Moving towards joy.

Heart Tree Psychology

Heart Tree Psychology is committed to on-going personal and professional development. Laura Kennedy, founder of Heart Tree Psychology, keeps up with professional reading, and regularly attends classes and training.

Laura is committed to deepening her learning and keeps current with advances in the field of effective trauma treatment. Laura also does her own inner work, knowing that being an effective therapist also means working through personal issues.

Philosophically, Laura believes it is important for therapists to deeply understand, through experience, what it is like to be in the client’s chair. Also, it’s hard to lead where you haven’t been.

Laura Kennedy

Registered Psychologist

As a counselling psychologist, Laura offers adult individuals the space and means to feel empowered and (re)discover joy. Laura respects the innate wisdom of our minds and bodies and trusts that each individual has the ability to find a way back to health and wholeness.

Laura is pragmatic as well as creative in her approach, and works with each individual to discover the best next step in their healing process.

Many individuals seek counselling to deal with symptoms that often manifest in anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, chronic irritability, physical pain and break down of relationship. Sometimes there is an immediate cause for these symptoms such as recent stressors. Sometimes symptoms manifest after prolonged and chronic stress.

Laura specializes in working with individuals who have experienced trauma, such as abuse and/or assault, accidents and/or injury. Laura has a particular interest in medical and dental trauma, the most under-reported and often most prevalent of all experienced trauma.

Laura works with you to address the root causes of the distress, while also supporting symptom management.

Multi-Modal Healing

Over the past 10 years, Laura has increased her practice and interest in working with individuals who deal with chronic pain, auto-immune disorders and inflammation. Part of this interest is due to Laura’s own experiences in this area. Laura recognizes that a multi-modal approach is essential to healing in these complex areas.

Laura offers body-centred therapy such as SRT (Self-Regulation Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT).

In addition, Laura has a keen interest and experiential training in the expressive arts. Laura has found creative modes of expression to be a key factor in her own healing journey. Laura has also facilitated and witnessed its power in many of her clients.

Prior to becoming a psychologist, Laura offered movement and expressive art workshops to children, adolescents and adults across Alberta, providing a framework to feel empowered through the joy of improvisational play. During her tenure as a counsellor at The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton, Laura co-developed & facilitated a Movement and Expressive Art Therapy Group for women who are survivors of sexual abuse and/or assault. This group won a Laurel Award in 2012