always talk about the social, biological, and psychological aspects of a substance use disorder but I think the spiritual aspect might be just as important.
I am so happy to be sharing Stella’s story and her amazing work as this month's spotlight!
