Meet the Team Behind the ATTACH™ Program

Nicole Letourneau, ATTACH^TM Co-creator

Nicole Letourneau, PhD RN FCAHS FAAN FCAN FRSC, is the co-creator of the ATTACH™ program. She also holds the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation Research Chair in Parent-Infant Mental Health and is the Director of RESOLVE Alberta.

Dr. Letourneau has received substantial research funding throughout her 20+ year career, with significant amounts as lead investigator. Her Child Health Intervention and Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Studies Program develops and tests interventions to promote the health of infants and children in families affected by toxic stressors such as parental depression, addictions, intimate partner violence, and low-income. She is also the Principal Investigator of APrON, a long-term study of a pregnancy cohort.

Her research examines the impact of factors like parental distress and parent-child relationship quality on children’s health and development, as well as the relationship between quality parent-infant/child relationships and children’s physiological and developmental health. Dr. Letourneau explores the connections among caregiving experiences, genetics, stress physiology, immune function, and children’s cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional development. She has published over 190 peer-reviewed papers, 150+ opinion editorials, and two books for the general public: Scientific Parenting (2013) and What Kind of Parent Am I? (2018).

Martha Hart, ATTACH^TM Co-creator

Martha Hart, PhD, is the co-creator and ATTACH Master Trainer of the ATTACH™ program and is a Cambridge trained researcher at the University of Calgary/Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, board member of IASA, and founder of The Owen Hart Foundation.

Her current research involves co-creating and testing the Attachment and Child Health (ATTACH™) Intervention, focusing on the links between parental reflective function and parent/child attachment, led by Dr. Nicole Letourneau.

Hart completed her undergraduate degrees at the University of Calgary and earned her Masters and PhD in Social & Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. She has published peer-reviewed papers, a national bestselling book, and co-edited Development and Adaptation.

Hart received extensive training in various attachment measures and reflective function at Yale University, New School University, Berkeley University, University of Minnesota, Cambridge University, and the University of Virginia. She is certified in several parent/child interaction measures and suicide prevention.