Clinical Therapist
Shelby Kallus is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and National Certified Counselor specializing in anxiety, perfectionism, and executive functioning challenges in high-achieving children, tweens, and teens, using CBT and play therapy to help kids who look like they have it all together but are quietly overwhelmed by pressure, serving families in Bellaire, TX and the greater Houston area.
Focus Areas & Specialties
- Anxiety in high-achieving tweens and teens, including kids who overthink, procrastinate, avoid situations, or constantly seek reassurance out of fear of making mistakes
- ADHD and executive functioning challenges in children and teens
- Perfectionism related to appearance in ages 11-17
- Kid-friendly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and play therapy for children and tweens
- Self-worth struggles in teens who have started equating their achievements or performance with their value
- People-pleasing and difficulty tolerating disappointing parents, teachers, or friends
- Support through major transitions – changing schools, starting high school or college, navigating friendships, or adjusting to new independence
- Works especially well with students who seem to have it all together on the outside while carrying significant internal pressure
Education & Training
- Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, Trinity University
- Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, St. Edward’s University
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
- National Certified Counselor (NCC)
- Play therapy training in sandtray, parent coaching, and attachment (Play ‘N Learn Training, LLC)
- HEART Training, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, including ethics credit hours
- Training in ethical self-compassion practices and managing trauma-related stress for clinicians (E Care Behavioral Institute)
Experience & Background
Shelby’s clinical background bridges community and behavioral health settings: she managed a caseload of adolescent clients at Sun Behavioral Health, and before that worked at Communities In Schools in Houston, coordinating counseling and academic support services for public school students. She has written for Bellaire Family Counseling’s blog on topics including starting therapy for a child, managing holiday stress, and kid-friendly CBT, and presented the webinar “When Achievement Hides the Problem: Recognizing Anxiety in High Achieving Teens.”
Approach
Shelby draws primarily from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and play therapy, with an underlying focus on brain development and how young nervous systems respond to chronic stress. Her work targets the core beliefs driving perfectionism, avoidance, and reassurance-seeking, helping high-achieving teens learn to treat an anxious thought as a guess rather than a fact – with the explicit goal of reducing panic and rigidity, not reducing ambition or care. She balances warmth with gentle challenge: clients feel accepted, but she’ll question an unhelpful thought pattern rather than simply validate it. She’s collaborative by nature, involving clients directly in setting goals and testing strategies, which she’s found especially important with perfectionistic tweens and teens who already feel weighed down by adults’ expectations. She works from a strengths-based lens, helping teens see that perfectionism usually developed as a way of coping or protecting themselves – not as a personal flaw.
Areas Served
- In-person at Bellaire Family Counseling, 5909 W Loop S #490, Bellaire, TX 77401, serving Bellaire, Meyerland, West University, Memorial, Westbury, and the greater Houston area (Monday-Friday)
- Telehealth available anywhere in the state of Texas
Practical Details
- Currently accepting new clients
- Language: English
- Session days: Monday-Friday