#136 - In this episode of The Mental Matchup, we sit down with Riley Walker, an At-Large Ambassador and mental health advocate. Struggling with anxiety and witnessing her sister's battle with depression, Riley made it a point to advocate for mental health and through seven years of dedication, including therapy and mindset shifts, she emerged stronger than ever. Now, she advocates for mental health, inspiring others through her speaking engagements and community initiatives. Thank you to Riley who shares her transformative journey from anxiety to becoming a powerful advocate for mental well-being!

#135 - During this episode, Bella Raymond, a rising sophomore on Nazareth University's field hockey team, shares her inspiring journey of resilience. Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 10 and hypothyroidism on her second day of college, Bella walks us through how she was able to continue her goal of playing a collegiate sport. She also discusses the impact of hypothyroidism on her physical and mental well-being, shedding light on its often-overlooked symptoms. Through her story, she advocates for athletes with autoimmune diseases and emphasizes the importance of self-care and support systems.

This week, Kat is joined by Brooke Lynch. Brooke plays college lacrosse at Scranton University and started playing at a young age. During the episode, she touches on her relationship with lacrosse and how it has changed over the years as well as her experience navigating COVID during her senior year of high school. Brooke is a great resource for talking about mental health, how sport can play an important role in your life, and sharing advice that has helped her get through difficult times!

In today's episode MJ Renaud sits down with Kat to discuss her experience with mental health as a student-athlete. MJ plays lacrosse for Canisius University, and is majoring in both Criminal Justice and Philosophy, and minoring in Forensic Psychology. MJ lives with OCD interlaced with social and generalized anxiety, along with bipolar depressive disorder and ADHD. She speaks about her tools she uses to help manage her mental health, utilizing her sport as an outlet and how important her support systems have been in her life.

CW: Suicide, Sexual Assault and Self-Harm

Kat is joined by Erica Curry, LMFT. A former student-athlete who suffered a career ending injury at a young age and shifted her focus to diving. This led to a collegiate career in diving at Wagner College. Her athletic experience is what drove her into her work with mental health. This coupled with watching a family member struggle with multiple suicide attempts strengthened her passion to support athletes and others struggling to build a life they want to live. In the episode, we chat about her journey and DBT, dialectical behavior therapy. When discussing DBT we focus on three different topics: distress tolerance and emotional regulation, mindfulness and interpersonal effectiveness.

This week, Bunny Nazari joins Kat on The Mental Matchup. Bunny is from Aldie, VA and currently in school at the College of Charleston. She played soccer in college for two years before deciding to take a step away for the remainder of college. Bunny opens up about this decision to stop playing collegiate athletics, her story of recovering from an injury and her goal of helping break the stigma that athletes must be “tough” in all aspects of life at all times. Bunny hopes to get her Masters in Sport Psychology after graduating this May and we can’t wait to see what she does in the future!

This week, Vanessa Scaringi joins The Mental Matchup. Vanessa is a licensed psychologist and mental health professional who currently co-owns a group therapy practice in Austin, TX called CALM Counseling. She was also a collegiate athlete in swimming and water polo. During the episode, Vanessa talks about how there is space for growth for talking about nutrition and eating disorders specially in student-athletes. She also touches on seeing higher levels of anxiety in the current student-athlete population, finding identity outside of your sport and the positive impacts of journaling.

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Josh Carlson joins the podcast. Josh is a former student-athlete and college coach at McKendree University for the water polo team. As an athlete, he opens up about experiencing anxiety and the pressures that he put on himself to do well. Josh touches on the importance of having transparency between coaches and athletes when it comes to mental health and the battles we are all fighting.

This week, Kat sits down with Sophia Dzwonkowski. Sophia is a junior at Middletown High School North in New Jersey and opens up about her story battling performance anxiety in sport as she became older. She also touches on experiencing burnout, perfectionism, and how her mental health shifted after quitting basketball.

On this episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat is joined by Emily Cumberland. Emily is a junior at Rollins College and a member of the Women’s Lacrosse team. Throughout the episode, Emily talks about her experience with a major knee injury and how impactful it can be to have a positive mindset. She also touches on the recruiting process and we know this episode will be helpful for anyone going through a difficult time as an athlete!

Mary Beth Hurley joins The Mental Matchup this week! Mary Beth went to undergrad at Ohio State and played tennis all four years. As someone who has struggled with mental health in the past, she wanted to come on the podcast to share her story with other student-athletes. Mary Beth touches on topics such as the ongoing pressure to perform in all aspects of life and overcoming injury. She also discusses the importance of breathwork and journaling to help manage her anxiety. Mary Beth is currently in her second year at Johns Hopkins for graduate school doing a Master of Science in Nursing.

On today's episode, we welcome Collette Herring to The Mental Matchup! Collette is a senior at Kennett High School in Kennett Square, PA. She shares her unique story of dealing with complications with her brain health and how social isolation can contribute to depression and anxiety. Collette grew up playing field hockey and lacrosse and is also helping to coach younger girls while also spreading the message that being an athlete does not make up your entire identity. Additionally, she is an active Morgan's Message Ambassador who relies on the MM community for strength, camaraderie and expresses how it has been a key piece of her healing journey!

Episode #124: On today’s episode, we are joined by Glenn Østen Anderson. Glenn has been a professional media producer for over 20 years and is now an Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Catholic University. He grew up as an athlete and competed at some of the highest levels for race walking. He saw firsthand how the experience of mental health can alter an athlete’s performance and how identity can be tied to your sport. Glenn is working on a documentary that focuses on mental health in student-athletes. We are so excited to have him on the podcast and we can’t wait to watch his film in the future!

#123: In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Jerry Dorneker. Jerry lost his daughter to suicide in 2020 and speaks candidly about the grief you experience as a parent after losing a child. He also opens up about finding strength through faith and how he has ultimately found purpose in pain. In addition to him sharing his own side of the story as a parent, he shares what he would tell someone having suicidal thoughts in order to express that they are not alone.

#122: In our second episode of Season 7, Emily Monahan-Morang, M.Ed., LPCC joins The Mental Matchup. Emily shares her journey working with athletes and performers and helps talk through the difference between mental health services and sport and performance. She also helps talk through how student-athletes can help others who are struggling and how to find a therapist that is best for you.

Welcome back to Season 7 of The Mental Matchup! To kick off the new season, we are joined by Alexa Beyer. Alexa plays Division I lacrosse at Youngstown State and got inspired to start playing after watching her brothers pick up the sport. During the episode, Alexa and Kat talk about her experiences handling an injury and the mental health struggles that come with recovery. She also touches on how academic challenges can also impact your overall mental wellbeing and the importance of approaching each situation with a positive mindset.

This week, we are joined by Rares Judele during our final episode of Season 6. Rares is a Morgan’s Message Ambassador and mental health advocate. He was born in Romania and attends Wooster High School in Wooster, OH. Rares is a multi-sport athlete who shares mental health's role in his own life. He speaks about switching sports, dealing with his emotions, and learning how to vocalize what he is going through. Rares touches on an important topic, adversity, and the impact that it has had on his overall development as a student-athlete and individual. He has also shared his journey on our Mental Matchup Stories site, which you can check out after listening to the podcast episode!

#119: In this week’s episode, Abbey Sallila joins Kat on The Mental Matchup. Abbey is a junior at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, majoring in psychology and is also a member of the women’s lacrosse team. During her sophomore year of college, Abbey faced multiple injury setbacks and talks us through how she dealt with each experience and overcame them. She highlights the importance of a strong support system and you can also go check out her story featured on The Mental Matchup Stories site titled “Progress Isn’t Linear”!

A special episode this week, Emily Weible joins The Mental Matchup to chat about brain health and mental health. Emily graduated from Washington State University in 2019 and is currently in grad school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, teaching an undergraduate course and a lab each semester. Emily recently started a coaching business called Brain+Body Foundations where she offers strength and conditioning and mentorship platforms.

This week, Emily Weible joins The Mental Matchup. Emily graduated from Washington State University in 2019 and is currently in grad school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, teaching an undergraduate course and a lab each semester. Emily rowed in college at WSU and opens up about the importance of finding a community outside of sport, educating others about suicidality and self advocating for yourself. Emily recently started a coaching business called Brain+Body Foundations where she offers strength and conditioning and mentorship platforms.