Kelly Younkins, Clinical Consultant

01/01/2026

As 2025 ends and 2026 begins, I’m reflecting less on numbers and more on conversations.

On 12/31/25, I paused to take a photo in my office…. Just a small pause to take in the moment of another beautiful year coming to a close.

It was a moment to acknowledge the year that lived in this space…the days, the hours, and the people who filled them.

✨The people I work with matter.

While this work isn’t about me, I am still part of it.

The time we spend together leaves an imprint.

I, too, am shaped by the work and opportunity that presents itself to me. And I take it in, and I weave it into the fabric of my own life, my own wisdom and my own experiences, crafting a more evolved sense of being and understanding each year. It’s my nature to seek, to learn, and to translate life’s complexity into something meaningful for myself and for those I’m privileged to work with.

I work slowly enough to notice what matters and clearly enough to name it.

This year included quiet rooms, work across state lines, and moments of pressure most people never see. Athletes, families, and professionals navigating real stakes.

I don’t work in volume, I work in relationship.
Change happens there, often quietly.

I’m grateful for the trust and the depth of the work done this year. It makes my life feel rich in ways that don't always end up on a spreadsheet or a tax return. 

❤️Third winter in this special space and I am truly so excited and ready to have an audacious year ahead ✨

12/31/2025

I’m not low volume because I don’t know how to scale.
I’m low volume because I’ve chosen not to.

The mental performance work I do with athletes is relational, integrative, and built over time. It depends on trust, timing, and understanding how an athlete’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and environment interact under pressure.

This workbook wasn’t created to scale me.
It was created to scale access to insight.

It offers athletes and families language, structure, and tools that often come much later—if they come at all. It’s not a replacement for individualized coaching. It’s an entry point.

Depth is still the standard.
This is simply another doorway in.

I create for the job to be done and I look forward to seeing how this impacts your rider and family for the upcoming season 🏁

If you’re interested in checking out the JYT Mental Performance Workbook, phase one- the early access link is below.

Coming soon to Amazon in early 2026🏁✨

This workbook reflects how mental performance is used in high-level sport, adapted for youth athletes and families.

12/31/2025

A Mother who enjoys her motherhood, just might equal children who enjoy their childhood❤️✨ At least I sure hope.

Every day I wake up with the intention to enjoy the day to the best of all of our abilities. I don’t always do a good job with this, but damn do I sure try. No matter how demanding the day may be or how difficult it may become, I want there to be joy and rest and presence. I wanna look back and know yep I was there, my kids could feel it, and boy was I in it the best way I could❤️

12/31/2025

Rider: Jeremy Hand ​​Photo: Zachary C. Bako

12/30/2025

After nearly 20 years working in mental health and performance, one thing I see over and over again is that kids and families aren’t lacking toughness or motivation.

They’re lacking structure for how to reflect, reset, and grow mentally through a season.

That’s why I created the JYT Performance Pathway Workbook for athletes and families. I have 2 versions I am releasing 12/31 and 1/1 that I am so excited about!!!

Version 1 is for athletes ages 10-25.

Version 2 is for athletes under 10 years old, because I understand childhood development and what I keep seeing repeatedly is most sports performance and mental performance resources are missing the understanding of how cognitive and emotional development impacts childhood learning and growth.

Children under 10 learn and integrate information and experiences in ways that are different than older kids and young adults.
I designed this developmentally, age appropriate resource to meet a need that families and coaches keep asking me for help with- so I answered.

This isn’t about pressure or perfection. It is a carefully created resource I am so excited for you to have.

This resource helps riders AND families:
• reflect on last season
• build confidence and focus through mental performance skills
• develop healthy habits
• learn how to reset after hard moments

Designed with parent/team support built in.

This is Phase 1 — the foundation everything else builds on.

👉 Link to drop 12/31 and 1/1/26

Comment below if you are interested in getting access to it first!

12/28/2025

🔌An oldie but goodie

Invest in your mental health & wellbeing in 2026.

Calendar drops on 12/31 for open dates & times for Mental Health Check Up Appts.

Episode 246: Most of us complete an annual checkup with our family doctor as a preventative measure for our physical health but how many of us do the same for our mental health? Clinical Consultant, Kelly Younkins, shares her idea of annual "mental health checkups" that could revolutionize the menta...

12/24/2025

Offering up some last quarter journal reflection prompts on this Christmas Eve Morning🎄✨

Reflection doesn’t have to be elaborate to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s just about pausing long enough to notice what shaped us.

What theme quietly ran through the last three months of my life?

• One moment from each month that truly mattered — and why it still stands out.

• How am I thinking, feeling, or responding differently now than I was in early September?

Energy Audit
• What drained my energy this fall? What gently restored it?
• Where did I practice a boundary — intentionally or by necessity — and what did it protect?

• What lesson showed up that I didn’t ask for, but needed?

• What am I intentionally carrying forward into the next season?

• What am I ready to set down before the year closes?

✨ When I look back on Fall 2025, I’ll remember it as the season when I ______.

If you feel called to share any insights or experiences journaling these prompts , you are welcome to drop them in the comments.

Sometimes pausing to name what’s already happened is the most powerful form of closure.

12/24/2025

Plan a Big A # # Year! Start by seeing your entire year at a glance. When you see everything at once, it’s easy to say yes to what matters and no to what doesn’t.