B.Sc. Hons. (University of Toronto)
M.A. (University of Waterloo)
Ph.D. (in progress, University of Waterloo)
Email: lcolucci@uwaterloo.ca
Laura is a PhD student in her fourth year of the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests include exploring family interaction dynamics and contextual factors that influence development and wellbeing from a family-wide perspective. Her master's research explored the relationships between economic pressure, parent and child mental health, and family positivity, evaluating the tenets of the family stress model across multiple layers of family organization. She is a member of the Whole Family Lab run by Dr. Dillon Browne and has supervised students and co-facilitated lab projects in the areas of screen-time assessment, coping with adversity, and well-being during COVID-19. She has had several opportunities to present her research at local and national conferences. Furthermore, Laura is graduate student clinician, providing assessment and therapy services to clients, under the supervision of registered psychologists at the Centre for Research and Mental Health Treatment (CMHRT), an on-campus clinic at the University of Waterloo; having also worked as a student clinician within out-patient hospital and private practice treatment contexts.
Prior to graduate studies, Laura completed her Honors Bachelor's of Science degree with a specialization in Psychology within the co-op program at the University of Toronto in 2019. Her honors thesis explored the cognitive implications of polypharmacy in patients with severe schizophrenia. Throughout her undergraduate career, she was privileged to contribute to a number of research projects and internships across notable institutions in Toronto including the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.