WELCOME!
We’re psyched that you’re here!
Psyched to Climb is a therapeutic climbing service facilitated by licensed psychologist Dr. Katherine Thomas and mental training and climbing coach Stephanie R. Thomas.
Our mission is to promote mental, physical, and social well-being through climbing experiences and personal connections. Our services are designed for all skill levels, including people who have never climbed.
WHY CLIMBING THERAPY?
Climbing therapy is a relatively recent form of active therapy that is gaining traction across the world. It involves integrating different types of climbing, like bouldering or climbing on ropes, with some type of therapy, like group therapy or an individual session. Initial research and models of climbing therapy show that it may be especially effective in helping people with:
Depression and emotion regulation
Healthy fear and unhealthy anxiety
Self-esteem and sturdiness
Attention and impulsivity
Communication and connection
Trust in self and others
Grief and trauma
Substance abuse
Problematic eating patterns
WHY CLIMBING?
Lots of climbers rave about the benefits of climbing, and for good reason! We now have a small but growing body of research on the therapeutic benefits of climbing. Climbing reveals behavioral, emotional, and thinking patterns on the wall that also show up in our daily lives. Through climbing therapy, we can practice noticing and changing some of our automatic thoughts and actions.
Climbing offers a number of therapeutic benefits such as:
Focusing us on the present moment and facilitating flow states and mindfulness
Putting us in the way of fear and other strong emotions and helping build tolerance and resilience to them
Promoting acceptance, adaptability, mind-body connection, self-efficacy, and growth
Enabling us to communicate clearly, show up for others consistently, and trust people who are safe
Teaching us how to try hard, support and celebrate others, and fail without shame
Boosting dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with executive functioning, mood, and motivation
OUR FOUNDERS
Dr. Kate Thomas
Licensed Psychologist & Co-Founder
Kate completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2015 and began her career as a professor at Purdue University. Soon after starting, she tried Purdue’s climbing wall and immediately fell in love with struggling and succeeding on the wall and began to regularly climb at the gym. Wanting to work with people more than do research, she moved to Austin in 2019 to work at the Center for Therapeutic Assessment where she now has a private practice working with adolescents, adults, and couples. She has continued to fall more deeply in love with climbing through Austin’s access to outdoor crags and world-class gyms and our welcoming and diverse climbing community. She believes climbing provides metaphors for every essential life lesson (like: The most successful people are also the ones who fail and fall the most).
Steph Thomas
Mindset & Climbing Coach & Co-Founder
Steph discovered climbing in 2015 after biking with Texas 4000 for Cancer from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska. On her return from such a life changing journey, she fell into a depression that climbing helped her get out of. Since then, she has enjoyed climbing recreationally for years before deciding to leave her advertising job and become an AMGA certified climbing wall instructor. She has a passion for mentoring beginner climbers and sharing her love for climbing with anyone who wants to listen. Her favorite climbing area is Horse Shoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas, but you can find her climbing here in Austin at the Green Belt, Reimers Ranch, and all climbing gyms in Austin. She is currently working towards becoming an AMGA Single Pitch Instructor to explore outdoor climbing opportunities with Psyched to Climb.