Barbara Stroud, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with over three decades of culturally informed clinical practice in early childhood development and mental health services. Dr. Stroud received her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from Nova Southeastern University, and she has worked largely with children and families in urban communities with severe emotional disturbance. Dr. Stroud’s professional career path has allowed her to work across service delivery silos supporting professionals in mental health, early intervention (part c), child welfare, early care and education, family court staff, primary care, and other arenas. She is highly regarded and has been a key player in the inception and implementation of cutting-edge service delivery to children Prenatal to five and their families; her innovative approaches have won national awards.
She is a founding organizer and the inaugural president (2017-2019) of the California Association for Infant Mental Health, a ZERO TO THREE Fellow, and holds prestigious endorsements as an Infant and Family Mental Health Specialist/Reflective Practice Facilitator Mentor. In 2018 Dr. Stroud was honored with the Bruce D. Perry Spirit of the Child Award. Additionally, in 2025 Dr. Stroud received the CalAIMH Alicia Lieberman Infant Mental Health Leadership Award.
Embedded in all of her trainings and consultations are the activities of reflective practice, demonstrating cultural attunement, and holding a social justice lens in the work. Dr. Stroud’s first book “How to Measure a Relationship” is improving infant mental health practices around the globe. Her second book, an Amazon best seller, “Intentional Living: finding the inner peace to create successful relationships” walks the reader through a deeper understanding of how their brain influences relationships. Dr. Stroud’s most recent book “Embrace Cultural Ignorance” acknowledges the importance of honoring varying perspectives and identities, with curiosity and positive regard. Dr. Stroud emphasizes that every individual exists within a culture. Our culture influences who, and how we are, as well as what we carry into relationships.
Dr. Stroud is a former preschool director, a non-public school administrator, director of infant mental health services and agency training coordinator. She has held an adjunct faculty position at California State Long Beach and maintained a faculty position in the Infant-Parent Mental Health Fellowship for 12 years. Currently, Dr. Stroud’s primary focus is professional training and private consultation with a focus on social justice, in the field of infant and early childhood mental health. Dr. Stroud remains steadfast in her mission to ‘changing the world – one relationship at a time’.
“Dr. Stroud’s decades of experience brilliantly inform her training and writing. She is not afraid to speak the truth about the changes our systems must make in order to better serve our society’s most vulnerable children and their families.”
– Mona Delahooke, Ph.D.,
Author of Beyond Behaviors
