CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety and anger management issues. are trained in and incorporate pieces of CBT into their work with kids, teens, and college students at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis ..read more

Because anger leads to really big reactions, parents, and even other therapists, aren’t always looking for another explanation for the behavioral reactions. But stress and anxiety can lead to outbursts, too, and rarely if ever is a person just angry. There’s usually something else going on ..read more

That’s why we want to make sure that our kids and teens who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community have a safe space to be themselves. It’s also important to connect them with resources that will continue to support and help them through any feelings that may come up. We are so happy to have had the opportunity to interview Rachel Kalina, MSW, LCSW, about her work with gender awareness and inclusion! She is doing really awesome work and we are excited to have her as a resource for our kids and teens ..read more

Kids and teens need to be able to calm down in order to move to the deeper, important work of therapy, whether that therapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, like ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), or if that is a more trauma-informed therapy, like TF-CBT or EMDR ..read more

is the belief that no matter how dire or difficult a situation is, people should maintain a positive mindset. It's a ‘good vibes only’ approach to life.” Toxic positivity means you feel like you can only focus on the good and try and push away the bad. In terms of perfectionism, where we always want to do our best and are so disappointed when we don’t meet our (very high!) expectations, coming short of our goals feels terrible. When we have perfectionism AND toxic positivity, we have an internal message telling us “I’m terrible,” or “I’m a failure,” a long with an internal message that “Feelin ..read more

Allegra shares her expertise below, about EMDR for kids, how it can help with anxiety and when you should consider seeking this kind of help. , is now certified in EMDR. Having Allegra offer another kind of therapy for our clients, helps us meet the needs of our kids, teens and college students that may benefit from a different kind of therapy ..read more

And you may have worries about what they think or how they’ll react when you reach out again. That’s ok and normal! Of course you have anxiety around that. But that anxiety shouldn’t keep you from doing the things you need to do to benefit yourself, your mental health and, yes, your friendships that have fallen by the wayside ..read more

Vaccines are available to all adults. It seems likely that we’ll be back to fully in person school in the fall. And while your child may have already returned to school in person for some days, or almost all days, there’s still this lingering fear about case counts, social distancing, and what changes may need to be made for a safe return in the fall. , we know how big of a feat that is. AWESOME JOB! You got through it! Right now, though, we’re on this weird precipice of almost fully returning to normal ..read more

St. Louis is full of amazing resources and we are so happy to feature one of those amazing therapists in our interview series this month! Laura Ranalletta, MSW, LCSW discusses below how she uses EMDR with her clients and brings her expertise to the field. , is basic level 1 and 2 trained in EMDR, and is currently receiving EMDRIA certification supervision. But, we also know that sometimes schedules don’t always align or allow for you to work with us and it’s just as important for us to help you find other awesome therapists in the area ..read more