Registered psychologist. Thirteen years in the Royal Australian Air Force. A calm, grounded presence for people who could use one.
Dean is the psychologist behind Neighbourhood Psychology. He brings together more than a decade of military service with extensive clinical training to offer something families don't always find easily: warm, practical psychology that takes its work seriously without taking itself too seriously.
A significant part of Dean's clinical experience has been with children and young people. He has worked across both hospital and private practice settings — including at the Queensland Children's Hospital — gaining experience with the full spectrum of presentations, from everyday anxiety and adjustment difficulties through to more complex and severe clinical needs across ages 5 to 18.
Working in a hospital environment alongside paediatricians, psychiatrists and allied health teams built a clinical foundation that's difficult to replicate elsewhere. It also shaped something more important: a genuine ability to meet young people where they are, regardless of how much or how little they're ready to share when they first walk through the door.
Alongside his hospital work, Dean has also worked within a specialist child psychology practice — seeing children and young people of all ages across a wide range of presentations. That combination of settings, from the clinical intensity of a hospital to the depth of a specialist practice, gives him a breadth of experience that directly shapes how he works at Neighbourhood Psychology today.
Before training as a psychologist, Dean served 13 years in the Royal Australian Air Force. That experience shaped how he works today — he understands what it's like to operate under pressure, what service families carry, and why "tell me how that makes you feel" can fall flat for someone whose default is to get on with the job.
His clinical interests grew alongside that career: child and adolescent development, neurodiversity, trauma, and the mental health of people in service-connected roles. Today, Neighbourhood Psychology brings those threads together in one practice on the Sunshine Coast.
The approach is collaborative. With children, that means meeting them where they are — through play, conversation, or whatever helps them feel safe enough to be themselves in the room. With teens and adults, it's a real partnership: clear about what we're working on, honest about progress, and grounded in evidence-based methods.
Parents are part of the work, not just observers. Dean works closely with families, schools, and other supports so that progress made in session translates into the rest of life.
Dean Neighbour BPsychSci(Hons), MPsych(Clin)
Director & Principal Psychologist
Dean is fully registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), and all care at Neighbourhood Psychology is delivered in accordance with professional standards.
AHPRA Registration: PSY0002696220
Dean lives locally with his family on the Sunshine Coast. When he's not in the consulting room, he's usually at the gym, out for a run, down at the beach, or on the sideline coaching junior soccer. The "Neighbourhood" in the practice name is intentional — this is mental health care that's part of a community, not something delivered from a distance.
Whether it's for yourself, your child, or someone you're walking alongside — the first step is just a conversation.
