For Female Teen Athletes · Coming Soon
Female Teen Athlete Small Group Therapy
Six weeks with five other athletes who get it, led by a therapist who competed at a national level. Online across Ontario, hoping to start in October 2026.
The details, plainly
- Six weekly sessions, 80 minutes each.
- Six athletes, aged 13 to 17, in any sport. University-age women may also inquire and Leanne will gauge whether there is enough interest for a separate group.
- $480 in total, covering all six sessions.
- Online, and participants need to be physically in Ontario for each session. If everyone turns out to be local and wants to meet in person, we can talk about it.
- Hoping to start the first week of October 2026.
Led by Leanne Wiese, Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #15522), a former national-level and collegiate athlete and NCCP certified coach with ten years working with athletes. To register interest, email leanne@kwtherapy.ca.
For parents: what this is
This is psychotherapy, provided in a small group by a Registered Psychotherapist. Each session opens with a short taught presentation, roughly 20 to 40 minutes, on one topic. That part is teaching. The facilitated discussion afterwards is the therapy.
Only the presentation is recorded, and only Leanne appears in it. No participant is ever visible or audible in a recording. The discussion is never recorded and never shared.
Consent, and what parents do and do not receive
Written consent from a parent or guardian is required for every participant under 18. Your daughter is also asked for her own agreement to take part, because in Ontario a young person who understands the decision has a real say in her own care.
Parents do not receive a report on what their daughter said. That is not evasiveness; it is the condition that makes the group work at all. What you will get is confirmation of attendance and, if something significant comes up, a direct conversation with you. There are two limits to confidentiality that apply to everyone and are explained to the group in the first session, before anyone shares anything: a risk of serious harm to someone, and a legal duty to report a child who may need protection.
For athletes: what actually happens
Six of you, once a week, for six weeks. Leanne talks for the first stretch about one thing that is genuinely hard about being an athlete, then the rest is conversation. You do not have to talk. Sitting quietly through a session is a perfectly acceptable way to attend one.
Nobody here is going to tell you to just be more confident.
The six weeks
Week 1: How this group works, and what pressure actually is
Ground rules and confidentiality, said plainly and completely. What stress does in the body before a game, and why that is not a defect.
Week 2: Nerves, and what to do with them
Arousal that helps versus threat that does not. Where attention goes under pressure and how to put it back. A pre-competition routine you actually build.
Week 3: Fuelling, energy and what your body is for
Food as fuel, and what happens to training, recovery, mood and injury risk when there is not enough of it. Sleep. Recovery as part of training rather than a reward for it.
Week 4: Injury, and the version of you who is not playing
What being hurt does to mood, routine, identity and your place on a team. Fear of re-injury, and why it outlasts the tissue healing.
Week 5: Coaches, teammates, parents, and what a good sport environment looks like
The difference between hard coaching and harmful coaching, described concretely. What a reasonable adult in sport does, and what to do when one is not being reasonable.
Week 6: Sport is a chapter, not the whole book
Identity bigger than a roster spot, and the transitions that come for everyone: deselection, injury, graduation, a changing body, deciding to stop.
A note on Week 3, because it matters
Talking about food and bodies in a group of teenage girls can do harm if it is handled badly, and we take that seriously. So Week 3 is framed entirely around fuelling, energy availability and performance. There are no numbers, no weights, no calories, no body-shape talk and no comparisons, and there are explicit ground rules about that from Week 1.
If a participant is struggling with eating in a way that needs proper clinical attention, a group is not the right container for it, and the fit conversation is designed to catch that and route her to the right care instead.
Who it is for, and who it is not
Any sport, any level, if the pressure has started costing more than it is giving. Before joining there is a fit conversation with the athlete and her parent or guardian. A group only works if the six people in it can hold each other, and part of Leanne's job is saying honestly when a group is the wrong answer.
If you need something sooner, or something different
This group starts in October and runs to a fixed schedule. That makes it the wrong answer if you need help now.
Right now, today. Call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department if there is immediate danger. You can call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, at any time.
Urgent, in Waterloo Region. Here 24/7 is the regional crisis, intake and referral line: 1-844-437-3247, 24 hours a day.
A group is also not the right container for everything. If what you are carrying needs one-to-one attention, individual therapy is the better route, and the fit conversation will say so honestly rather than filling a seat. More local options are on our Waterloo Region resources page.
Cost
$480 in total, which covers all six 80-minute sessions. Before the group starts you get a written agreement setting out what the fee covers, how to pay, and how refunds work.
Insurers treat group therapy differently, so if you plan to claim it, ask your provider about group psychotherapy delivered by a Registered Psychotherapist before committing.
How to register interest
- Email leanne@kwtherapy.ca with the athlete's age, her sport, and a sentence about what has been hard.
- Leanne arranges a short fit conversation at no cost, with the athlete and a parent or guardian.
- If it is a fit, you get the written agreement and the consent forms. Nothing is owed until then.
This page describes a group psychotherapy service planned by KW Therapy in Ontario for participants under 18. It is general information, not clinical advice. Dates are an intention, not a commitment. Leanne Wiese is a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, registration #15522, confirmable on the CRPO public register. Her NCCP certification is a coaching credential, separate from her registration as a psychotherapist. Page last reviewed 27 July 2026.
Related: Sport performance therapy, available now one-to-one · Team Mindset Sessions for whole teams · All services
Register Your Interest
Six places, starting October 2026. Email Leanne and she will arrange a short fit conversation at no cost.
Email leanne@kwtherapy.ca