As the school year kicks off, students at Catalyst Circle Rock charter school will have a second year of in-school therapy available to them.
Oak Park-based Thrive Counseling Center offers therapy, case management, psychiatrist and crisis services to clients. After providing on-site therapy services to about 15 Catalyst students once a week at the start of 2025, Thrive is adding another therapist and day of in-school services this school year to double the number of students served. The goal is to provide accessible mental health services for young people who may face barriers to care.
“It’s really helping students. That’s the bottom line,” said Kimberly Walton, a licensed social worker at Catalyst. “The fact that the students can get support in the building, have a small interruption to their regular day, and then go back and be successful after meeting with the therapist several times and able to make some real changes, that’s what I really appreciate.”
“Some of the changes are big enough that you can’t miss it, and some of the changes, it took a mom to tell me how her daughter is engaging with her differently at home,” said Walton.
She speaks of one student who was sent to the dean’s office nearly every day last year. After meeting with the in-school Thrive therapist starting this February, Walton said she stopped seeing him in the dean’s office. Another student is vocal about not wanting to go to therapy every time Walton comes to get her from class. But she talks more than any other student at therapy and, when Walton called her mother who signed her up, she said “‘It is helping her. We are getting along better. Her attitude is better,”’ according to Walton. Both students attended Thrive’s bridge services over the summer for continuity of care.
“The goal is to reach more students and support more of the students in their needs, whether that be something that is a little bit more temporary based on an event or something that’s a little bit more long term,” said Daisy Rios, a licensed clinical professional counselor and program manager for youth services at Thrive. “One mom in particular shared with a social worker how she sees a visible difference in her child’s wellbeing and the amount of happiness that her child has and how she feels connected to the services.”
Catalyst Circle Rock is located at 5608 W. Washington Blvd. In Austin and teaches kindergarten through eighth grade students.
This kind of partnership between Catalyst and Thrive has been years in the making.
According to John Meister, who retired as executive director of Thrive in 2022, Thrive thought there was a need for in-school therapy, but didn’t know how to get into a school like Catalyst or others in Austin.
“Even though we suspected there was a need, after discussions with parents and others, it became incredibly evident that the need was there, and it was significant,” Meister said.
But Thrive had never provided therapy inside a school in Austin before.
“That was one challenge because the school has to agree, they have to provide space, but then you have to overcome the parents’ mistrust,” Meister said. He added that it took time to win that over with help from Catalyst.
“Another significant obstacle is: Can Thrive dedicate its resources?” Meister said. “How does that therapist get paid while they’re trying to build the trust and the client base at the school? You’ve got a lot of complexity over something that should be fairly straightforward.”
It was a new kind of partnership for Catalyst too. Ed Siderewicz — Catalyst’s co-founder and director of mission and external relations, who brings programs to Catalyst, whether it’s a one-time collaboration or longtime partnership — came to Walton about a potential partnership with Thrive to provide in-school behavioral health support.
Catalyst works with organizations like Association House and Community Counseling Centers of Chicago to provide in-school community services on a limited basis because of staff and budget constraints. It’s the same challenge Thrive would have dealt with too without the Caroline Meister Fund.
“One of the things that my wife and I were able to do with the tragic loss of our daughter [last year] was to help Thrive with, not quite a scholarship, but with dedicated funds to build a program just to help these students,” Meister said.
The Caroline Meister Fund
Catalyst students who are on Medicaid will have their in-school Thrive therapy billed to their insurance, according to Thrive’s former executive director John Meister. If students don’t have private insurance or Medicaid, their therapy services can be covered by the Caroline Meister Fund. The fund also sponsors the training of Catalyst’s administration and educators.
Caroline Meister, the daughter of John and Jean Meister, died in March 2024 in a hiking accident. John and Jean Meister created the Caroline Meister Fund to honor their daughter and her goals to work with vulnerable children and families.
Caroline graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School. After attending Oberlin College, Caroline became associate director of the YWCA in Lorain County, which aims to empower women, eliminate racism and promote justice and peace.
“Her favorite part of the job was going to high schools in that community, which was largely African American and low income,” Jean Meister said. “She would lead girls’ circles and create a safe place for teenage girls to find their voices. She dealt with girls who had suffered trauma and bullying and lots of problems and were able to talk among their peers and resolve some of them.”
Caroline learned of her acceptance in a master’s degree program in drama therapy and family therapy the week before her death.
“The population that is served at the Catalyst schools and the kind of therapy that is offered through Thrive is just so perfect for what Caroline hoped to do with her life,” Jean said.
Thrive’s reach extends beyond the 30-some students it will regularly meet with this year.
To address other needs students might have, Thrive has put on workshops for students and educators. Rios said Thrive is looking to expand these workshops and explore what group services would look like at Catalyst.
“I know the workshops to be really popular, and it really gives us access to a lot more scholars,” Rios said. She mentions a recent workshop on substance use prevention that Thrive put on for 75 students. An upcoming workshop with educators will center compassion fatigue and how students’ mental health impacts teachers.
“Me and Kimberly are constantly looking at where the needs are and how we can support them,” Rios said of Walton, who helped Rios launch the in-school therapy services, has given Thrive student referrals, and served as a liaison between Thrive, school administrators and parents. “Her vision of supporting youth and mental health in an educational environment has been a really great support for us.”
Walton said she hopes Catalyst can continue increasing Thrive’s in-school services.
“I do hope and pray and claim that someday we could have someone here five days a week,” Walton said.
“Our mission really is about community-centered mental health and how we can empower individuals and families to connect, support, build resilience, and really have some hope in their lives,” Rios said of Thrive. “Having us build this school-based program and embracing my vision of what this can look like has been a really great opportunity, not only for me as a clinician in this community, but also for our residents and for our youth. Because really, that’s what it’s about for me is being able to serve youth.”
Correction, Sept. 16, 3:45 p.m.: A previous version of the article gave incorrect information about Thrive’s experience providing in-school therapy. Thrive has provided therapy in Oak Park schools, but Catalyst was the first Austin-area school that Thrive has worked with. We apologize for the mistake.