Our Services
Mental Health Therapy
Mental health issues, especially anxiety, never follow a predictable pattern. They surprise you in ways you don't want and negatively affect every aspect of your life.
Anxiety follows you into conversations, meetings, social events, and even quiet moments you were hoping to enjoy. With time, it keeps getting worse. Don't mistake these for signs of weakness. These are signs that something in your life deserves real attention, and that's exactly where Calm Tree comes in.
At Calm Tree Therapy in Johnston, Iowa, our mental health services are built around real people navigating real pressure, not textbook cases. Our services include anxiety treatment, depression counseling, stress management therapy, anger management therapy, grief counseling, and burnout therapy. We address root causes directly, not just surface symptoms.
My approach is holistic, collaborative, and judgment-free. Whether you arrive knowing exactly what you're dealing with or carrying something you haven't found words for yet, both are equally welcome here.I’m here to help you with evidence-based care, focusing on sustainable progress and a meaningful improvement in your overall quality of life. In-person sessions are available at our Johnston office, along with telehealth consultations.
Marriage or Relationship Counselor
Marriage and relationship issues rarely develop suddenly. For some couples, the breaking point happens early. For many others, distance accumulates over years before they realize it's time to seek help.
The same arguments cycling on repeat, feelings left unspoken, and a quiet sense of living parallel lives under one roof, these are signs that the communication has broken down. Wherever you are in your relationship, counseling at Calm Tree Therapy offers a safe, judgment-free space to genuinely work through it.
Our services include couples therapy, premarital counseling, communication skills therapy, and relationship counseling. Marriage counseling isn't just for repairing an estranged relationship. It helps strengthen what is already good.
Most relationship struggles aren't rooted in a lack of love. They stem from negative communication patterns that have shut down each partner over time. Our sessions draw on Gottman Method principles, examining relationship patterns, attachment dynamics, and the underlying friction to build practical communication skills that hold in real life.
In-person and telehealth options are available across Johnston and the greater Des Moines area.
EMDR Psychotherapist
Some negative experiences don't remain buried in the past. A period of service, a difficult childhood, an accident, or a relationship that left lasting damage- these experiences surface in ways that disrupt daily life long after the events themselves have ended.
PTSD and CPTSD don't always look the way people expect. They can show up as hypervigilance, short fuse, emotional numbness, avoidance, or a persistent sense of unease even when life seems stable on the outside.
EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is one of the most thoroughly researched, evidence-based approaches to trauma therapy available. At Calm Tree Therapy, our EMDR therapists work with war veterans, first responders, medical professionals, domestic and sexual abuse survivors, and adults carrying histories of childhood trauma or chronic traumatic stress.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR doesn't require you to narrate the full trauma in detail. The process works directly with how the brain stores distressing memories, allowing them to be reprocessed and lose their intensity without reopening every wound. For many clients, this makes the work genuinely accessible for the first time.
EMDR therapy and PTSD treatment are available in-person in Johnston and via telehealth throughout Iowa. .
Psychotherapy: CBT & Mindfulness
Understanding why you think the way you think, and having real tools to work with it, is a fundamentally different kind of progress than simply feeling better for a few days after a session. The shift we're after at Calm Tree Therapy is durable. The kind that stays with you for life, not just till the next rough patch arrives.
We specialize in evidence-based psychotherapy with strong, documented clinical track records. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, is particularly effective for anxiety, depression, and persistent thought patterns that erode confidence and functioning over time. CBT maps the relationship between thoughts, behaviors, and outcomes, then builds personalized strategies to interrupt cycles that no longer serve you.
CBT for anxiety and CBT for depression are among our most requested services, and the outcomes, when worked consistently, are measurable and lasting.
Alongside CBT, we offer Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, MBCT, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, MBSR. Both are grounded in mindfulness as a clinical tool, providing a structured framework for developing awareness and changing how clients relate to difficult internal experiences rather than being overwhelmed by them.
Sessions are direct, collaborative, and practical. Available in-person and via telehealth across the Johnston and Des Moines metro area
Individual Counseling
You don't need to wait for a crisis before seeking support. Sometimes what brings someone to therapy is a significant life transition, a career change, a loss, the end of a relationship, or stepping into a chapter of life you feel unprepared for.
And sometimes it's quieter. A gradual erosion of self-esteem with no single traceable cause. A disconnection from your own direction. The feeling that you've been managing things so long, you've forgotten what it actually feels like to be okay.
Individual therapy at Calm Tree Therapy is built for all of it. Our services include one-on-one individual counseling, life transitions counseling, and self-esteem counseling, delivered in a consistently judgment-free, confidential space focused on empowerment rather than dependency.
Whether this is your first session or your return after a long gap, you will be met exactly where you are. In-person visits are available in Johnston, IA, with telehealth options throughout Iowa.
Couples Therapy
Couples Therapy at Calm Tree Therapy helps individuals who feel disconnected, caught in a cycle of arguments, or overwhelmed by the growing distance between themselves and their significant other.
The problems in relationships don’t tend to crop up suddenly but develop over time due to an accumulation of misunderstandings, tension, and emotional disconnects that impact daily functioning. Couples counseling offered at Calm Tree Therapy in Johnston, Iowa, provides a confidential, non-judgmental environment where couples can slow down, get to the root of what’s really going on, and start developing healthier interactions with one another.
I use evidence-based techniques, such as the Gottman Method, to foster better communication and a deeper connection between partners.
Whether you’re looking to work through issues that are impacting your relationship or to get ready for marriage, therapy can make a difference.
Colin Priest
Cell: 515-257-6415
Email: calmtreetherapy@gmail.com
Business Hours:
Monday 9am-5pm
Tuesday: 9am-5pm
Wednesday: 9am-5pm
Thursday: 9am-5pm
Fridays: *Phone consultations only