Offering Trauma Informed Yoga for youth who have experienced trauma, have anxiety, mental health, special needs, and for kids who love yoga!

Melissa Dierker, BSW, CYT, CPYT is the owner and instructor at Complete Harmony STL Yoga for Youth. Complete Harmony STL offers yoga classes for kids throughout the year, including the summer - and as they’re expanding into their new space, they’re looking at offering specific Spring Break and Summer Break yoga classes next year.

What transformation do you see over the course of yoga groups?

One thing I LOVE seeing is the community and relationships that are formed in our classes. A lot of times we have kids who have difficulties making friends, who are to overwhelmed to be in classes, or who have so many friends they don't know how to allow space for others. Watching kids navigate peer relationships, while also tuning into who they are and where they are is wonderful. We also see kids reminding us of shapes, breath work, or activities that they remember from class or tried at home and how those things helped them when they needed it most.

How does your yoga staff jump in to help when a kid starts to melt down?

DBT Class With Licensed Clinical Psychologist Dr. Kirsten Gilbert

When your teen experiences stress, anxiety, and perfectionism, you want them to find the best options for help. One great resource in the St. Louis area is Kirsten Gilbert, PhD. Kirsten is leading a RO-DBT class this summer, starting June 17th.

What’s the story behind the program, and why do you like the work?

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT) is an evidenced based adaptation of standard DBT that targets 'over-controlled' personality. Although self-control is valued in our society and is helpful, too much self-control, in the form of over-control, can lead to a variety of problems that easily go unnoticed and are difficult to treat. Over-control is often characterized by inflexibility/rigidity, rule-governed and perfectionistic behaviors and over-controlled individuals are often shy, risk-averse, tend to suppress or hide emotions, don't like making mistakes and often feel socially awkward, anxious, or lonely. Over-control is a personality style that characterizes many disorders, including some forms of depression, anxiety, and anorexia nervosa.

I like this work because we help over-controlled teens relax rigid rules, be open to new situations and feedback, help them learn how to play more and how to socially connect with others.

In society today, teens have so much pressure to always be working harder, longer, and to be perfect, and RO DBT recognizes that some individuals are almost TOO good at this. These teens need to learn how to be flexible, interact socially, and learn how to make mistakes every once in a while.