Diana Kljenak

Dr. Diana Kljenak is an Assistant Professor and a Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) Lead for the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry. Her academic and clinical work has focused on collaborative mental health care, psychotherapy and continuous professional and practice development (CPPD).  

Dr. Kljenak is a staff psychiatrist in the Community Mental Health Program at the University Health Centre for Mental Health in Toronto, as well as a Psychotherapy Coordinator and Postgraduate Year 1 and Longitudinal Ambulatory Experience (LAE) Coordinator at the UHN Centre for Mental Health.  

Additionally, Dr. Kljenak is a CBT seminar co-lead at the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry. Her CPPD activities include directing Bi-Annual UHN Department of Psychiatry Community Education Day, now in its 7th year as well as co-chairing inaugural and 2nd CPPD Day.  

Dr. Kljenak was elected as a President of the Ontario Psychiatric Association for two terms (2015 and 2016) and Co-chaired the Ontario Coalition of Psychiatrists (2015 – 2016). She was formerly a co-chair of the Collaborative Mental Health Working Group at the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry and Department of Family and Community Medicine. 

She is a sought-after speaker and has presented at provincial, national and international conferences. She has been invited to speak on collaborative mental health care, countertransference and cognitive-behavioral treatment. She has been invited as a visiting professor to University of Tampere and Southern Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Centre, Helsinki, Finland. She has also been invited as a visiting professor to Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J.J.Strossmayer, University of Osijek in Croatia. 

Dr. Kljenak received the designation of Fellow from the Canadian Psychiatric Association and was recognized as a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has received the University of Toronto Colin Woolf Award for Long-term Contributions to CPD for 2016-2017 and  Interprofessional Health Care Team CE Award for 2014-2015 and is the 2012 recipient of, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto I. Silver Award for Excellence in Continuing Mental Health Education as well as the Best Poster Award, third place at the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s 61st Annual Conference (2011) and a full tuition scholarship for the Teaching and Supervising CBT Workshop for Graduate Faculty, Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy (2013). 

She has also been nominated for a number of awards. These awards include the University of Toronto’s Colin R. Woolf Award for Excellence in Course Coordination (2013), the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry’s Robin Hunter Award for Excellence in Resident Teaching (2013), Psychotherapy Excellence Award (2014) and Award in Creative Professional Activity (2014). 

Research Synopsis

Psychotherapy; Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy (CBT); Continuing Professional Development; Knowledge Translation