About MJW-CYDC
We are a team of passionate professionals and graduate students dedicated to improving the health and performance of children and youth.
Situated in the heart of the community, Western' s Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic has one goal: Setting children and families up for success. We do this by supporting practice and research in real world settings with clients from the community.
Graduate students in the School and Applied Child Psychology program at Western University, under the supervision of licensed Child Psychologists, provide high-quality and affordable psychological consultation, assessment, and treatment services to children and youth from three to 18 years of age.
Our goal is to improve the quality of life for children and youth and set children and families up for success.
Call 519-661-4257 to get more information about how to be added to our *intake list. You may also go to the Contact page of this website, and fill in the Contact Us section to provide us with some details around the issues you are currently facing and the services you’re looking for. This information, along with any reports from previous evaluations and/or school information, will help us plan the most appropriate assessment(s).”
* Wait times will vary depending on the specific types of services and supports required.
Privacy is important to us. Please read about our commitment to privacy here.
Dr. Mary J. Wright
Our story begins in 1973, when the late Dr. Mary J Wright, a psychologist at the Western University created a laboratory preschool. She wanted a place university researchers and students to conduct psychological and educational research and teaching demonstration projects intended to help children from a diversity of socio-economic backgrounds succeed at school and in life.
43 years later, a new chapter began. In 2015, the preschool laboratory was closed and the endowment transferred to the Faculty of Education at Western. The current centre, named The Mary J. Wright Research and Education Centre at Merrymount, is located in the heart of the community, within the walls of Merrymount Family and Crisis Centre, sending a strong message of an enduring university and community partnership.
Today, the Mary J. Wright Research and Education Centre continues to work at setting children and families up for success. We do this by supporting early childhood research and practice in a real world setting. The Centre has been proactive in keeping current with changing times and research methodologies.
Meet the team that keeps our clinic running successfully.
View the team
Dr. Colin King, Ph.D., C. Psych
Colin is the Director of the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic at Western University and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education. As a School and Clinical Child Psychologist, he has worked and trained in a variety of hospital, community, private practice, and educational settings working with children and youth with various learning, social-emotional, and behavioural challenges. Most recently, Colin worked as a School Psychologist and as the Coordinator of Psychological Services in the Thames Valley District School Board. Colin's research through the Improving Accessibility and Application in School Psychology lab focuses on reaching to support more students through collaborative research practices.
Dr. Katelyn Bryant, Ph.D., C.Psych
Dr. Katelyn Bryant is a Supervising Psychologist and the Assistant Director at the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic. Since beginning her graduate training in 2010, she has supported children in schools (including working closely with TVDSB, LDCSB, TDSB, HDSB, and Pikangikum Education Authority), community mental health and developmental settings (including ROCK, Lumenus, Surrey Place, and TVCC), section 23 day treatment classrooms (Lumenus, Vanier), and an intensive inpatient service for clients from across Ontario with intellectual disabilities, autism, and severe emotional/behavioural challenges (CPRI). Through these experiences, as well as extensive coursework and clinical training, Dr. Bryant has developed expertise in the assessment and treatment of children with an array of neurodevelopmental differences and emotional/behavioural difficulties. She has a particular interest in working with parents, driven partly by her doctoral research on parental concerns about reading. Dr. Bryant strongly values interdisciplinary collaboration and community-based projects that drive systemic change. She enjoys consulting, training, teaching and supervision, and has given over 100 workshops and university lectures on topics related to exceptional children, psychological and educational assessment, learning, behaviour, and parenting.
Dr. Kerry Collins, Ph.D., C. Psych
Dr. Collins is a Supervising Psychologist working part-time at the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic. Her 20+ years of experience as a Clinical Psychologist in the London community has focused on providing children, youth, young adults, and their families with evidence-based services for mental health difficulties. In addition, Dr. Collins has been actively involved in training Psychology Residents and UWO Practicum Students through her hospital and private practice positions. Research collaborations and educational lectures have focused on strategies for improving wait times for children’s mental health services and access to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
Tiffany Trudgeon (currently on leave)
Tiffany is the Administrative Officer at the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic. She came into this role with approximately 10 years of experience working at Western. Tiffany has worked in the Faculty of Education for about 8 years as a Graduate Affairs Assistant, overseeing the Applied Psychology Graduate Programs. Tiffany looks forward to helping each new family that comes to the Clinic.
Rachel Patterson
Rachel is our acting Administrative Officer at the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic. She is new to Western but comes with over 10 years of experience working in a non-profit managing licenced school age programs. She has seen first hand the struggle many families face in our community access services and is excited to be part of a team thats goal to set children and families up for success.
Alicia Orr
Alicia Orr is a clinical psychology resident at MJW-CYDC and NavOn/LFCC. She is a doctoral candidate in her final year of the School and Clinical Child Psychology (SCCP) program at the University of Alberta, where her research focuses on gifted and talented adolescents’ lived experiences of perfectionism. Prior to her doctoral studies, she graduated with a M.Ed. in SCCP at the University of Alberta, and a B.A. Hons. in psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. Alicia has had diverse clinical experiences in intervention and assessment with children, adolescents, and young adults in school, private practice, and community-based settings. She is especially interested in evidence-based psychoeducational and psychodiagnostic assessment that supports each child and family's unique strengths and needs. Her clinical work primarily draws upon person-centered, developmental, and cognitive-behavioural theoretical orientations. She is excited to complete her major rotation at the MJW-CYDC under the supervision of Dr. Colin King and Dr. Katelyn Bryant. Outside of work, Alicia enjoys long walks in nature, reading historical fiction, drinking coffee on her front porch (weather permitting!), and spending time with her family and friends.
Psychology Internship Opportunities
Narwal Psychology Consortium
Narwal Psychology Consortium
The Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic is pleased to be a consortium partner with the London Family Court Clinic in offering a full-year psychology residency. The goal of the residency is to prepare students in the final year of their PhD for the practice of clinical and/or clinical-forensic psychology through systematic training in assessment, treatment, consultation, program evaluation/research, and the ethical guidelines and professional practice standards that underlie psychological practice in Ontario.
Please see the consortium brochure for further information.
Contact for further information:
Dr. Dilys Haner, C Psych
Clinical-forensic Psychologist, LFCC; Training Coordinator
200-254 Pall Mall St.
London, Ont.
N6A6P7
519-280-3737
Historic Documents
University Laboratory Preschool
Below: Mary J. Wright's early works with an invitation to the opening of the University Laboratory Preschool in 1974.
