Brent Macdonald, Ph.D., Registered Psychologist
Born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Dr. Brent Macdonald holds a B.A. from the University of Prince Edward Island, along with a B.Ed. from Saint Mary’s University, a M.A. in school psychology from Mount Saint Vincent University and a Ph.D. in applied psychology (counselling) from the University of Calgary. He has been a sessional instructor at Mount Royal University and Acadia University, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Calgary, and an assistant professor at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Dr. Macdonald serves as a founding member and current advisory board member of the International Centre of Mental Toughness Research and Development. He is also an editorial board member of the International Journal of Psychopathology and Psychiatric Diagnosis and the Journal of Mental Toughness Research and Practice. He also consults on and provides professional development opportunities for educators, mental health care workers, and others in the community that wish to enhance their services to neurodiverse individuals.
Dr. Macdonald is a highly sought-after lecturer and speaker and has provided professional development for individual schools, school districts and businesses on mental toughness, anxiety, complex learners and other topics of interest. He is frequent guest on CBC Compass (PEI), Global Television, Breakfast Television and CTV. In 2022, Dr. Macdonald published Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Mental Toughness for Everyone with Kendall-Hunt Publishing.
Dr. Macdonald has over 25 years’ experience as a psychologist working with individuals with a variety of complex learning differences, including a focus on those who have neurodiverse profiles, such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, giftedness, and comorbidities including trauma. He has taught at the junior and senior high school level and was the assistant principal at an independent school for students with learning disabilities.
It is the complex interactions between the individual’s ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, their personal history, and their aspirations that is of primary interest to Dr. Macdonald. He finds the unique strengths that each individual has and acknowledges that even the most “highly functioning” individual will, invariably, have areas they may need to develop. This work is always collaborative and always comes from a place of respect and acceptance for the individual’s life experiences.
At CRUX, Dr. Macdonald provides individual therapy and assessment services. His services are available in person at CRUX Psychology’s Prince Edward Island office in Charlottetown and Nova Scotia office in Halifax. He also offers his services online through easy-to-use technologies like Zoom. He works with children (5 to 10 years of age), adolescents (11 to 18 years of age) and adults (19 years of age or older). Dr. Macdonald is a licensed psychologist registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists, College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia, Prince Edward Island Psychologists Registration Board, Nova Scotia Board of Examiners in Psychology and the Department of Health and Social Services of the Northwest Territories (the Office of the Registrar of Professional Licensing of the Northwest Territories?). Psychologists who are fully registered in other Canadian jurisdictions (such as Alberta) can provide online services to residents of other provinces. Dr. Macdonald works with clients from Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. For a copy of Dr. Macdonald’s CV, click here.