Athlete Mental Health:

Strengthening Your Mindset and Building Lasting Resilience

Your sport is more than just a game—it’s a part of who you are.
But the pressure to perform, recover from injuries, and balance academics, work, or personal life can take a heavy toll on your mental well-being. Whether you're aiming for a new personal best or navigating life after sports, taking care of your mental health is essential to long-term success—on and off the field.

We provide specialized support for athletes facing the unique challenges of competitive life, offering tools to strengthen mindset, build resilience, and maintain emotional balance.

In this post, we’ll cover common mental health challenges athletes face, symptoms to watch for, screening tools, and how therapy can help you perform—and live—at your best.

The Mental Health Challenges Athletes Face

Athletes are often expected to embody strength, perseverance, and toughness. But behind the scenes, many struggle with:

  • Performance Anxiety: Intense fear of underperforming can cause physical symptoms like nausea, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty concentrating.

  • Confidence Issues: A single mistake or setback can deeply affect self-esteem, leading to cycles of self-doubt.

  • Motivation Struggles: Overtraining, burnout, or personal issues can sap the drive once fueled by passion.

  • Injury Recovery: Physical injuries often lead to emotional hurdles, including grief, frustration, and fear of re-injury.

  • Life Transitions: Moving away from competitive sports—whether due to graduation, retirement, or injury—can trigger identity loss, depression, or anxiety.

Recognizing these challenges early is key to preventing deeper struggles and ensuring a healthy athletic career—and life beyond sports.

Symptoms to Watch For in Athlete Mental Health

Common symptoms of mental health struggles in athletes include:

  • Changes in sleep patterns (insomnia or oversleeping)

  • Persistent fatigue, even with rest

  • Loss of interest or enjoyment in sport or training

  • Feelings of worthlessness, guilt, or failure

  • Irritability or sudden mood swings

  • Withdrawal from teammates, coaches, or loved ones

  • Difficulty concentrating during practice or games

  • Increased anxiety before competitions

  • Changes in appetite or weight

  • Physical symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, or muscle tension not explained by injury

Screening Tools for Athlete Mental Health

While self-awareness is important, formal screenings can help identify mental health concerns early:

  • GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale): Screens for symptoms of anxiety.

  • PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item scale): Measures depression symptoms.

  • Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire (APSQ): A tool designed specifically for athletes to assess psychological distress.

  • Sports Anxiety Scale (SAS-2): Focuses on performance-related anxiety in competitive environments.

These tools, often combined with a clinical assessment, can help create a clear picture of your mental wellness.

How Therapy Can Help Athletes

Therapy isn’t just for when something goes wrong—it's a tool for maximizing performance, enhancing emotional resilience, and preparing for life transitions.

1. Performance Enhancement

Learn strategies like mental rehearsal, visualization, and cognitive reframing to boost focus, confidence, and consistency during competition.

2. Injury and Recovery Support

Therapists help you manage the emotional rollercoaster of injuries, ensuring you heal mentally as well as physically.

3. Building Resilience

Gain tools to cope with pressure, setbacks, and criticism—essential skills for maintaining a long and healthy athletic career.

4. Navigating Transitions

Whether you're preparing for life after sport or managing shifts within your career, therapy helps you redefine identity and build new sources of meaning.

You Deserve Strong Mental Health Too

Mental strength isn’t just about pushing through the pain—it’s about knowing when to ask for support.
If you’re an athlete struggling with stress, anxiety, motivation, or major life transitions, therapy can help you reconnect with your passion, improve your mindset, and perform at your highest potential—both in and out of competition.

Ready to strengthen your mind as much as your body? Contact us today to get started.

 What to Expect

  • If you’ve received the client portal invitation, log in and check any messages, fill out paperwork, etc.

    Be thinking of what you would like to talk about, or any questions you have. Feel free to write those down and bring them in.

    Verify your insurance. Click here for more information regarding insurance.

  • Our office is tucked beside/behind Ge’Angelo’s in the. Northern Lights Shopping Center.

    We do not have a receptionist, so feel free to have a seat and we will be with you as soon as possible.

    If there is still paperwork to be done, you may be asked to fill out paperwork before your appointment.

    Each therapist has a private office, so you will be with the same therapist in the same office every session. To increase privacy we leave a noise machine on as well as the bathroom light/fan. These are to muffle noises.

    The lighting in the office LED. If you prefer lamps to overhead lighting, let us know and we will be happy to use lamps instead.

    After your appointment we will work together to decide if you would like to schedule another session. We will also determine if that will be scheduled at that time, or if it will be scheduled later. There is no right or wrong way to do it.

  • Be kind to yourself, you’ve done a lot of hard work.

    You are welcome to contact your counselor with any questions/concerns between session. Email or the client portal are the preferred and most direct ways to get in contact. We are generally in with clients and are unable to answer phone calls much of the time. Please be aware we may not be able to return your message for up to 48 hours.

    You can use the client portal to check your appointments or make/change any appointments.

    Contact the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or visit your local emergency department if you are having thoughts of self harm or suicide. Vivant is not a crisis center.

 Frequently Asked Questions

  • Age ranges are based on individual clinicians.

    Child specific information:

    Sometimes kids are unable to manage more than 30 minutes. Children’s sessions may seem short, but they are still working.

    All child sessions are unique. Sometimes kids have parents/caregivers in the session, other times they do better without parents in the room. Parents/caregivers are almost always involved in the first session, and we will talk about these options.

    If you are bringing an elementary aged child, we ask that you stay in the building during the session if you are not in the session. If there is a concern we will try to accommodate something. We want your child to be safe.

    If you are bringing an older child that gets dropped off, please be aware of the end time (generally 45 minutes for middle school/high school aged kids) so they can be picked up quickly. Again, we want everyone to be safe and we will likely be in session and unable to monitor safety.

  • We treat a variety of diagnoses including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD. Our clinicians have extra training in trauma, and am Basic Trained in EMDR.

    We are not licensed to prescribe medications.

  • Yes. Vivant is LGBTQ+ Affirming

  • While we are not faith based, we welcome all faiths.

  • For ongoing clients, scheduling your next appointment can be done at the end of an appointment, through the client portal, or by calling 515-523-5543. Counselors are not always able to accommodate same day appointments.

    Potential clients can fill out a form on our scheduling page.

  • Read about our insurance/fees/payments here

  • We take your privacy seriously. This is suppose to be a safe space and confidentiality is vital to that. If you want someone to be able to communicate with us about your services. (including billing) you can sign a release of information. This is also something that can be revoked by you at any time. Best practice includes coordinating with your primary care provider, but again, this is your choice.

    HIPAA (Health Insurance Privacy Portability Act) protects your PHI (protected health information). Our emails use HIPAA compliant encryption. Our client portal and our backup telehalth platform are HIPAA compliant.

    Counselors are mandatory reporters. As such we are mandated by law to report any suspected child abuse.

    Child Specific: During our first session we will go over confidentiality with children. It is my practice to keep conversations private and only tell parents general updates (ex: ____was open and talkative today), unless there is a safety concern or something that I feel the parents/caregiver should know. If this is the case, I try to be transparent with that so the child is not caught off guard.

    42 CFR Part 2 affords special protection when talking about substance abuse. Therefore children 14 years of age and older need to sign a specific release of information for parents/caregivers to obtain information from the counselor about anything substance abuse related.

  • While our emails use a HIPAA compliant encryption, it is safest to use our secure portal to communicate with your counselor. You may call 515-523-5433, however this is not the preferred form of communication as we are often in session and unable to answer phone calls.

    We discourage coming in person without an appointment as we may be unable to help you. Our office space is shared with other counselors, but they are unable to see your information and will likely be unable to help.