Keisha Arshad, M.Couns.
SHE/HER
REGISTERED PROVISIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST
QUALITIES
Being a safe person in children’s lives is something I carry with great responsibility. Plus I get to be creative, playful, and so full of joy!
—Keisha Arshad
Keisha and OWL
the Kids Reconnect team of child therapists love helping kids
figure out Big Feelings
in fun, playful, gentle ways.
Keisha Arshad is a Registered
Provisional Psychologist at Kids Reconnect
who uses her calm and persistence
Superpowers to help Calgary kids grow
their own joy, strength, and serenity
and overcome Big Worries (anxiety struggles)
or Big Feelings (such as trauma).
Keisha’s Superhero Story
Attention Parents
Before your first session, you can share this story
with your child. Parents can also scroll below
to read about Keisha’s professional experience
as a Registered Provisional Psychologist
in her professional bio.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Keisha, who loved learning, talking, and listening. This is her Superpower story (it’s about finding calm even when Big Worries visit your brain) and she wants to share it with you.
Keisha was a curious little girl. She wanted to know many things. What she was most curious about was the brain. Her favourite toy was not a doll or a bike or a train, but a toy brain.
She wondered about the brain. What were thoughts and feelings? Where did they come from? From her brain or her heart? Keisha found she could feel different feelings at different times. Most feelings and thoughts felt happy when they visited her brain, but others (like “Big Worries“) did not.
Even in tricky times
Your brain helps your heart to shine bright.
One day, Keisha discovered how to find her favourite feeling: calm. Calm felt to Keisha like a safe, warm blanket— like a soft, caring hug she gave to herself. Like confidence and courage. She practiced and practiced finding calm, a little every day. Practicing was fun. Little by little, she got better at finding calm. Until one day, she could quickly find calm no matter what. What a Superpower to have!
What about other kids? Could Keisha help them find their own calm?
Keisha was friendly and kind. She wondered about the feelings of other kids, especially if they looked worried or sad or lonely. Having “Big Worries” on their mind must be so hard, she thought. How could she help them feel better, make new friends, and have more fun?
To find out how to help, she read books, and talked to kids and grown-ups. She talked to her parents and family and her neighbours and her friends at school. In a friendly calm way, she asked them questions. What do you like? How are you feeling today? Would you like to play and talk? She listened to them and learned about the ways they were special and strong, and she also listened to her own heart. After a while, Keisha got to know them as they talked with open hearts.
She discovered that everyone was a little different in some ways. Some loved the same things she did, but some did not. For some, pink was best, while some preferred green or yellow. Some liked chocolates, and others liked pizza. Keisha liked spicy snacks, but those very same snacks tasted too spicy for some to enjoy. That’s because feelings feel different for different people, at different times. Feelings can change.
Keisha discovered that our hearts and brains grow and change. Then she found out that kids have Superpowers that can grow, and she found her own Superpowers, too!
Keisha uses her calmness Superpower for the first time
One day, a little girl came to Keisha’s school. She was sitting alone. Keisha thought she looked lonely and sad. Maybe she has “Big Worries”, thought Keisha. Maybe I can help her feel better.
“Hi! I’m Keisha. What’s your name?” asked Keisha in her calm, friendly voice.
“Lily,” the little girl said, and started to cry.
Gently, Keisha asked Lily if she could sit with her. She nodded her head yes, and they sat in silence for a while. Then Keisha listened quietly as Lily shared her “Big Worries”. She was worried about being new in school, about making friends, about getting good grades. Those “Big Feelings” and “Big Worries” felt like a rock in her heart.
Keisha listened in her calm, friendly way. They each talked with an open heart. Sitting together and talking to Keisha helped Lily to feel a little better. Calmer. Stronger, less alone. Hopeful. It was a great start.
That’s how Keisha found one of her Superpowers: connecting with others and finding calm, courage, strength, and serenity together!
Since that day, when a child in her class had a “Big Worries” look on their face, Keisha would sit next to them and talk. She helped kids feel better.
Many years passed and Keisha grew up. She became a practicum student at Kids Reconnect, where she helped kids learn and practice their “feel better” skills. After completing her master’s degree, she became a Registered Provisional Psychologist on the Kids Reconnect team. Always learning and applying her growing insights about the brain every day, Keisha loves helping kids embark on fun Superhero quests to overcome any challenges or Big Worries they might have. Then how their hearts and their brains grow and thrive with joy and delight!
Kids who have hard challenges (like “Big Worries”, which psychologists call anxiety) can meet Keisha for a child session – or join one of her Feelings & Friends Groups. When you find your very own special calmness Superpower, how super do you think that feeling will feel?
“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
— James N. Watkins
Keisha’s Professional Bio
Keisha Arshad is a Registered Provisional Psychologist on the Kids Reconnect child therapist team. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from Mount Royal University and a Master of Arts degree in Counselling (MAC) from the City University of Seattle – Alberta Campus. Her intellectual skills and dedication have been recognized with a City University of Seattle Scholarship (2020/2021/2023), the Dean’s Honor Roll at City University of Seattle – Alberta Campus (2020-2023), the Dean’s Honor at Mount Royal University (2014-2019), an Outstanding Sociology Student (2018-2019) award, and an Alexander Rutherford High School Achievement Scholarship.
Through her thesis research project and her experience working with nursing and medical students, Keisha has developed a deeper understanding and passion for working with professionals experiencing compassion fatigue and occupational burnout. Compassion fatigue can affect a wide range of professions and caregivers. It tends to be common among professionals who regularly work in a helping capacity.
She honed her mental health experience in the non-profit and volunteer sectors, working with children, parents, and families in crisis intervention, developmental disabilities, interpersonal skills, counselling psychology, and mental health counselling fields. Concurrently, she complemented her non-profit experience with private clinic experience, working as a Practicum Student on our team in 2023. To date, some of her proudest professional accomplishments have been supporting Calgarians experiencing domestic violence and family conflict to heal and thrive, and helping children to grow their emotional and relational skills in a child-led group setting.
Keisha’s theoretical orientation and diversity expertise
As a Registered Provisional Psychologist, Keisha uses integrative play and expressive arts in her therapy work with children at Kids Reconnect and has an interest in Strengths-Based, Trauma-Informed, Client-Centred, Attachment-Based, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Family Systems therapy approaches. Under the guidance of Dr. Terry Kottman of the League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists, Keisha has completed the Beginning Adlerian Play Therapy continuing education training.
Adept at navigating multicultural and linguistic nuances, Keisha grew up in Canada and is also professionally fluent in Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi. She has developed an in-depth understanding of the dimensions of diversity in relation to gender, race, social class, and age, as well as ways that macro and micro social institutions, structures, and processes influence social behaviour. Understanding each other better leads to closer connection and stronger, more peaceful communities. That’s why Keisha loves to share and grow her diversity, equity, and inclusion insights. She is a skilled facilitator of cultural diversity and multicultural issues workshops.
Keisha is back on the team as a Registered Provisional Psychologist
After completing her practicum at Calgary Reconnect Counselling Group (Kids Reconnect and Couples Reconnect), where she was immersed in a variety of projects, including co-facilitating the Feelings & Friends Group for Kids, Keisha has achieved her Registered Provisional Psychologist designation.
She is back on the team in 2024, and we are thrilled! In her new role as a Registered Provisional Psychologist at Kids Reconnect, Keisha is excited to continue helping Calgary kids explore and grow the immense potential of their Superpower strengths.
As a Registered Provisional Psychologist, how can Keisha help your child?
Some common struggles that child therapists see in children and teenagers are what we call “Big Worries”—an informal term for anxiety to which younger children can more easily relate.
Keisha is skilled and experienced in helping kids and teens to overcome “Big Worries”. She is excited to see how quickly change can happen in their emotional and physical state. It is encouraging for parents who worry about their child’s anxiety to know that, in even one session, a child can pivot from heightened emotional states to significantly lowered anxiety levels. Children can feel much better as their session ends. In subsequent sessions, Keisha then works with the child so that, over time, with gentle practice and perseverance, they can achieve this shift for themselves. Managing their emotions and coping with stressors becomes a life skill Superpower that supports their well-being into adolescence and adulthood.
School performance, for example, is an area that Keisha often comes across as a “Big Worry” for children. This is difficult for parents to manage on their own, as it is precisely their parents’ expectations that the child worries about. Parents then worry about their child’s anxiety, creating a vicious circle. In situations like this, professional help can make a critical difference in the whole family dynamic. It helps not just one child to thrive — it also boosts the emotional and relational health of parents and siblings.
As a Registered Provisional Psychologist, how can Keisha help parents strengthen their relationship?
When a child is struggling, there can be direct and indirect impacts on the parents’ relationship; Keisha also supports parents and couples at Couples Reconnect.
Kids love bouncing back
from setbacks
with child therapy
sessions at Kids Reconnect
