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

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  SIGN UP FOR EMAIL LIST: https://riseupnutrition.activehosted.com/f/6  Check out our NEW website with resources, blogs, and more: www.FemaleAthleteNutritionPodcast.com Join our amazing "FANS": Female Athlete Nutrition Supporters by considering a contribution of just $5 a month: https://www.patreon.com/femaleathletenutrition Health Practitioner or Dietitian? Check out ThatCleanLife for recipes & meal planning software: https://get.thatcleanlife.com/femaleathletenutrition Check out more brand partners and affiliates at: https://www.femaleathletenutritionpodcast.com/affiliatepartners We are so grateful to our FANS and listeners! I hope you enjoy the episode.