About
Wendy L. Watson Nelson (born May 31, 1950) is a Canadian-American marriage and family therapist and professor. She worked with the Family Nursing Unit (FNU) at the University of Calgary (U of C) from 1983 to 1992, training graduate students to use family systems therapy with families of patients. Her academic work in articles and in the book Beliefs: The Heart of Healing in Families and Illness helped develop a practical and theoretical framework for family systems nursing. She is the widow of Russell M. Nelson, former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Wendy Watson grew up in Raymond, Alberta. She is the second of three children born to Leonard and Laura McLean Watson. She received her RN certification from the Calgary General Hospital School of Nursing in 1970. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1973 and a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1975.
Beginning in 1980, Watson practiced as a marriage and family therapist part-time, which she continued until at least 2004. She started teaching at the U of C as an assistant…
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