The Athlete Circle is a therapist-led support group for elite youth athletes, built for the years when training gets serious and the pressure gets real.
A short introduction to the program, who it's for, and why it exists.
Middle school and early high school are years when kids are still forming their identity and learning to manage big emotions. At the same time, elite athletes in this age group are training and competing at a level built around one thing: results. That gap is where the strain builds up.
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, 90-minute sessions bring together one licensed therapist and four to five athletes in middle school or early high school. Each week 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 rotate between psychoeducation and real processing of what group members are experiencing in their sport.
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 general talk therapy. Every group is led by a licensed therapist who understands elite 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 elite 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.