Athletes and coaches are often rewarded for pushing through discomfort. You learn to practice when you are tired, recover after setbacks, manage pressure, and keep showing up when other people are counting on you.
That determination can be a tremendous strength. It can also make it difficult to recognize when something is no longer working.
You may still look focused and capable while privately feeling anxious, burned out, distracted, unmotivated, or disconnected from the sport you once loved. An injury may have shaken your confidence. A difficult team relationship may follow you home. You may be approaching graduation or retirement and wondering who you will be when your sport is no longer at the center of your life.
These are not signs that you lack discipline. They are signs that pushing harder may not be the only answer.
I’m Sophie Harano, MCAA, MSW, PLMHP. Before becoming a therapist, I competed as an All-American collegiate pole vaulter and later coached collegiate track and field. I understand the demands of performance environments from several perspectives: athlete, coach, teammate, leader, and therapist.
My role is not to tell you to care less about your goals. It is to help you pursue those goals without allowing pressure, fear, or performance to determine your entire sense of worth.
Athletes and coaches seek therapy for many of the same reasons as everyone else, but sports can shape how those concerns appear and how willing someone is to ask for help.
Therapy may be useful if you are experiencing:
You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Sometimes the reason to begin is simply that the strategies that helped you succeed in the past are no longer enough for the situation you are facing now.
An injury can interrupt your routine, separate you from teammates, change your role, and create uncertainty about your future. Even when physical recovery is progressing, you may struggle with frustration, grief, fear of reinjury, or pressure to return before you feel ready.
Therapy offers a place to address the emotional side of recovery. We can work on managing uncertainty, rebuilding confidence, responding to setbacks, and maintaining a sense of identity and purpose while your athletic role changes.
Mental recovery does not always follow the same timeline as physical rehabilitation. Both deserve attention.
For many athletes, sports have organized daily life for years. Practices, competitions, teammates, coaches, and performance goals provide structure and a sense of belonging.
When that chapter changes, the loss can be larger than expected. Graduation, retirement, injury, being cut from a team, or deciding to step away can leave you wondering what comes next.
Therapy can help you make room for the grief associated with that transition while building a broader identity. The goal is not to erase the importance of athletics. It is to help you carry the strengths and experiences you gained into a life that includes more than performance.
Coaches are expected to lead, motivate, make decisions, manage conflict, support athletes, communicate with families or administrators, and remain composed while being evaluated by everyone around them.
That pressure can contribute to burnout, irritability, strained relationships, and difficulty separating coaching from the rest of life. Coaches may also have few places where they can be honest without needing to remain in charge.
Therapy provides a confidential space to step out of the leadership role. We can work on communication, boundaries, team dynamics, managing pressure, preventing burnout, and responding more intentionally during difficult situations.
Taking care of your mental health does not weaken your leadership. It can help make that leadership more sustainable.
My approach is collaborative, supportive, and practical. I want to understand what you are experiencing, but we will also focus on what can be done about it.
Depending on your needs, our work might include:
You will not be expected to arrive with perfectly defined goals or complete a pile of therapy homework. When it is helpful, we may choose one or two manageable strategies to try between sessions and use what happens as information—not as another measure of whether you succeeded or failed.
Therapy does not require you to abandon ambition, lower your standards, or stop caring about your sport. It can help you recognize which habits are sustainable, respond more effectively to pressure, and build confidence that is not destroyed by one mistake, injury, loss, or difficult season.
If you are an athlete, former athlete, or coach who is accustomed to pushing through but knows something needs to change, I would be happy to work with you.
I am currently accepting new clients for in-person therapy in Lincoln and telehealth appointments throughout Nebraska. I offer a free 15-minute consultation so you can ask questions and determine whether working together feels like a good fit.
I am also available to speak with teams, coaching staffs, athletic programs, schools, and other organizations about athlete mental health, coach burnout, communication under pressure, ADHD in performance environments, injury recovery, and transitions out of competitive sports.
Location: 3201 S 33rd St, Suite C, Lincoln, NE 68506
Appointments Please Text: 402-225-0743
Fax: 531-500-8769