Therapy for high-achieving teens in Denver
Help your teen manage the pressure and expectations that come with being a high performer.
We help teens have a healthier relationship with themselves
My Denver Therapy works with high-achieving teens — the straight-A students, varsity athletes, and résumé builders whose success is starting to cost them — at multiple Denver metro offices and online across Colorado.
Our therapists who specialize in working with teens include Cindy Gao, LPCC, a former NCAA Division I fencer at Harvard who knows the inside of the achievement machine because she grew up in it, performed in it, and came out the other side.
The kid who's "fine" is running on fumes
From the outside: honor roll, club team, leadership positions, a college list taking shape. From the inside: homework until 1 a.m., a meltdown over an A-minus, stomachaches every Sunday night, and a kid who quit drawing — the thing they actually loved — because it didn’t “count.”
High-achieving teens are the easiest struggling kids to miss, because their symptoms look like success. The parents who find this page usually haven’t missed it. They’ve watched it, and they’re right to be concerned.
What the pressure is doing
- Anxiety that lives in the body: headaches, stomach problems, sleep that won’t come before midnight.
- Perfectionism hardening early — a 94 experienced as failure, feedback experienced as verdict.
- Identity fused to output: the terrifying question “who am I if I’m not the smart one?” arriving at sixteen.
- Joy quietly leaving — activities chosen for applications, friendships squeezed out by the schedule. Therapy can also help when high-achievers go to college.
- The crash patterns: sudden academic refusal, burnout masquerading as laziness, or grades held perfect while everything else erodes.
Therapy that doesn't ask them to aim lower
Here’s the fear — the teen’s and, honestly, the parent’s: that therapy means dismantling the ambition. It doesn’t. The work separates drive from dread: where the standards came from, what failure got fused to, and how to compete hard with a nervous system that isn’t running a hostage situation.
Our therapist Cindy was a D1 athlete at Harvard and has lived experience to relate to your teen. For teen athletes specifically, this pairs with our performance anxiety work.
If you're the teen reading this
Someone probably sent you this link. Two things: therapy here isn’t a punishment or an intervention — it’s an hour that belongs to you, with someone who gets what your schedule costs and won’t report your private thoughts back to your parents. And no one is going to make you quit anything. Plenty of our teen clients keep every commitment they have; they just stop paying for them in dread.
For parents: what your part looks like
Usually light: an intake conversation, occasional check-ins, and sometimes a session on the pressure system at home — because achievement culture runs through households, not just kids, and most parents of high achievers are high achievers managing their own version of it. Our parent support work is there when that conversation deserves its own room.
Frequently asked questions
Will therapy make my teen less motivated?
No. Dread is not a performance enhancer; it’s a tax. Teens in this work typically keep their outcomes and lose the 1 a.m. spirals — and several discover the ambition was theirs all along once the fear stops driving.
My teen insists they’re fine. Now what?
Common, and workable. A low-pressure first session framed as the teen’s hour — not an evaluation — usually lands differently than the tenth parental check-in. A therapist with Cindy’s background also clears the “you wouldn’t get it” bar fast.
Their grades are perfect. Am I overreacting?
Grades are the last thing to fall in high-achieving teens, not the first. Sunday-night stomachaches, abandoned joys, and perfectionist meltdowns are earlier, better signals — and you’re reading them correctly.
Is this confidential from us as parents?
Within safety limits, yes — and that privacy is what makes teen therapy work. You’ll get collaboration on the big picture, not a transcript.
Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Meet our therapists
As a therapist-owned practice, we care about helping you heal, grow, and thrive. We take a client-focused approach to counseling and approach each session with a commitment to your progress and growth.
Availability
We’re always accepting new clients at our conveniently located offices in Denver, Greenwood Village, Lone Tree, and Arvada. All of our therapists can meet with clients online.
We specialize in you
You are welcome here. Because we have a large team with a wide range of specialties and trainings, we work with clients of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages.
We can match you with a male or female therapist who matches your goals, location, and schedule. If you have a preference for gender, age, religious background, or a person with a specific type of training or life experience, we can match you with a therapist you feel comfortable with.
Trained in effective therapy modalities
To support your mental health journey, our team is trained in some of the most effective forms of therapy available today, including EMDR, Brainspotting, CBT, DBT, and IFS.
Whether you’re looking for help with anxiety, depression, trauma, or want to better understand your relationship and attachment styles, we can help.
Insurance information
We’re out of network with insurance and Tricare and are unable to take Medicaid or Medicare.
Unlike many Denver therapy practices, we don’t charge separate intake or administration fees or charge more for your first session or specialized therapy methods like EMDR.
Get matched with a therapist
Contact us today, and one of our therapists will reach out to you directly, usually the same day.