Who We Are
Laura Austin PhD
Dr. Laura Austin has been working with children and their families since 1993. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of North Texas. While earning this degree, Dr. Austin trained in child and adolescent clinical psychology through the local children’s hospital, Cook Children’s Behavioral Health. She completed her internship in pediatric behavioral medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine/Jackson Medical Center where she worked with children on a variety of medical units including rehabilitation, dialysis, HIV, burn, intensive care, and general medical floors. Dr. Austin returned to Cook Children’s before transitioning to an intensive Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) program in 2003. Dr. Austin spent 20 years helping children and families navigate the complicated world of PFD alongside speech, occupational and physical therapists, dietitians, physicians and many other medical professionals at Our Children’s House which later became part of Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. To further expand the services she can provide, Dr. Austin obtained certification in PC-CARE, an innovative therapy program providing hands-on training to allow parents to better connect with their kids, while also learning effective strategies to manage problem behaviors.
Dr. Austin has published research in the area of feeding disorders and has collaborated with other PFD specialists to provide training courses to area parents and professionals. She has been featured on newscasts and in print media as she shares her passion for effective diagnosis and treatment of PFD.
Trent Petrie PhD
Trent A. Petrie, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Psychology at UNT, and has served as the Director of the Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health since its inception in 1998. Dr. Petrie has worked in the field of sport psychology since 1987, beginning when he was a doctoral student at The Ohio State University (he graduated from OSU in 1991). He has worked with athletes, coaches, and sport teams at all competitive levels, and currently oversees UNT Athletic Department’s sport psychology and mental health services. He is a licensed psychologist in the State of Texas, a Certified Mental Performance Consultant – Emeritus, Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Dr. Petrie also is an accomplished athlete, having been the co-captain of the 1984-1985 Ohio State University Men’s Volleyball Team while an undergraduate. Since that time, he has competed as a triathlete and runner, and coached at the college level. His research, which has been funded by grants from the NCAA, AASP, and NASPE, has focused on body image and eating disorders in athletes, mental health and psychological well-being, psychological antecedents and consequences of athletic injury, professional training issues in sport psychology, and developing positive youth sport environments. Dr. Petrie has published over 150 articles and book chapters, given over 200 presentations at national and international conferences. He has been honored for his work in sport psychology training and education through both AASP (Distinguished Mentor Award, Association for Applied Sport Psychology. October 2019) and APA Division 47 (Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education in Sport Psychology, Awarded by Division 47, American Psychological Association. August 2017), and was recently honored for his lifetime achievement in research (International Scopus Science-Wide Career-Long Citation Impact of Top 2%, Scopus. 2020). He is a past-president of Division 47 (Exercise & Sport Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, and a Fellow in both the American Psychological Association and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.