KELLY RENOUF

Registered Psychologist, MA

Owner

(She/Her)

I was born and raised in Newfoundland in a small farming community outside of St. John’s affectionately known as “The Goulds”. I am the oldest of three children, raised mostly by a single, young mother who worked in healthcare. I completed my Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in 1998. Despite the wishes of my mother, I moved to Nova Scotia in 1999 to pursue a Masters of Arts degree in School Psychology at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU). I graduated from this program in 2001 and received the President’s Prize, an award given to graduates whose energy, generosity, and commitment have enriched the University during their time as students, and who show promise that their commitment will continue as alumnae.
As a new psychologist, my passion was in working with children with ADHD. I worked and trained in the ADHD Clinic at the Colchester Regional Hospital, providing assessments and interventions for children with attentional difficulties for three years. In 2007, my graduate research in the area of private speech in children with ADHD was published in Contemporary Educational Psychology; a peer-reviewed academic journal. 
In 2003, I transitioned to the public school system full-time where I found my home in the South Shore Regional Centre for Education. Working within the public school system for 21 years, I was privileged to be able to work with students aged 5 to 21 with a wide variety of learning, behavioural, and emotional challenges. School psychologists see it all! As a member of various program planning teams, I had the opportunity to work with countless families, teachers, administrators, consultants, and outside agencies with the goal of better meeting the needs of students. 
The practice of psychology has changed over the last 20 years as have my areas of interest. While I continues to enjoy working with children with ADHD, my current passions lie in mindfulness and complex developmental trauma. In 2014, I unexpectedly found myself at my first mindfulness retreat on a farm in upstate New York. From there, I sought certification in mindfulness from Mindful Schools; a non-profit organization in the US whose main goal is to bring mindfulness-based practices into schools to help support students and staff.  For several years, I, along with my colleague, Shannon Hartlen, developed and delivered a program to school staff called Mindfulness in Action (MIA) aimed at introducing and cultivating mindfulness-based practices with teachers with the goal of having them bring these practices into their work with students in their classrooms. 
In 2015, my approach to psychology was also highly influenced by training I received at The Trauma Center in Massachusetts through Dr. Margaret Blaustein in treating complex childhood trauma. This training focused on the Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) Treatment framework and the Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART). My view of behaviour was forever changed by this training and led to sweeping changes to how children with behavioural/emotional difficulties were understood and treated. I have since been influenced by the work of Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Bruce Perry, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Stuart Shanker. 
I currently reside in Mahone Bay with my husband, Jamie, son, Ethan, and our dog, Benny. When I'm not working, you will find me reading, relaxing on the beach, or sailing, hiking, and travelling with my family.  According to my son, I also seem to spend a lot of time cleaning and organizing.