Science and Sleep Training: Sleep Training and the Stress Response

Tracy Cassels, PhD is the director of Evolutionary Parenting, a resource she founded for families in 2011 after the birth of her daughter. Currently she works directly with families consulting on a variety of parenting-related matters, but most specifically on sleep, and she also runs various self-paced courses for families on various topics.  Tracy serves as an Adviser to the Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership, a non-profit agency dedicated to ending routine infant circumcision.  She has previously worked in the non-profit sector in agencies focused on education and social-emotional development.

She has a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, also from the University of British Columbia.  The focus of her dissertation work was on empathy and theory of mind in young children. Her academic works have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Psychological Assessment, PLoS One, Personality and Individual Differences, Midwifery, and more. 

She is married and is a mother to two young kids and a “bonus mom” to one older kid.  She lives in a small town in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.