Biography
Dr. Maddeaux graduated from the University of Calgary in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (First Class Honours). She received a University of Calgary Undergraduate Merit Award as well as the Alberta Heritage Fund’s Louise McKinney Scholarship recognizing exceptional academic achievement. During her undergraduate training, she completed research in the area of stress and Health Psychology at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Behavioural Research Unit, the beginning of her lifelong interest in how stressful life experiences impact health and mood. Dr. Maddeaux completed her graduate training at Carleton University, graduating with a Master’s of Science with a Specialization in Neuroscience in 1990, and a PhD in Psychology in 1996. She received two Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarships which funded her research on the impact of stress on neurochemical changes and the role that neurochemistry may play in mood disorders.
Dr. Maddeaux extended her training in stress and wellbeing through her work as a Clinical Intern and Research Fellow at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus between 1994 and 1996, providing treatment within the Stress Management, Eating Disorders, and Marital and Family Therapy Clinics. Dr. Maddeaux became keenly interested in the Cognitive Behavioural model, particularly how stressful life experiences may alter complex thought processes and belief systems which can profoundly affect mood, personality development and relationship functioning.
Dr. Maddeaux began her work in private practice at the Centre for Cognitive Therapy in 1996. She actively continued her training in cognitive-behavioural therapy, attending training programs with the renowned Cognitive Behavioural experts Dr. Albert Ellis, Dr. David Burns, Dr. Christine Padesky, and Dr. Jeffrey Young. Dr. Maddeaux participated for many years in a collaborative program between Columbia University and the National Institute of Mental Health in developing computerized psychiatric diagnostic programs which have been widely used in epidemiological and clinical research.
Dr. Maddeaux co-founded The Ottawa Psychological Health Centre in 2015, serving as the Clinic Director until 2022. During her time as Clinic Director, she continued to develop psychological treatments addressing the interaction between mood disorders and relationship difficulties, finding that by providing additional couple, family and parenting therapy, complex psychological difficulties are often far more amenable to treatment. Dr. Maddeaux also developed many innovative treatment approaches which focus on increasing resilience in coping with the complex stressors and traumatic experiences which routinely occur in many demanding professions, including medicine, law, politics, policing and the military.
Dr. Maddeaux was raised in Calgary but has enjoyed living in the downtown neighbourhoods of Ottawa since 1988. She has been happily married for over 30 years and has two grown children.