The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

What to Know When Providing Therapy for Elite Athletes

Listen Later

What to Know When Providing Therapy for Elite Athletes

Curt and Katie chat about the specific competence required to work with elite athletes. We explore how elite athletes present (including diagnosis) as well as what treatment looks like for elite athletes. We also talk about the training cycles and periodization, developmental stages, and identity formation for competitive athletes. We also look at what healthy training environments include and how athletes can take care of their own well-being. 

In this podcast episode we look at what therapists need to know about working with elite athletes

For our second continuing education worthy podcast, we wanted to support therapists in understanding what they need to know (or know that they don’t know) about working with elite athletes.

The differences between being a fan and being competent to work with elite athletes

  • The types of competence needed to support athletes who are at an elite level
  • Sports psychology and other areas of specialty to support athletes
  • The stringent criteria to be called a sports psychologist

    • What diagnoses do athletes present with when they enter therapy?

    • Not necessarily anxiety, but it can be anxiety related or unrelated to sport
    • Diagnoses can be related to the sport due to body, substance, or changes in circumstances
    • Diagnoses can also be related to other elements of their life and transitions

      • What does treatment look like for elite athletes?

      • High school and college athletes are most likely the clients we’ll see
      • The integral nature of their team and who is best to be included in the treatment team
      • Logistics and scheduling due to games and practices, obtaining required consents
      • Training schedules, food information is relevant to therapeutic work
      • The different goals for elite athletes than for other folks who enjoy sports
      • Looking at in the moment frustrations versus a desire to leave the sport
      • Sports assessments to identify athletic coping skills
      • Helping athletes to make decisions for themselves and identify when it’s burnout and when it’s a mismatch

        • Understanding training cycles and the impact on athlete clients

        • Specific language that athletes may use
        • Periodization, micro, meso, and macro cycles in training
        • The importance of planned growth and rest as well as peaking at the right time
        • The focus of timing for everything
        • How injuries or changes in schedule (like with covid) can impact this timing and what that means for athletes

          • Developmental factors for young athletes

          • The focus of training for younger children as well as the investment phase for youth
          • Developing one’s identity as an athlete
          • What can positively impact and negatively impact the future commitment to sport
          • Other developmental factors related to being a teen interacting with these developmental elements

            • What a balanced life looks like for elite athletes

            • Who athletes spend time with, share their life with
            • The hobbies that complement the sport
            • Understanding how maintenance impacts the rest of the schedule

              • The factors that improve an athlete’s well-being

              • Myths related to the tangential benefits of being an elite athlete (i.e., I’ll get college paid for)
              • The importance of having a therapist who isn’t just a “fan”
              • The differences between team and individual sports
              • The competency needed related to understanding the sport to understand all of the dynamics
              • What good social systems around athletes have in common
              • The understanding of how each person in the athlete’s circle interacts with the goals
              • The culture created within the team and with the people around the athlete
              • Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka – a look at how they have been taking care of themselves

                • The transition out of being an elite athlete

                • Injury and unplanned retirement
                • Planning for an intentional retirement
                • Moving out of the athlete identity into something new
                  • ...more
                  View all episodesView all episodes
                  Download on the App Store
                  The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie VernoyBy Curt Widhalm, LMFT and Katie Vernoy, LMFT
                  • 4.4
                  • 4.4
                  • 4.4
                  • 4.4
                  • 4.4

                  4.4

                  235 ratings

                  More shows like The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

                  View all
                  The Trauma Therapist by Guy Crawford Macpherson

                  The Trauma Therapist

                  528 Listeners

                  Therapy Chat by Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

                  Therapy Chat

                  685 Listeners

                  Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

                  Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

                  2,481 Listeners

                  Counselor Toolbox Podcast with DocSnipes by Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes

                  Counselor Toolbox Podcast with DocSnipes

                  617 Listeners

                  Therapist Uncensored Podcast by Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP & Ann Kelley PhD

                  Therapist Uncensored Podcast

                  1,388 Listeners

                  Psychologists Off the Clock by Debbie Sorensen, Jill Stoddard, Yael Schonbrun, Michael Herold & Emily Edlynn

                  Psychologists Off the Clock

                  322 Listeners

                  The Couples Therapist Couch by Shane Birkel

                  The Couples Therapist Couch

                  267 Listeners

                  Attachment Theory in Action by The Knowledge Center

                  Attachment Theory in Action

                  152 Listeners

                  Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast by David Puder, M.D.

                  Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast

                  1,324 Listeners

                  Light Up The Couch by Clearly Clinical

                  Light Up The Couch

                  321 Listeners

                  The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast by Tammy Sollenberger

                  The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast

                  269 Listeners

                  Notice That by Jen Savage, Melissa Benintendi, and Bridger Falkenstien

                  Notice That

                  310 Listeners

                  The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy by theleadingedgeineft

                  The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy

                  214 Listeners

                  Dear Therapists with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch by iHeartPodcasts

                  Dear Therapists with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch

                  2,337 Listeners

                  Trauma Rewired by Jennifer Wallace & Elisabeth Kristof

                  Trauma Rewired

                  305 Listeners