About
Dr. Kathryn Kissell
My Journey to a DQ Life
I discovered Bowen systems thinking – the foundation of The DQ Life – when I was in pure survival mode.
In 2011, my husband and I had just quit a shared workplace we’d poured our lives into. We were broken, burnt out, homeless and unemployed. With two kids under 4, our belongings in storage, and reliant on friends for housing, I had completely lost myself.
Murray Bowen’s insights about how our relationship systems create and exacerbate chronic stress were transformational. I found clarity where there had been confusion, empowerment instead of hopelessness and blame.
Leaning into differentiation, I gradually rebuilt my life – not just practically, but who I was and how I showed up in relationships. I became more confident, braver, clearer. My chronic anxiety dissipated. My relationships deepened. And I learned how to bring all of this into parenting a neurodiverse child.
Clinical Discovery
I knew this was my professional home.
I trained as a Counselling Psychologist, conducted the first Bowen systems research in the UK, demonstrating its positive impact on burnout and wellbeing, and became recognised as the UK’s leading expert in Bowen systems theory.
The more I practiced, the clearer the pattern became: my successful, capable clients were quietly drowning in relational stress. They didn’t need traditional therapy. They needed to learn how to swim.
They needed skills, not just support. To understand the systems they were caught in, not just their individual responses. To change how they lived, not just how they coped.
Bowen systems thinking offered exactly that.
What makes this different?
I found Bowen systems theory convoluted to explain in the therapy room. So, I rearticulated it.
I integrated relational systems thinking with research into the social brain, the body-brain connection, and effective psychological tools.
I distilled years of clinical practice, teaching, and lived experience into something clear and usable.
This is the best of my work.
This is the app I give all my clients. It allows them to continue the work outside our sessions, to go deeper, to practice in real time.
Now it’s available to you.
For Everyone, Every Day
Something started bothering me.
I’d spent years refining these tools, watching them transform lives. But that meant only a handful of people – those who’d already reached crisis point – got access to them.
That felt wrong.
Everyone faces challenging relationships and intense pressure. Everyone deserves these insights, not just when they’re broken, and not just those who can access private therapy.
The DQ Life is my answer.
Putting 15 years of clinical expertise into a form that’s accessible to people wherever they are, before crisis hits.
Changing the world, one step at a time
As you grow in differentiation, the impact ripples outward. Families become calmer. Children feel happier. Teams focus. Leadership clarifies.
In today’s unpredictable, pressure-filled world, these are the skills we desperately need.
I’ll never forget the overwhelming stress of having young children, no home, and no income. I know what genuinely precarious feels like.
That’s why 10% of our profits go to charitable partnerships, making these resources freely available to those who need them most.
One person, one family, one relationship at a time.
Less Stress. More you. Together.
