It can be stressful juggling academic demands, relationships and your own mental health needs on top of practices, conditioning, team dinners and games. As an athlete you have many demands on your time. Competing in your sport is a lot of fun but it also takes a lot of work. Sometimes it is easy to let your mental health needs fall to the side because there isn't enough time. Sometimes you ignore your needs because it is seen as weakness and as an athlete you want to be strong. And sometimes you might not even be able to identify that something is wrong but you can tell you are off. The truth is, everyone has mental health needs, whether you're an athlete or not. Anxiety effects athletes too. So does depression. Broken relationships, family conflict, it is all apart of life and does not stop when you step onto the court (or whatever your arena of performance is). So whether you began to struggle after an injury, or you feel anxious and depressed and it has nothing to do with your role as an athlete but is effecting it none the less, consider reaching out. You are not alone. Recent studies report that 35% of elite athletes struggle with anxiety/depression and 19% struggle with misusing alcohol.*
Asking for help can be vulnerable, but being vulnerable takes courage and that is act of strength, not weakness!
I believe that you already have the fundamentals needed to improve your mental health. As an athlete you have learned to push through the pain you feel in your physical body to achieve your goal. You know how to persevere when you don’t want to run that last sprint. You know how to work hard and get back up when you fall down. I help you take those skills and apply them to your mental health.
Just like you have a coach who instructs, guides and encourages you to help you become a better athlete, I take the same approach but for your mental health.I take a unique approach as a counselor and neurofeedback provider. Not only are we working through anxiety, depression or relationship concerns, you are also training your brain to be more calm and focused. Neurofeedback not only helps improve your mental health, it can help improve your athletic performance. Double the benefits!
