Uplift Centre is a private practise offering psychotherapy, assessments, coaching, mentoring, consulting and seminars.

We aim to provide services and resources that integrate the best of psychological practise, wisdom, education and consulting tools - to help people individually and collectively to find pathways and bridges on their journey of uplift and struggles to lead a flourishing life.

Our vision is purposeful people whose journeys are engaged in living life on a grander scale, and are subsequently filled with hope, expectation and a sense of deeper meaning.

We work with individuals, groups, organisations and churches - often with people who are feeling “stuck” or in transition looking for a greater clarity of purpose and direction, and searching for new life-giving strategies..

Our Directors

Janette and Dean Phelan are the Directors of the Uplift Centre

Janette Phelan

• B.A; Dip Ed; Grad Cert Gifted Ed; Grad Dip Psych; MAPS

• Registered psychologist with AHPRA and member of the Australian Psychological Society.

• Council Member for University of Divinity.

• Board Member for Arethusa College (Special Assistance School).

Janette is a psychologist, teacher, board member, and specialist in education and counselling. She has senior experience in education, government, and Christian institutions, as well as maintaining a private practice for many years. She is an ACT therapist skilled in trauma and disaster counselling, relationships, psychological assessment, conflict resolution, and interventions. Janette has worked as Head of Special Needs Departments for Kenmore State High (Brisbane), and Luther College, Sacre Coeur, Ivanhoe Grammar and Lilydale High School (Melbourne). She has also worked with the Salvation Army as a disaster relief counsellor following the Brisbane 2011 floods and Cyclone Yasi. In Queensland, Janette was an endorsed senior minister working as Mission Action Partner for Churches of Christ. Over the years she has been a public speaker and seminar presenter.

Past appointments include: The Queensland Premier’s Domestic and Family Violence Implementation Council, Chair of the Joint Churches Domestic Violence Prevention Project (JCDVPP) and the Board of Stirling Theological College (University of Divinity).

In association with JCDVPP, Janette has just completed and published the third edition of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Questions Women ask about Relationships and Christian Beliefs. She is currently writing about the experience of being a carer, from personal and a psychological perspective.

Currently Janette is a Member of the Governing Council of the University of Divinity, and Chairs the University’s People and Culture Committee. She is a Board Member for Educating For Life (Arethusa College) and the Arethusa Governance, Risk & People Committee. Janette is also a member of the Australian Psychological Society’s Disaster Response Network, and a consultant psychologist for SPELD Victoria (Specific Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia).

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Dean Phelan

• Member of the Australian Psychological Society for 40+ years.

• Current Board Member of The Different Co

• Graduate of The Australian Institute of Company Directors

• Member of The Australian Christian Mentoring Network

Dean is an organisational psychologist, spiritual director/companion, and Board member with decades of experience bringing Uplift to leaders, groups and organisations – both directly as a CEO and leader, and as an adviser and mentor to other leaders.

There have been three major strands throughout Dean’s life journey - business, psychology and spirituality. Today his interest and work focus is where these three intersect.

Dean grew up in a family of cabinet makers and shopfitters. His dad and uncles were all involved in the shopfitting and interior design business. His mum ran the office and had a strong interest in what made people tick. . Dean earned his pocket money by working in the family business. After doing well in year 12 he was encouraged to go to uni and was the first in his family to do so.

Dean went on to train as a psychologist, business manager and later as a spiritual director. He has an M.A (Hons) in Organisational psychology from the University of Melbourne, and post graduate qualifications in Applied Social psychology from Swinburne University. He is also an alumni of the University of Melbourne Graduate Business School and a Graduate of the Institute of Company Directors.

Dean has worked in various roles along the way, as well as being a husband, father, son, brother and lately a grandfather. A golden thread running through all of it has been a deep interest in the psyche (the Greek word for soul), and business - driven by an inner quest to find greater meaning, connectedness and wholeness, and a desire to make a positive difference by helping others to be more uplifted.

Through the blessings of some great mentors, and the highs and lows of life, Dean learned that our inner world is at least as important as our outer world. Our character is shaped by the meaning we make (or don’t make) of everything that happens on our journey. Our memories and stories about what’s happened to us and how we responded, continually shape and refine our identity, confidence and resilience as the years go by. It’s hard that life’s greatest insights often come through suffering. The life-long formation of our deep Story about who we are, what we’re good at, and what we stand for, is also interwoven with how we view and relate to others and the mystery of God (however we understand this), and how we help our world to be a bit better. Wisdom and growth come, perhaps paradoxically, from developing a positive attitude and belief in yourself and what you stand on, combined with a genuine humility shaped by scars, good humour, warmth and care for others, and the courage and willingness to have a go, create, contribute and learn.

Dean’s corporate experience includes CEO and ED (Chief Executive Officer and Board Executive Director) for one of Australia’s largest, most diverse not-for-profit organisations, Churches of Christ, from 2010-2017. CofC (www.cofc.com.au) provide residential aged care & retirement living, housing, home care, child, youth, family care, support for local churches and other services in 150+ locations with 4000+ staff. The organisation doubled in size ($260M p.a. revenue in 2017) during Dean’s time as CEO and won many industry awards thanks to an outstanding team.

For 14 years prior to this, Dean co-founded, built and led two companies - the Service Industry Advisory Group (SIAG) and TopWheel which merged into Adesse - providing strategic advice, HR consulting and outsourcing services, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. Through these years, Dean’s companies were involved in large scale projects for Healthcare, Government, For Profit, and Church & Charitable organisations in Australia and internationally (before Covid had been heard of!). Clients included Epworth, Healthscope, Austin Health, Eastern Health, Churches of Christ, Salvation Army, Telstra, Westpac, UNESCO and the Getty Institute.

Before creating his own business Dean was a member of the executive team of Epworth Healthcare for 10 years, and an organisational psychologist with Westpac for 5 years.

Dean has also served as Chair of the Aged Care Board for Community Care, President and Chair of the Vic/Tas Conference Council, and Chair of the National Council of Churches of Christ in Australia. He has served on the Boards of Healthforce (Health), Global Mission Partners (Overseas Aid), ACOM (Higher Education), CCFS Australia (Banking & Finance) and various private, for-profit SME company boards. Dean was a member of the Australian Private Hospitals Association Committee and also represented Australia on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – the United Nations agency.

Dean has been greatly blessed to experience some amazing Camelot periods and honours on his journey, as well as some hard setbacks. He has survived two life-threatening illnesses - brain tumour in 1995 and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in 2017. He knows what great times of success are like, but also what it’s like to be smashed and having to climb back after your plans have been blown away. A bronze plaque of Desiderata has sat on the wall above his desk for many years.