Connect to Thrive, LLC

Some of our team went to see the new Inside Out 2 movie last night and absolutely loved it! The movie does a great job explaining brain development, anxiety, and how to navigate the transition from childhood to pre-teen years. If you can’t tell by some of our puffy faces, we really felt those feelings and resonated with the message 🥹🩷

New group announcements 🚨🗣️ Q is starting a social skills group for 7-8 year old girls on Saturdays! This group will help build social skills, practice boundaries and emotional expression, and build confidence with others. Contact Q today for more information!

We’re excited to welcome Jana Leeper to the C2T Team! Jana is an LPC-Associate under the supervision of Lauren Gastorf, M.Ed., LPC-S #68165.

Jana has been working in the counseling field in both academic and career-focused settings for over 12 years now and we’re happy to support her transition into private practice. Her training includes trauma-informed, evidenced-based practices, and a client centered approach. Jana is beginning EMDR training this summer and works with clients ages 15+. She is currently accepting new clients!

You can read more about Jana here: https://www.thriveplano.com/team/jana-leeper

*Summer Group Announcement* 🚨 Kelsey is facilitating a summer middle school prep group for kids entering 6th grade this fall! This group is aimed to help kids prepare for the transition to middle school, build self-esteem and confidence, practice social skills, practice regulation skills, and decrease anxiety about the big change. Spots are limited- email Kelsey at [email protected] to sign up today 😊🌈

One question our play therapists get a lot from inquiring parents- how does play therapy help kids feel better? The answer is endless! Play therapy meets kids at their developmental level using toys to process feelings. Through play, children can increase frustration tolerance, identify and express feelings, build self-esteem and self-efficacy, regulate emotions, and more!

A couple of our play therapists have openings for new clients as we enter the summer. Reach out to us at [email protected] or 972-872-8498 to get connected 🌞✨

Thank you to everyone who came to our open house to see our new space and celebrate our new venture! Our team (just missing Erin and Estee!) had a blast connecting and showing our safe space with everyone 😊

New group announcement! Q is starting a social skills play group for 3-4 year olds. This play group will be aimed to help kids build perspective taking skills and emotional expression with peers. Reach out to Q today to get signed up!

Come see us (and Erin!) at the Texas Association for Play Therapy Annual Conference this coming weekend April 5th-April 7th. We are hosting a vendor table- come say hi and grab a copy of Kelsey’s book “Stabler’s Important Job”! 😊

We are so excited to launch our partnership with STA today! Katie and Kelsey created a trauma-informed curriculum for their care team and will be providing support services/psycho education throughout the year. We love working with organizations who are willing to prioritize mental health for their team! 😊

It’s been a long time coming… 🤗 We are SO excited for our next CEU event! Come get ready for ’s new album with us as we explore Taylor Swift inspired expressive art and music activities to use in sessions, as well as some experiential activities to explore your “therapist eras”. Email us [email protected] to reserve your spot today 😎

Thank you Turning Point for having us! 😊

🐾✨ Big shoutout to Connect to Thrive Counseling for bringing their amazing therapy dog, Leela, to our Rise Together event! Thank you for spreading smiles, comfort, and more knowledge about animal assisted therapy in our community! Connect to Thrive, LLC ❤️

We have another exciting announcement this morning- Renae officially passed her clinical social worker exam and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker!! We are so excited for Renae on this accomplishment after doing so many hours of supervision and passing her test 🥳🥳 yay Renae!

Thanks for having us ! Leela brought some smiles and comfort while we talked about animal assisted therapy, EMDR, and somatic experiencing - something we love doing most in the community! 🐶💓

Shouting a big CONGRATS to Estee, who officially completed her required 3,000 hours of supervision and upgraded to be a Licensed Professional Counselor! We are so excited to celebrate her and for her to continue her amazing work with clients at C2T! 🥳

We got the keys and we’re ready to go! Excited for this next step of our transition 🥳

A big congrats to Abby, who just completed her consultation hours for EMDR and is officially EMDR Trained! 🥳 This is not an easy feat and requires a lot of time and education. Yay Abby!

Happy play therapy week! As Registered Play Therapists, Katie and Kelsey know the power of play for children. Play therapy helps fosters connection, healing, communication, and skills building.

We are proud to have more therapists in the office also working towards their RPT so we can keep growing the play therapy community!

Welcome to the team, Erin! 🥳‼️ Erin is an LPC-Associate, under the supervision of Katie Dunham, LPC-S, RPT-S. She has experience using play therapy to work with children struggling with anxiety, trauma, school concerns, attachment based concerns, and depression. She is accepting new clients with openings in the evenings and on Saturdays!

We are excited to have her with us as we open our brand new office in downtown Plano next week (we’re manifesting it will be right on time!). You can read more about her on our website. Link in bio!

We’re embracing the change of our office location, and we thought a little refresh was in order 😊

When we thought about a new logo, it was easy to identify something we wanted represented - triangles! 🔺Triangles represent stability, balance, and strength - things our office offers to clients and has embodied throughout the last 6 years. We like to view the three sides of a triangle as unity of the mind, body, and spirit - something we hope to help clients achieve to live their most authentic, empowered, joyful lives.

We are counting down the days until our new downtown Plano location is ready (yay for new floors and fresh paint!). Thank you all for your kind words and support - it means so much to all of us!

We had such a great time launching Kelsey’s new book honoring Stabler. The therapy community rallied around to support this amazing new resource on grief and loss. Girls support girls! 👯‍♀️

Come check out Katie and Kelsey at Turner Counseling and Consulting’s First Annual Mental Health Symposium on Saturday, February 3rd.

Katie and Kelsey will be exploring topics they are passionate about - pop culture and the nervous system! 😁 Get your tickets today - link in bio!

Happy holidays from the team at Connect to Thrive! We enjoyed time out of the office together for connection and celebration, and we hope you all do the same 🎉

The wait is over! Check out Stabler’s story - link in bio 🤍

Something exciting has been in the works! We’ll be making an announcement on Monday, December 11th - make sure to check back and see what the excitement is all about 🐶🥳

This month our wall mural has been centered around gratitude 🧘🏻‍♀️🧘🏽‍♂️ we enjoy seeing what clients put (and the fact Taylor Swift is on there more than twice!). How are you practicing gratitude this month?

Daja is bringing her extensive knowledge and experience of working in HR to a great 5 week series workshop for women! Come learn ways to set boundaries, engage in self-care, avoid burnout, and process what it’s like to be a woman who works. Email [email protected] to secure your spot today ✨

Happy Halloween from emotional support Barbie and Ken! 🩷🤍

We’re loving this book by .gobbel and these reminders on how to help regulate nervous systems. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about the brain, nervous system responses, and regulation tools 🔥

Daja and Shivani represented C2T at the Life Skills Autism Academy Fall Activity Day and Resource Fair! We enjoy working with these families and being a resource for the autism community 🎃

It’s officially Harry Potter season (as we like to call it)! Come join Katie and Kelsey for a CEU to learn about how to incorporate HP into sessions 🤓⚡️🎃