The Athlete Circle is a program of facilitator-led peer support for competitive youth athletes, built for the years when training gets serious and the pressure gets real.
Supporting young athletes when they need it most. This is why our program exists.
Middle school and high school are years in which young people are still forming their identity and learning to manage big emotions. At the same time, competitive athletes in this age group are training and competing at a level built around one results. That's why this is such a crucial moment for support.
Demanding schedules and travel can pull young athletes away from the everyday peer support most kids their age take for granted.
Coaching environments are built for performance, not always for processing fear, doubt, or the weight of expectation.
Without space to talk it through, pressure gets carried silently, often showing up later as anxiety or burnout.
Weekly sessions bring together an experienced mental health facilitator with a small group of young athletes. Each session blends discussion and reflection with hands-on skill building, and athletes receive a workbook of exercises and journaling prompts tied to what the group covered.
Topics reflect the reality what group members are experiencing in their sport and outside of it.
When athletes are emotionally supported, they're better able to perform at their highest level and grow into their most complete selves.
A young athlete's wellbeing isn't shaped by their internal experience alone. Parents, coaches, siblings, and teammates all play a role. Our program brings those relationships into the conversation, as well — not to interfere with existing systems, but to help them work better for the athlete at the center of them.
This isn't traditional group therapy, but every group is led by a trained mental health facilitator who understands competitive youth sports and the pressures that come with it.
Mary competed twice at the U.S. National Championships in figure skating before stepping away from the sport at fourteen because of the toll it took on her mental health. She went on to compete in school-based team sports, then rowed NCAA Division I and captained the Boston College Women's Rowing team, giving her a firsthand view of competitive athletics from more than one angle.
That experience shaped the therapist she became. For more than two decades, she's specialized in adolescents and families, was part of the clinical faculty at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, and has supervised and lectured graduate students there. She now owns Mindful Solutions, LLC, a group psychotherapy practice in the Chicago suburbs, and is the mother of a current high school athlete herself, which keeps this work close to home.
Whether you're a parent, a coach, or a program director, reach out to learn more or set up a group.