THere’s a way forward past the pain.
THERAPY FOR OUTDOOR ATHLETES
WHEN YOUR LIFE PASSION BECOMES SOMETHING YOU DREAD, IT CAN FEEL CONFUSING.
Many individuals (myself included) feel the most alive, connected, and engaged in the outdoors. But when an accident, traumatic event, injury, or sudden loss happens in that same space you love, everything can change.
You might notice flashbacks or intrusive memories of what happened, fear of getting back outside, constant guilt and shame, grief that feels unrelenting, or a sense that your identity as an adventurer has been shaken.
These are normal reactions to abnormal situations, and you don’t have to navigate them alone. As an outdoor athlete myself, I completely understand the pull to the mountains as well as the darker side of this lifestyle.
Feel FAMILIAR?
MAYBE you’re…
qUESTIONING your identity outside of atheltics.
fEELING ANXIOUS ABOUT GETTING BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS.
fEELING A QUIET SENSE OF DREAD that’s getting worse.
hAVING A DIFFICULT TIME BEING PRESENT AND FOCUSED.
Here’s what we’ll do together
THERAPY CAN HELP YOU REGAIN A SENSE OF identity, direction, and purpose as an athlete.
Because life isn’t mapped out on the Gaia app.
We’ll start by slowing things down—taking a breath, settling in, and giving you space to unpack what’s been weighing on you. Instead of trying to “fix” every uncomfortable thought or emotion, we’ll practice noticing them, understanding what they’re trying to signal, and loosening the grip they have on your daily life and on your time in the outdoors.
We’ll also explore your core values, which is the internal compass that guides how you show up both on the trail and in the rest of your life. Stress, grief, and survival-mode coping can lead you away from your values. Sometimes the very strategies that help you push through a climb or a race can get in the way when it comes to healing.
When you’re living in alignment with your values, there can be a deep sense of clarity, purpose, and steadiness. Together, we’ll take small, meaningful steps toward a life that reflects those values, so you can move forward with intention, resilience, and a renewed sense of direction.
I HELP OUTDOOR ATHLETES WITH:
EMOTIONAL SIDE OF INJURY
TRAUMA
gRIEF & LOSS
DEPRESSION
ANXIETY
career stress
IDENTITY changes
STRESS MANAGEMENT
health changes
AGING-RELATED CHANGES
HOW THERAPY CAN HELP OUTDOOR ATHLETES:
Create room to breathe & reflect.
Athletes tend to be high-intensity people who are juggling many other things in the context of a busy life. Therapy is a space just for you, where you can take a breath, exhale, and start to take care of your mental health the way you tend to your physical health.
01
Better understand your thoughts and emotions.
Anxiety, trauma, and/or the stress of injury recovery can bring on some powerful yet distressing and unwanted thoughts and emotions. We can start to have anxiety about our anxiety (“what’s wrong with me for feeling this way?”). We will explore the body’s fight-or-flight response and how it can go haywire in trauma recovery.
02
Learn skills and tools to manage distress.
I will help you learn new skills for coping so that you can better deal with things day-to-day. We will work on learning ways to approach versus avoid things in life that bring you distress.
03
Clarify your values as an athlete, as well as parts of life that have nothing to do with athletics.
Values are guiding principles that give us purpose and direction. After an injury, loss, or trauma, we can lose touch with what really matters. You may not be the same athlete today as you once were, and that’s okay. We’ll spend some time exploring what matters most, and how that translates into daily action.
04
Change is always possible.
I’LL HELP YOU GET THERE.
FAQs
COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT THERAPY FOR OUTDOOR ATHLETES
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An outdoor athlete is anyone who regularly engages in outdoor physical activity, including runners, climbers, cyclists, mountaineers, rowers, BASE jumpers, skiers, and swimmers, regardless of skill level or competitive status. In my work, “outdoor athlete” is intentionally broad and subjective. I welcome athletes of all kinds, however you define that for yourself.
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Absolutely. Many people begin therapy with a sense that something is off without a clear explanation. You don’t have to have the words or a perfectly defined goal. I’m here to help you sort it out. Part of my job as your therapist is to help you figure out your goals — you don’t need to come into the first visit with an action plan already put together. You can set that perfectionistic part of you aside for now!
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My main goal for the first session is to develop the beginnings of a trusting, safe therapeutic relationship with you. I will ask questions to learn more about what’s been troubling you, and listen without judgement. I’ll also ask questions to better understand your background and history. From there, we’ll start to explore ideas for goals and talk more about what therapy will look like.
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This will depend on your specific situation, but generally I recommend meeting weekly for the first 1-2 months for us to get to know each other and to gain momentum in treatment. From there, we can determine what frequency would work best.
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This depends on your specific situation. Generally speaking, my clients start to feel relief after the initial few appointments. We’ll check in frequently about how you feel like therapy is going and make changes to our approach as needed.
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Both. I work with people across the full spectrum of athletics, from recreational hikers and weekend warriors to competitive athletes. Many of my clients carry that same high-intensity, “push-through-it” mindset into the rest of their life, which may be helpful in many ways, and less helpful in others.
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