Program Director and Co-founder
Kate Dahlstedt, M.A, has worked with veterans and their families for over 27 years. She founded Soldier’s Heart with her husband and partner Dr. Edward Tick after his book, War and the Soul, was published in 2005. Together, they have created the Soldier’s Heart Model, which they continue to shape and adapt. Kate shares the Soldier’s Heart Model in her anthology chapter, “Burying the Stone” in Beyond Forgiveness: Reflections on Atonement.
Kate currently directs the Soldier’s Heart Military Families Project and Athena’s Shield for Women Project, connecting women from around the country through teleconferencing for support and to share the impact of war on their lives. She is a Soldier’s Heart Program Leader, leading intensive veteran healing retreats and healing journeys to Vietnam and Greece with Dr. Tick. She provides consultation, training, supervision and advanced education to other professionals and clergy, organizations, communities and colleges on veterans’ emotional and spiritual concerns.
Kate holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology as well as post-graduate certification from the Hartford Family Institute. She has maintained a private practice for nearly three decades, is an experienced group leader, and has additional clinical experience in sexual assault, Hospice and college counseling. She is a published writer of journal articles, poetry and anthology chapters and has also been an adjunct professor at Russell Sage College in Troy, NY.
The daughter of a WWII veteran, Kate spent many hours as a child asking her father about his army experiences. She is grateful that even though war broke his heart it did not break his spirit.
