Calm Crusaders™ & Teen Calm & Chik Talk

Pessimism, Procrastination, Avoidance, Anger, Irritability, Black & White thinking, and/or Worry can be seen in our children that are dealing with Anxiety.

Objectives for the children of Calm Crusaders

to identify, listen to and understand their emotions.
awareness of their brain and body regarding the fight, flight and freeze response.
that thoughts create feelings, feelings create actions and how they affect each-other. They will become Thought Detectives.
to be present with their body in order to minimize worrying. Anxiety is triggered by past and future thoughts.
diaphragmatic (deep belly) breathing.
to know that they are not alone.

Art by Calm Crusader, Athena Blaze, age 12

The more I work with adults, the more I realize that working with children is where change can happen. The birth of this program was in response to hearing countless adult clients say that “I didn’t know what anxiety was”, “I wish my parents would’ve known how to help me”, “I could’ve used these tools when I was a kid”! I had my lightbulb moment and created a six week program that incorporates CBT and fun hands on activities.

Week One- Exploring Emotions

Week Two- Popcorn Patterns

Week Three- F3 (Fight, Flight, Freeze)

Week Four- Brains and Balloons

Week Five- Anxiety Avengers

Week Six- Messages and Maps

Anxiety Group for Children aged 8-12.

My Anxiety Plan- M.A.P.

Our fun, small, confidential and safe

6 week group meets after school to......

Explore our emotions- what they are, how they feel and where we feel them.

Dig through our thoughts and emotions and how they influence behaviors and vice versa.

The cost is $325 per six week course.

There are full and partial scholarships available!

Juliana CHesser, M.S., LPC-Associate, NCC

Supervised by David Huffman, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S
Meet Juliana Chesser, a dedicated counselor and play therapist, who guides young hearts toward a brighter, more resilient future. Juliana invites you into a world where empathy and creativity blend seamlessly to reshape the lives of children facing anxiety head-on. With years of experience and a heart full of compassion, Juliana has become a trusted confidant for countless kids and their families.
Juliana is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a masters degree in Counseling. She comes to us with a penchant and passion for children, teens and anxiety. She gets most excited from the work we do in our community, like the Calm Crusaders program.

Teen Calm was born out of Calm Crusaders, and specifically with the teen in mind and heart.

This is a group for high functioning, high achieving, perfectionistic young teens (13-16).

Perfectionism is fueled by, and fuels, anxiety. From the outside, it may look your teen is lazy or not resilient, lacks a work ethic, or simply doesn’t care; but on the inside, a teen struggling with perfectionism may be fighting a daily battle against nerves, anxiety, and an intense fear of failure.

Perfectionism in children isn’t so much about wanting to be perfect, but about wanting to avoid the consequences of failing or making a mistake. Those consequences can be real or imagined, but either way, they’re powerful.

Perfectionistic teens are on a mission to demonstrate perfection in everything that they do. This coping style, though, often results in debilitating anxiety. Such teens constantly fear making even the smallest of mistakes, and feeling that their performance is intertwined with their sense of worth.

The most important thing to remember is that perfectionistic teens are actually worried kids. Anxious thoughts are driving their perfectionistic behaviors, and when results fall short of expectations, they experience even greater anxiety.

The group approach focuses on changing attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and interpersonal interactions affected by perfectionism using combined cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal approaches.

Whew, lots of words to say that we will have a group to help kids understand

1. what perfectionism keeps them from,

2. the difference between perfectionism and setting high goals, and because peer is king for teens,

3. having the group help with understanding and normalizing so that they don’t feel alone.

We all know, even though we don’t want to admit, but teenagers have a hard time talking with parents about their struggles. Groups can act as a support network and a sounding board. Other members of the group often help come up with specific ideas for improving a difficult situation or life challenge, and hold you accountable along the way. Teen Calm is closed group where everyone starts together and once it starts, no one else can join. This is to build cohesion, trust, and feeling safe to share.

Contact us with questions, to sign up your teen for the next group, or to be put on the wait list for the next available group.

Do you have a daughter in middle school that seems overwhelmed with the changing dynamics of friendships? A daughter that could use some help building up her self-confidence while simultaneously gaining the knowledge and vocabulary to effectively communicate her needs?

We have a group for that! Catalyst Counseling proudly introduces their girls' group Chik Talk! This is a group that caters to girls ages 11-13/14 (that middle school age) and helps girls understand themselves, cultivate and grow their self-esteem, practice social skills, and learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships. Chik Talk is 6 weeks of learning and fun on Saturday mornings.

This group will help girls understand themselves, cultivate their self-esteem, practice social skills, and learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships.