It only took about three years for Atlas Youth Outreach, a nonprofit organization providing mental health support groups for Jefferson County teenagers, to outgrow its first home in Arnold.
And executive directors Annie Caputa and Jeff Elden could not be happier that they had to find a new location in the city.
“We were hopeful,” Elden, a licensed professional counselor, said of needing to move. “We didn’t anticipate how fast we would get legs. The past three years have really been a whirlwind.”
Atlas will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house from 4-6:30 p.m. April 10 at its new location, 1515 Astra Way. The event is free to attend.
“We are excited for the community to come and see it,” Elden said. “We want people to know we are here. We are very proud of the place and happy with the way it turned out. We want people to come and see what we are building for their kids.”
Caputa said Atlas’ teenage clients will cut the ribbon for the new office with each teen cutting a part of the ribbon.
Atlas also will hold a youth night after the open house for children 11 to 18 years old. There is limited space for the youth night, and those interested in attending the evening event may register through the organization’s Facebook page.
“We want more teens to know about us,” said Caputa, a licensed clinical social worker. “We have had an influx of people reaching out with a lot of parents saying I just heard about you guys. People are coming.”
Quick growth
Atlas was incorporated in 2019 and earned its nonprofit status in April 2020.
The organization, which also works at schools through Jefferson County, opened its first office in Arnold in January 2023 off Jeffco Boulevard.
Elden said that location was 550 square feet, and it only had two rooms divided by a thin wall. Atlas used the larger front room for its group meetings, and the smaller back room was office space.
Caputa said Atlas served 110 teenagers in 2022, and the organization served 308 in 2025.
“We have served more than 800 teenagers in the time we have been operating and have held 175 therapy group sessions,” she said. “We knew in order to continue to grow and add services we needed more space.”
The new location is 2,276 square feet and has seven different areas.
There is a large front room, which has a TV, piano, foosball table and places for people to sit, and there is a lounge area that has a couch, refrigerator and a wall covered in artwork created by Atlas’ clients.
There also are five office spaces. Caputa said they plan to use one of the offices to start providing individual sessions for teenagers. Elden said Atlas hopes to hire an additional mental health professional by the end of this year in order to start offering individual sessions.
“We have the capacity to grow,” Caputa said. “That is what we didn’t have before. We are working on adding more services.”
Moving in
Elden said Atlas started leasing its new space in January, and it started operating at the new space on March 1.
Caputa and Elden said they had a lot of assistance in getting the new space ready for use, highlighted by many of Atlas’ teenage clients pitching in.
They said about 10 teenagers helped clean, paint, organize and decorate the new location.
“That was really cool,” Elden said. “For us, that is a sign that the teenagers who participate in our programs feel a sense of ownership over Atlas. That is what we want them to have. They care about this place. They want to be here, and they want it to be a place for them.”
Caputa said her husband, Tony Caputa Jr., and her father-in-law, Tony Caputa Sr., painted, installed flooring and baseboards, and Atlas Board of Directors treasurer Kara Wall painted accents throughout the space.
She also said Chris Stark of Painting Solutions, 122 Kroeck Court, of Arnold donated all of the paint, and Carrol House Furniture donated some of the furniture.
Caputa said a lot of parents of Atlas clients and other community members pitched in to help.
“They donated office supplies, furniture, artwork and other materials,” she said. “I thought it was really cool that the parents of some of our teens were some of the first to donate.”
Services
Atlas operates mental health support groups at its office and at schools.
The nonprofit offers its services in the Fox C-6, Windsor C-2, Northwest, De Soto, Hillsboro, Grandview R-7 and Dunklin R-5 school districts as well as for New Day, a Division of Youth Services’ program for teenagers to complete high school, and St. Pius X High School.
Elden said the programs offered at Atlas and in schools are flexible with curriculums based on needs.
“Our programs are designed to be responsive,” he said. “We work with schools, and they can say we are seeing a need for X, Y, Z. We will then make a group for X, Y, Z.”
Along with the group sessions, Atlas organizes teen nights at its office and other locations in the community, such as Sky Zone in Fenton.
The popularity of the free teen nights was one of the reasons Atlas needed more space, Elden said.
“Part of teenage mental health is socialization and practicing the things we talk about,” he said. “At the last space, we could fit maybe 20 kids, and we would have 30 to 35 kids show up. Here we will be able to host more.”
Caputa said the new location will allow the teenage clients to remain in the building after sessions are concluded.
“They used to just walk out and go,” she said. “Now, they get snacks, play foosball, play on the piano or just hang out chatting.
“The extra space has allowed for more connections because there is more space and stuff to do. We love seeing that.”
Upcoming events
Atlas does not charge teens for the services the organization provides and is instead funded through a series of grants, donations and fundraising events.
The organization will hold a trivia night on May 9 at the Knights of Columbus, 1623 Jeffco Blvd, in Arnold.
Doors are scheduled to open at 6 p.m., and the trivia contest will start at 7 p.m.
A table of eight costs $200 and a VIP table for eight costs $250.
Atlas also will hold a four-person scramble golf tournament on Oct. 3 at the Sugar Creek Golf Course, 5224 Country Club Drive, in High Ridge. The entry fee is $500 per team.
To participate in the events, go to atlasyouthoutreach.org or the Atlas Facebook page.
“Our hope is as the community becomes invested in what we are building and they invest in us, we can then invest in the community,” Elden said.
“This can be a very cooperative relationship that we can have with the Jefferson County community. We are here to invest in the teens of Jefferson County, and we hope the families of Jefferson County, in turn, will want to invest in us.”