Midwest Anxiety

Midwest Anxiety Mental health is a lifestyle, not a diagnosis. Life has many ups and downs. These challenges will either strengthen or deflate your character.

Each day you are challenged with situations that will either go well, not so well, or somewhere in between. At Midwest Anxiety, we believe that people are not defined by their weaknesses, but rather by their strengths. Life stressors are managed when these strengths are tapped and skills are developed to improve weaknesses. We inspire a purpose driven and meaningful life by focusing on what you ca

n become rather than what you cannot become. Midwest Anxiety is a community based treatment program for anxiety disorders and more generalized problems involving excessive worry, anxiety, and stress reactions. We employ an interactive, action-oriented Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) approach, integrating features of behavioral modification into cognitive restructuring. Unlike traditional office-based psychotherapy, we work with people in “real life” situations in their natural environments (home, school, sporting events, etc). Instead of coming to us in a stuffy office, we come visit you in your world. We believe this “hands on” approach gives us the best opportunity to see your strengths and help you overcome your obstacles in the environments that you live in. We believe that negative emotions and behaviors are learned responses to the environment and can be unlearned. Understanding the environment helps us implement step-by-step Cognitive Behavioral strategies to modify negative patterns as they arise. Whether you struggle with procrastination, obsession or compulsion, fear or phobia, problematic relationships or communication skills, depression or anxiety, Midwest Anxiety can help you make the changes to how you think, feel, and act.

We’ve been busy finding some of the best therapists for you.We’ve added six outstanding therapists to the Midwest Anxiet...
09/05/2026

We’ve been busy finding some of the best therapists for you.

We’ve added six outstanding therapists to the Midwest Anxiety Therapist Network.

At Midwest Anxiety, our Therapist Network is made up of licensed mental health professionals who believe therapy should happen where life actually happens—not just in an office.

Our Partners are the therapists who make up that network. They bring clinical expertise, real-world experience, and their own personalities, interests, and passions into the work they do.

They provide support in homes, schools, medical offices, workplaces, community spaces, and other everyday environments where struggles often show up in real time.

This is what we mean by doing mental health differently.

Our Partners are independent clinicians who practice with autonomy, integrity, and creativity while sharing a common mission: making mental health care more accessible, practical, collaborative, and connected to real life.

Together, they create a Therapist Network that allows us to connect clients with therapists who understand the culture, pace, pressures, and experiences of the communities they serve.

Our Partners work with children, teens, adults, parents, athletes, musicians, students, healthcare professionals, and families. Their areas of expertise include anxiety, OCD, ADHD, autism, learning disorders, emotional regulation, school refusal, depression, grief, trauma, family stress, life transitions, play therapy, perinatal mental health, sports performance, and psychological assessment.

They also bring a wide range of clinical approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, play therapy, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, family-centered strategies, and behavioral interventions.

But no matter the approach, the relationship comes first.

We want you to feel comfortable, understood, challenged, supported, and accepted.
We want you to like your therapist.

The skills we teach are practical tools you can learn, practice, and use in everyday life. But skills alone are not enough. Meaningful change is much more likely when you trust and connect with the person helping you learn them.

That connection matters.

And because finding the right therapist matters, you get to choose your therapist.

Take a minute to explore our growing Therapist Network, meet our Partners, and find the person who feels like the right fit for you.

Because therapy shouldn’t feel cold, distant, or one-size-fits-all.

It should feel real.

Meet the Midwest Anxiety Therapist Network at midwestanxiety.com/therapists

Want to Do Therapy Differently?We’re looking for therapists who want to do more than traditional office-based therapy.Mi...
08/31/2026

Want to Do Therapy Differently?

We’re looking for therapists who want to do more than traditional office-based therapy.

Midwest Anxiety is growing our Therapist Network, and we’re currently recruiting Kansas-licensed therapists interested in joining some of the most innovative work we’re doing in the community.

Our mission is simple: Take therapy out of the therapy office.

That means providing mental health care where people actually live, learn, work, play, and receive care.

Right now, we’re especially looking for therapists interested in three areas:

SCHOOLS TEAM�Work directly with students, families, schools, teachers, and counselors to address anxiety, school avoidance, emotional regulation, executive functioning, social struggles, behavioral concerns, and other barriers to success.

HEALTH CARE TEAM�Bring therapy directly into pediatric and health care settings. Collaborate with physicians and other health care professionals while making mental health treatment easier for children, teens, and families to access.

DENTAL TEAM�Help patients overcome dental anxiety through CBT, exposure, and real-world therapeutic interventions — including opportunities to work alongside dental professionals before, during, and around dental procedures.

You don’t have to choose all three.

We want therapists to identify the opportunities that fit their interests, experience, and professional goals.

As part of the Midwest Anxiety Therapist Network, you can maintain the flexibility and autonomy of private practice while having access to referrals, administrative support, collaborative clinicians, community partnerships, and opportunities to build services you’re excited about.

We’re looking for therapists who are creative, dependable, collaborative, and interested in doing mental health care differently.

Interested?

Visit midwestanxiety.com/therapistnetwork to learn more and tell us a little about yourself.

Mental Health for Real Life.

08/23/2026

Building a Community Mental Health Network

Imagine a community where everyone is actually working together. Your medical doctor doesn’t hand you a long list of therapists and tell you to start making phone calls. Your psychiatrist doesn’t tell you to get on a long waiting list and hope somebody eventually calls you back. Your dentist understands that anxiety may be the reason you haven’t been in for years, and instead of judging you, they work with someone who can actually help you through it. Restaurants care about the wellbeing of the people sitting at their tables, not just the money they put on the table. Friends, neighbors, colleagues, and coworkers get together and talk about real life instead of just gossiping. Schools look at the whole child, not just the behavior or academic performance they see during the school day.

Imagine your therapist knowing your doctor. Your doctor knowing your psychiatrist. Your psychiatrist knowing your therapist. Your school, dentist, community, and family all having people they can reach out to when somebody is struggling. That’s what we are putting together: a community network focused on mental health. Not just a collection of businesses exchanging referrals, but a network of people and organizations who actually know each other, communicate with each other, and work together to take care of people.

Because mental health doesn’t just happen in a therapy office. It happens when you’re trying to get your kid out the door for school. It happens in the pediatrician’s office. It happens in the dental chair. It happens at the dinner table. It happens at work, on the soccer field, at school, with friends, and in your neighborhood. It happens in real life.

So when we say we are Doing Mental Health Differently, this is what we mean. We are taking therapy out of the therapy office and putting it into the community. We are connecting therapists, physicians, psychiatrists, dentists, schools, restaurants, businesses, families, friends, and neighbors. We are building a community where mental health isn’t somebody else’s job. We all have a role. That’s the network. That’s the vision. Mental Health for Real Life.

08/22/2026

Vibe check, MWA Fam… how are we feeling after a full week of school?

Some days life looks like a pair of smashed-up, stretched-out Ray-Bans. They’ve been sat on. Dropped. Bent. Scratched. They’ve taken a beating. They don’t sit quite right anymore.
And you still have to put them on.

Life can feel the same way.

Some days you feel completely beaten up. Worn down. Stretched thin. You want to pull the covers over your head, close the curtains, call in sick to work, refuse school, cancel everything, and tell the world, “Not today.”

I get it.

But life still requires us to show up.

Sometimes you’ve got to put on your smashed-up sunglasses and keep doing life—even when you don’t feel like yourself. You get out of bed. You take the shower. You go to school. You go to work. You show up for your family. You take the next step.

Not because everything suddenly feels better.�
Because you keep going even when things are hard.

So if this first week of school beat you up a little bit—kids, parents, teachers, counselors, therapists…all of us—I hope you find some energy this weekend. Rest. Recharge. Have some fun. Put yourself back together a little bit.

And if things still feel smashed up on Monday?

Put the Ray-Bans back on.

We’ve got life to do.

08/22/2026

Work Hard. Play Hard. | Midwest Anxiety Daily 443

We worked hard this week. Really hard. For a lot of our kids and families, it was the first week of school, and anybody who works with children, parents, schools, or mental health knows how much energy that first week can take. New schedules, earlier mornings, getting back into routines, anxiety, school refusal, kids struggling to get out of bed, parents trying to get everybody out the door, teachers and school counselors trying to understand what is happening, pediatricians communicating concerns, and therapists working together to help families problem-solve in real time. There was a lot happening, and our team was right in the middle of it.

That is one of the things I love most about Midwest Anxiety. We are not just sitting in a therapy office waiting for somebody to come in at the end of the week and tell us everything that went wrong. We want to be involved while life is actually happening. We are communicating with parents before school, talking with school professionals, coordinating with pediatricians, checking whether kids actually made it to school, and helping clients work through anxiety, avoidance, and difficult situations in the moment. That is what Mental Health for Real Life looks like. Therapy should happen where life happens.

But all of that takes energy. It takes energy from our therapists, from parents, from kids, from schools, and from everybody trying to help. When you work hard all week, there also has to be a time when you shut some of it off, recharge, and enjoy your life. I believe strongly in working hard, but I also believe in playing hard. You cannot spend every minute grinding, solving problems, helping other people, and pushing forward without eventually taking some time to laugh, relax, connect, and have some fun.

Mental health is not only about learning how to tolerate difficult things. It is also about learning how to enjoy the good things. Sometimes we get so focused on getting through anxiety, stress, work, responsibilities, and everything else life throws at us that we forget there is another side of the equation. We are supposed to enjoy some of this too. We are supposed to have people in our lives who make us laugh. We are supposed to do things that give us energy. We are supposed to have moments where we are not accomplishing anything except enjoying being alive.

So this weekend, play hard. Spend time with people you enjoy. Get outside. Watch your kids play sports. Listen to music. Go somewhere. Sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing for a while. Laugh. Have some fun. Shut work off for a little bit and fill your tank back up.

Play hard this weekend so you are ready to get back after it on Monday.

Because Monday is coming. The alarm is going to go off. The kids are going back to school. The emails are going to start coming in. The problems are still going to be there. And when Monday gets here, we want to be ready to bring the energy, get back to work, and keep helping people face their fears, solve problems, and move forward.

We worked hard this week. Now go play hard. Then Monday morning, we get back after it. Mental Health for Real Life.

08/21/2026

Habituated at the Dentist Office | Midwest Anxiety Daily 442

Good morning, MWA Fam.

Yesterday, I went back to the dental office with a client. Not because the client had a dental procedure yesterday. We went there to practice being anxious before the actual procedure ever happens.

That’s Exposure and Response Prevention—ERP.

When someone has dental anxiety, the natural response is usually avoidance. Don’t think about the dentist. Don’t make the appointment. Reschedule it. Cancel it. Put it off until something hurts badly enough that you have no choice.

The problem is that avoidance teaches your brain, “Yep, the dentist really is dangerous. Good thing we got out of there.”

ERP teaches the exact opposite.

So yesterday, we went into the dental office. We spent time in the environment. We practiced experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, equipment, chair, and uncertainty that can come with being at the dentist. Instead of escaping the anxiety, we gave the client an opportunity to stay with it and learn that anxiety can be tolerated.

That’s what I mean when I talk about habituating anxiety.

When we repeatedly face something that makes us anxious without escaping, avoiding, or relying on behaviors that reinforce the fear, our brain begins learning something new: I can handle this. I don't have to run from this. Anxiety can rise, and I can keep going anyway.

I believe one of the best ways to work through anxiety is to go toward it instead of away from it.

That is why I am so excited about Midwest Anxiety's new Integrative Dental Care Program.

Instead of telling someone with severe dental anxiety, “You just need to go to the dentist,” we can actually meet them there. We can work alongside the client and dental team, practice ERP in the real environment, prepare for procedures, and help clients build confidence before and during dental care.

That can be a huge benefit for clients who have avoided dental treatment because of anxiety, fear, sensory concerns, previous negative experiences, or fear of procedures.

And it can help dental offices too.

Dentists and hygienists are experts at dental care. Mental health therapists are experts at treating anxiety. When we work together, each professional gets to do what they do best.

The goal is better cooperation, less avoidance, more successful appointments, and helping people receive dental care they may have been putting off for years.

This is exactly what we mean at Midwest Anxiety when we say Mental Health for Real Life.

We don't always need to practice overcoming anxiety from a therapy office.

Sometimes we need to go directly to the place where the anxiety happens.

Yesterday, that place was the dentist office.

To learn more about Midwest Anxiety's Integrative Dental Care Program, visit:
midwestanxiety.com/dentalcare

In 2 more sleeps, we have my favorite group of the week — Soccer Mentals! ⚽️🧠The last two weeks, we’ve focused on positi...
08/20/2026

In 2 more sleeps, we have my favorite group of the week — Soccer Mentals! ⚽️🧠

The last two weeks, we’ve focused on positive communication and “NEXT PLAY” — learning how to respond to mistakes, frustration, teammates, coaches, and adversity both on and off the field.

This Saturday, we’re talking about GETTING COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE.
Every Saturday, I push these kids mentally. I tell them all the time: I don’t care if you score a goal. I don’t care if you have the perfect footwork. That’s what their soccer coaches are there to teach them.

I care about developing strong character. Mental strength. Resilience. Confidence. Leadership. And being a great teammate — on and off the field.

Soccer Mentals is way more than getting together and kicking a soccer ball around on a Saturday morning.

We are out there TRAINING HARD. We’re putting kids in situations that challenge them. We push them mentally, physically, and emotionally to go just a little further than they think they can go.

Because growth doesn’t happen when everything is easy.
It happens when you’re tired and keep going.
When you’re frustrated and stay composed.
When you make a mistake and say NEXT PLAY.
When something is uncomfortable and you don’t run away from it.
We’re not just developing better soccer players.
We’re developing mentally stronger kids.

If you want to mentally train with us, learn more at midwestanxiety.com/groups/soccermentals

Mental Health for Real Life. Soccer Mentals for Real Life. ⚽️🧠💪

08/20/2026

From School Refusal to BIG ENERGY | Midwest Anxiety Daily 441

Good morning, MWA Fam! Welcome to MWA Daily 441.

This Daily is going to be a little different because apparently I had two things I wanted to talk about this morning. I started out wanting to talk about school refusal, and somewhere in the middle of it, I completely changed directions and started thinking about BIG ENERGY. So…here we go.

First, school refusal. It’s early this morning, and we’ve already been on the phone talking with pediatricians, school counselors, parents, and each other, trying to work through school refusal cases. That’s what this work looks like. It takes a team.

At Midwest Anxiety, we don’t look at school refusal as something one therapist should be expected to handle alone. We work these cases as a team because school refusal doesn’t happen once a week during somebody’s scheduled therapy appointment. It happens every morning. We monitor our clients’ daily school attendance, communicate with families and schools, coordinate with pediatricians and other members of the treatment team, and intervene before school when somebody is struggling.

Every school refusal client has a daily meeting available before school in case they are not doing well. If they wake up, get ready, get out the door, and get to school, great. We don’t need to meet. No news is good news. But if they’re struggling to get out of bed, get dressed, leave the house, regulate their emotions, or get into school, that’s when we get involved.

Because the goal isn’t to sit in an office three days later and talk about why somebody didn’t go to school. The goal is to help them go to school while the struggle is actually happening. That’s Real Life Therapy. Therapy happening when life is happening.

And then somewhere while I was talking about all of this, my brain went somewhere completely different. I started thinking about BIG ENERGY.

Because sometimes life requires BIG ENERGY. You’re going to have struggles. You’re going to have difficult mornings. You’re going to have anxiety. You’re going to get disappointed. Somebody is going to tell you no. Something isn’t going to work. Your plan is going to fall apart. Something totally unexpected is going to happen.

I believe you can’t control everything that happens during your day, but you can control the energy you bring to the situation. And I think that matters especially when the situation is not going well.

When everything is going your way, energy is easy. It’s easy to be positive when you’re winning. It’s easy to keep moving when everything feels good. The real test is what kind of energy you bring when you’re struggling. What energy do you bring when you’re anxious, when you don’t want to go, when something is hard, when somebody disappoints you, or when your morning completely blows up?

That’s when you need BIG ENERGY.

And BIG ENERGY doesn’t mean fake energy. It doesn’t mean pretending everything is great or ignoring how you feel. BIG ENERGY means, “This is hard, and I’m still going.” It means, “I’m anxious, and I’m still walking into school.”It means, “This didn’t go how I wanted it to go, but I’m not giving the rest of my day away.”

You acknowledge the struggle, and then you decide what you’re going to bring to it. You may not get to choose what happens today, but you absolutely get a say in who you are when it happens and the energy you bring with you.

So whether you’re fighting school refusal this morning, dealing with something at work, going through something at home, facing anxiety, disappointment, frustration, or something you absolutely did not expect, bring some BIG ENERGY. Keep moving. Do the hard thing. Take the next step. Don’t let one difficult moment decide what happens with the rest of your day.

That’s MWA Daily 441. Apparently we started with school refusal a

08/19/2026

Stop. Wait a second. Something totally unexpected happened in tomorrow’s MWA Daily.

I definitely didn’t see this one coming. 👀You’re going to want to see this one.

Check it out tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m.

08/19/2026

I’m proud of myself. I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today without a strong work ethic. There have been plenty of times when the chips were stacked against me, my back was against the wall, and things weren’t easy. But I’m a junk yard dawg. I just keep fighting.

A strong work ethic isn’t about working every second of every day. It’s about showing up, doing what you said you were going to do, and continuing to do the work even when it’s hard, boring, uncomfortable, or just not fun. I talk with people every day about working hard—working hard to overcome their fears, working hard to get through struggles, and working hard when they don’t feel like doing the work.

I hear, “It’s too hard.” “It’s boring.” “It’s not fun.” My response? Keep going. Keep going because you will never get to your goal if you give up. If you quit, you guarantee you won’t get there. Quitting is the one thing that will keep you from your goal.

But if you keep going, you get one step closer. Maybe that step doesn’t get you all the way to your goal today. That’s okay. Take another step tomorrow. And another one after that. Eventually, all those little steps start adding up.

Talent helps. Connections help. Opportunities help. But consistency is hard to beat. Be dependable. Be prepared. Follow through. Take responsibility. Do the little things nobody is watching. Some days you’ll be motivated. Some days you won’t. Your work ethic is what keeps you moving on both days.

Keep fighting. Keep working. Keep taking the next step. Keep going.

Address

Olathe, KS

Telephone

+19134988200

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Midwest Anxiety posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category