Professional
Counseling
Professional
Counseling
Athletes
Ath•lete: a person who is proficient in sports & other forms of physical exercise. (Oxford Languages)
Brynne works with various athletes across a variety of disciplines. These include the everyday athlete or "weekend warrior", high school, collegiate, amateur, competitive, retired, and/or injured professionals.
As an athlete, you can experience co-occurring challenges & stressors that uniquely impact your mental well-being & therefore, your athletic performance. These issues often create ripple effects throughout other areas of your life. Therapy can help you process & understand your problems, allowing you to cope, focus, & manage your problems more efficiently & effectively. Below, are some examples of common problems athletes face.
Identity
- You feel unsure of your identity outside of sport
- You don't know what you want out of life, where your interests lie, what
you are passionate about, & what else makes you you outside of sport
since much of your time & energy have been focused on one thing
- You feel sort of lost, aimless, & uncertain
- You may question how & why you ended up here
- You feel resentful towards those who may have pressured or
forced you into a life centralized around your sport
emotional detachment &
challenging interpersonal relationships
- You have a hard time accessing, understanding, & communicating your
feelings because your athlete training has conditioned you to avoid them
- You struggle to relate & connect to those around you on a deeper level
- You have a hard time establishing healthy & long-term friendships &
romantic relationships
- You feel insecure about opening up your feelings for fear of being
perceived as weak, losing a competitive edge, & risking your position
Self-esteem &
authentic confidence
- You struggle to feel confident in your abilities & yourself overall
- You have difficulties affirming & complimenting yourself - it feels
uncomfortable, inauthentic, or maybe narcissistic
- You often beat yourself up over minor mistakes for hours or even
days & weeks at a time
- You struggle to get past mistakes because they linger
in the back of your mind
- You have a tendency to hyperfocus on the negative
& discredit the positive
- You have a hard time believing the compliments people give you
- While, simultaneously, you may have become reliant on your
performance, teammates, coaches, & fans to feel happy or good
Depression & Anxiety
- You feel isolated & lonely, even when surrounded by others
- You don't truly feel happy but think you should & are unsure why
- You feel misunderstood by family, friends, or spouses
- You've developed a skewed body image, disorder eating habits,
or establish a poor relationship with food
- You're experiencing overwhelming emotionality due to the grief & loss
cause by unexpected a career/sport altering/ending injury, graduation,
or retirement
- You struggle to control your reactions to fear, pressure & stress
- It's challenging for you to balance work, life, school, & sports - you
consistently feel stress & pressure from all areas
- You feel like a disappointment
adapting to
"normal" life
- You struggle or are unable to structure & manage your time since being
accustomed to a strict training regime
- You feel uncomfortable being alone & doing things on your own
- You have a hard time trusting yourself, your "gut", & your instincts
- You often look for validation or confirmation from others on your thoughts, feelings, & decisions
- You're often indecisive - overanalyzing all possible options & outcomes
- You feel like you constantly need to prove yourself, your worth,
& your dedication
- You have a hard time doing what you really want to do because
you're afraid of letting people down
