Empowering Families with Hope and Courage, from the Moment They Walk Through Our Doors

When Eckert Psychology & Education Centre first opened its doors in 2001, the needs of families already felt complex. But over the past two decades, the pressures facing individuals and families have intensified.

Children are growing up in a world that asks more of them—earlier, faster, and with fewer buffers. Families are navigating academic pressure, emotional strain, social comparison, and constant decision-making, often without the extended support systems that once helped absorb the weight of raising children.

Many adults are doing this while carrying their own unprocessed stress, burnout, and uncertainty—trying to support children, partners, colleagues, and aging parents while quietly running low themselves.

Parents today are carrying more responsibility than ever. They are expected to be emotionally attuned, informed, regulated, and responsive—while holding careers, relationships, and the unspoken fear of getting something wrong that might matter later. For adults without children, similar pressures often show up in different forms—workplace demands, caregiving roles, relationship strain, or the quiet weight of trying to hold everything together well.

Many of the individuals and families who find their way to Eckert Centre are not in crisis. They are capable, thoughtful, and deeply invested in their own well-being and the well-being of those they care about. What they are experiencing is not failure—it is strain. Strain emerges when the demands placed on a person, a parent, or an entire family system begin to exceed what can reasonably be held alone.

Over my 31 years as a psychologist, and through nearly 25 years of building Eckert Centre, one truth has become increasingly clear: people do not thrive in isolation.

Well-being is not an individual achievement. It is shaped by emotional health, relationships, family systems, and the meaning we make of our experiences over time. When one part of that system is under pressure, the whole system feels it. Supporting children well means supporting families—and supporting adults well means recognizing the systems they are embedded within—not episodically, not reactively, but thoughtfully and with continuity.

This understanding is what led to the development of the Eckert Centre Well-Being Model™, which guides how our team approaches counselling, assessment, and learning support. Rather than focusing narrowly on symptoms or diagnoses, we look at the full context of a person’s life: their inner world, their relationships, the family ecosystem around them, and how they are making sense of their experiences over time.

Today, my role is no longer to be the primary clinician for families or individuals. Instead, I focus on mentoring, supervising, and supporting a highly skilled team of psychologists, counsellors, and learning specialists—so that people receive care that is consistent, developmentally attuned, and grounded in both clinical excellence and relational depth.

Eckert Centre exists because well-being was never meant to be carried alone. As the pressures facing individuals and families continue to evolve, our commitment remains the same: to walk alongside people with clarity, compassion, and care that adapts as life unfolds.

On September 1, we will mark 25 years of serving children, adults, couples, and families across Calgary and throughout Alberta. That milestone matters not because of longevity alone, but because of what it represents—thousands of individuals and families supported, a team grown with intention, and a centre shaped by listening closely to what people truly need.

If you are here because the demands of life have begun to outpace what you can reasonably carry alone—whether as a parent, a partner, a caregiver, or an individual seeking steadier ground—this is where support begins.

Kimberly Eckert, M.A., Registered Psychologist
Executive Director & Founder
Eckert Psychology & Education Centre