Group coaching · Ages 10–17

The pod your kid actually looks forward to.(Parents keep asking to sit in.)

Small bilingual pods. One real tool a week, tested in the room, proven with real-life proof — not a worksheet.Small bilingual pods where kids learn one real tool a week, test it against their own life in the room, then come back with proof they used it — not a streak, not a worksheet. It runs like the best hour of their week.

Built on how skills actually transfer from a session into real life — not just information, practice.

See how a pod runs

Bilingual English / Spanish
Trauma-aware, faith-optional
Pods capped at 6
Cancel anytime, no contract

A warm, candid photo of a teen or small group of kids

6Pods capped at 6 kidsPlacement by fit call, not sign-up order

Sound familiar?

Tap what you're seeing right now

We'll show you exactly how a pod would help.

Hover or tap a card to see if it sounds familiar

You walk into the kitchen and, out of nowhere, a small thing turns into a full meltdown. Sound familiar?

Balanced Foundations pod

We'd start with a Balanced Foundations pod — kids name what's happening in their body before it takes over, then practice a real tool with peers, not just hear about one.

A friend keeps asking for favors your kid doesn't want to give — and they say yes anyway, then feel awful about it all night. Sound familiar?

Balanced Foundations / Balanced Family pod

This is exactly what the Feelings–Value–Boundary script is built for — practiced live, with peers who are working on the same thing.

One tense moment at dinner, and suddenly the whole table goes quiet and the evening's ruined for everyone. Sound familiar?

Balanced Family pod

Our Balanced Family pods run a synced parent track alongside the teen pod, so the same language and tools get used at home, not just in session.

Plans change with no warning and the whole afternoon unravels — and you're not sure how to help them find their footing. Sound familiar?

Balanced Harbor pod

Our Balanced Harbor pod runs the same engine, adapted by a coach with specialized training and experience supporting autistic kids — for how they actually process rules, transitions, and emotional language.

Who Anchor Pods is for

Built for kids old enough to examine their own thinking

Pods start at 10 because that's when most kids can reflect on their own thinking — weighing a belief against evidence. Younger kids do better with play-based approaches.You might wonder why pods start at 10 instead of a younger age like some programs do. Around age 10–11, most kids develop the ability to reflect on their own thinking — to hold a belief, weigh it against real evidence, and reconsider it. That's exactly the skill our engine depends on. Younger kids benefit more from play-based approaches; our pods work best once a child can do this kind of reflection alongside peers.

The same engine, two age stages

10–14 flows into 13–17 — not two competing programs, one method that grows with your child.

A candid photo of kids around ages 10 to 14

Ages 10–14

Learning the first tools

Naming feelings before they take over, and a first pass at the Rule Test on the everyday beliefs that trip them up.

Skills your child will build

Naming a feeling before it takes over
The Rule Test — testing an everyday belief against real evidence
Telling a feeling apart from a fact
A first grounding tool for big reactions
Spotting a thinking trap
Naming what you need before you're overwhelmed
A simple values check-in

+ 3 more

A candid photo of teenagers around ages 13 to 17

Ages 13–17

Using tools for real independence

Boundaries with friends, pressure, and identity — rehearsed with peers who get it, then carried into the week and brought back as proof.

Skills your child will build

The Feelings–Value–Boundary script for real conversations
Proactive vs. reactive boundary timing
Relational mirror naming
Disclosure-as-bridge
Assertive communication
Values-based decision-making
De-escalating a conflict in the moment
Self-advocacy in high-pressure moments

+ 4 more

How a pod runs

One loop, every week, in every pod

Not a lecture and not a worksheet — a repeatable engine that turns a tool into proof the kid can actually use it.

This loop runs every week, in every pod.

Teach — Why it works

Modeling a tool directly builds skill faster than letting a kid figure it out alone.Naming a tool directly and modeling it works better for building a new skill than having a kid figure it out alone — this is why coaches teach it straight, not through open-ended exploration.

Why this works

Built on what actually helps kids — practice, not just information

Anchor Pods is coaching, not therapy — built on decades of research: kids change through practice, not more information about feelings.Anchor Pods is coaching, not therapy. But how it's built follows decades of research on how kids actually change: they don't need more information about their feelings — they need to practice real skills, out loud, with peers, and carry them into real life.

270,000+

students studied across 213 programs measuring skill-building like this

+11

percentile-point gain in academic performance for kids in structured skill programs

up to 18 yrs

how long the benefits still showed up in follow-up research

Practice over lectures

Role-play and peer feedback move the needle more than being told what to do.Role-play, rehearsal, and peer feedback move the needle for this age far more than being told what to do. It's why every pod ends with a real task and opens by checking what actually got used.

Peers who get it

Kids test a hard conversation with peers working on the same thing, before they need it for real.Kids test a boundary or a hard conversation with others working on the same thing — in a room built for it, before they need it in real life.

Proof it transferred

The Transfer Log tracks skills used outside session — real evidence of change.The Transfer Log tracks skills used outside the session — the actual evidence of change, not a vague sense that things are better.

Figures from Durlak et al. (2011) and Taylor et al. (2017), meta-analyses of school-based social-emotional learning published in Child Development. They describe the broader evidence base for skills-based programs like ours — not measurements of Anchor Pods' own outcomes.

What makes a pod different

Four things baked into every pod

Hover or tap to see it in session

Specialist-led pods

Two specialist pods, equal in depth

Both specialist pods run the full engine, led by a coach with deep training for that pod.Balanced Family and Balanced Harbor both run the full engine — the Rule Test, the Feelings–Value–Boundary script, every technique — each led by a coach with deep training for the pod they run.

These are two of our four pods — the specialist-led ones. Most kids start in a Balanced Foundations pod, and Rebalance is the graduation stage.

See all four pods & pricing ↓

A warm, candid photo of a family together

Balanced Family

Family-systems specialist

Two required weekly sessions — your teen's 40-min pod and a 30-min parent session, same coach. Both are part of one membership.Balanced Family includes two required weekly virtual sessions — your teen's 40-minute pod and a 30-minute parent session, run by the same coach, so what your teen is learning gets reinforced by the language you're using at home too. Both are part of the same membership.

A warm, candid photo of a teen in a calm setting

Balanced Harbor

Autism-affirming specialist

Specialized training supporting autistic kids — the full engine, adapted to how they process rules and change.Advanced training and specialized experience supporting autistic kids, adapting the full engine for how they process rules, transitions, and change.

Photo of founders Kelly Reyes Rivera and her husband Alex

Our why

Why Anchor Pods exists

Anchor Pods comes from The Balanced Coach, founded by Kelly Reyes Rivera, MS, CLC and her husband Alex. Their belief: families need practiced tools, not more information.Anchor Pods comes out of The Balanced Coach — a bilingual, trauma-aware, faith-integrated practice founded by Kelly Reyes Rivera, MS, CLC, with her husband, Alex. They built it on one belief: kids and families don't need more information about their emotions — they need tools they've actually practiced.

Our mission: tools that hold up across life, not just one session. Our faith shapes how we show up — never required or assumed.Our mission is tools that hold up across every area of life, not just one session. We're Christians, and our faith shapes how we show up — though it's never required or assumed of anyone who joins a pod.

We serve the families in front of us with everything we've got — not just talking about change, but building tools kids actually use.We're called to serve the families in front of us with everything we've got — not just talking to kids about change, but building tools they can use until they're truly theirs.

— Kelly Reyes Rivera, Founder

The group arc

From done-for-them to done-by-them

Every pod moves through the same three stages — the difference in a group is who's doing the work at each one.

1Dependence

Done for them

Coach demos every tool live. Kids watch the Rule Test run on a sample belief before trying their own.

CoachKid & peers

Coach leads

2Collaboration

Done with them

Peer pairs run the Rule Test on each other. Coach shifts from teaching content to coaching the process.

CoachKid & peers

Shared, 50/50

3Autonomy

Done by them

A rotating peer anchor opens the session and leads Return. Coach steps back to a safety-only role.

CoachKid & peers

Kid & peers lead

Pods & pricing

Small groups, matched to need and coach expertise

Every pod caps at 6 kids. Placement is based on your fit call and quiz answers — not sign-up order. Rebalance Pods aren't a separate starting point; it's where any pod graduates once its kids reach the Autonomy stage.

No contracts. No lock-in. Cancel your membership whenever you'd like.

Starter · Foundations pod

Balanced Foundations

Coaches with graduate-level training in child development and emotional regulation

Best for: A first step into naming and managing big feelings

50 days left at $45/wk

$45/wk$55

≈ $195/mo · billed monthly

Save $10/wk

≈ $130 off your first 3 months · then $55/wk after your first 3 months

40-min weekly session
Ages 10–14, general emotional regulation
Weekly Transfer Log + parent recap

Where most kids start — the core toolkit, in a warm first pod.

Enroll on or before August 31 and pay $45/week for your first 3 months from your signup date, then $55/week after — billed monthly, cancel anytime. Enrollments after August 31 start at $55/week.

In every pod

Bilingual EN/ES
capped at 6 kids
weekly Transfer Log

Specialist-led · Family systems

Balanced Family

A coach with advanced training in family systems and relational dynamics

Best for: When the tension is spilling into the whole household

$150/wk

≈ $650/mo · billed monthly

Covers both required weekly sessions

Two required weekly sessions — 40-min teen pod + 30-min parent session, same coach
Family-systems approach to boundaries
Weekly household recap

The only pod with a synced parent track — so the same language gets used at home.

In every pod

Bilingual EN/ES
capped at 6 kids
weekly Transfer Log

Specialist-led · Autism-affirming

Balanced Harbor

A coach with advanced training and specialized experience supporting autistic kids

Best for: Autistic kids nothing else has quite fit

$75/wk

≈ $325/mo · billed monthly

40-min weekly session
Ages 10–17, the engine adapted to be ASD-affirming
Coordination with your child's existing supports on request

The full engine, re-paced and re-shaped for how your child actually processes.

In every pod

Bilingual EN/ES
capped at 6 kids
weekly Transfer Log

Graduation · Autonomy stage

Rebalance Pods

Peer-anchor led, coach present for safety

Best for: Kids ready to run the tools on their own

$40/wk

≈ $173/mo · billed monthly

30-min weekly session
Peer-anchor led, coach on safety-watch
A light check-in, not a fresh start

A graduation lap, not a restart — peers lead, the coach watches for safety.

In every pod

Bilingual EN/ES
capped at 6 kids
weekly Transfer Log

Simple, honest billing

Month-to-month. No contracts. Cancel anytime.

Prices are shown per week so pods are easy to compare — but you're billed once a month, with no minimum commitment.

Shown weekly, billed monthly

Weekly rate × 4.33 weeks = your monthly charge. You'll see the exact amount, and that it recurs, before entering payment details.Your weekly rate covers about 4.33 weeks a month — so a $45/week pod comes to about $195 a month, a $75/week pod about $325, and Balanced Family's $150/week (both required sessions) comes to about $650. You'll see the exact monthly amount, and that it recurs, before you ever enter payment details.

Balanced Foundations starting rate

Enroll on or before August 31 and start at $45/week for your first 3 months from your own signup date, then it steps up to $55/week automatically. Enrollments after August 31 start at $55/week from day one — we'll always show you this clearly before you ever enter payment details.

Cancel anytime

No contract. Cancelling stops future billing — you keep sessions you've already paid for.No contract and no lock-in. Cancelling stops all future billing, and you keep every session through the period you've already paid for.

Need a break? Pause instead

Going on vacation or need a break? Pause instead of cancelling — your spot stays yours.Heading on vacation or hitting a rough patch? Pause your membership and skip the next billing cycle instead of cancelling and re-enrolling — your spot and your pod stay yours.

Clear before you pay

We show the price and monthly charge up front — you confirm it, never a pre-checked box.We show the price and the recurring monthly charge up front, and you confirm it yourself — never a pre-checked box. Cancelling is always as easy as signing up.

Reviews

What people say about our coaches

Real reviews from people who've worked with our coaches.

Working with Kelly has been nothing short of life-changing. Her guidance helped me reconnect with my purpose and build the emotional strength I didn't even know I had. She creates a safe, empowering space where real growth happens. Thanks to Kelly, I feel more aligned, grounded, and capable than ever before.

Anonymous · a year ago

Isabella has incredible skills to listen and truly understand what I am going through. She creates a safe space where her empathy and compassion make me feel supported. Her motivational style helps set goals and accomplish them, which has been very transformative.

Olivia E. · 9 months ago

Camila is compassionate, supportive, and easy to talk to. She creates a comfortable space where you truly feel heard and understood while listening and offering encouragement. Her genuine care and positive energy make a meaningful difference — I highly recommend working with her.

Matthew F. · a month ago

It's so good to have highly trained professionals for my daughter's mental health care; I'm truly grateful to you.

Marcelo R. · a year ago

Every review here is from a real client of our coaches. As Anchor Pods families share their own stories, we'll add them here too.

Not sure which pod fits?

Every family starts with a free 15-minute fit call — not a sales pitch, a real placement conversation.

Step one

Find the right pod in 2 minutes

Four quick questions. This also becomes your intake, so we walk into the fit call already knowing where your child likely belongs.

Question 1 of 4

How old is your child?