207. Supporting Female Athletes' Mental Health and Performance with Therapist and Former NCAA Athlete Olivia Papakyrikos

Female Athlete Nutrition

This episode of the Female Athlete Nutrition podcast is with mental health therapist and former NCAA field hockey player Olivia Papakyrikos. Olivia specializes in athletes’ mental health, sport psychology and eating disorders. We start off by discussing our own experiences with mindset challenges as former athletes, including navigating injuries and identity shifts as we moved away from competitive sports. Olivia shares how she helps athletes overcome challenges such as eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and injury recovery to perform better in sports and life. We highlight some of the social pressures high school and college athletes face that make them particularly susceptible. Team culture, coaches and available resources all also impact athletes’ mental health, and seeking professional support from therapists like Olivia can make a big difference on performance and wellbeing.

Olivia is also heavily involved in the Female Athlete Conference, helping to elevate female athlete health and research. We speak to the huge lack of research into female athletes and knowledge gaps, such as the impact of the menstrual cycle on performance and mental health. We finish off with the usual end of the podcast questions, and recommend you check out the Female Athlete Conference here!

TOPIC TIMESTAMPS:

4:20 How sports psychology helped Olivia as an injured athlete

7:50 The importance of embracing different identities and being more than an athlete

15:00 Recovery processes and timelines for treating eating disorders, injuries, performance anxiety and more

19:45 The impact of social pressures faced by high school and college athletes

25:00 Supporting athletes’ mental health: coaches, resources and outsourcing professional support

29:45 Female Athlete Conference and the lack of research in female athletes

33:10 Understanding the impact of the menstrual cycle on performance and mental health

38:15 End of the podcast questions

Find Olivia at oliviapapakyrikos.com

Follow Olivia on Instagram @oliviapapakyrikos and me, your host Lindsey Cortes, @female.athlete.nutrition

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