The Mental Matchup

This week on The Mental Matchup , we sit down with Laura Ollinger, a Teen & Young Adult Well-Being Coach and Founder of Positively Healthy Coaching. Laura works 1:1 with teens to help them navigate stress, anxiety, and self-doubt while building the tools they need to thrive. With an extensive background — including being a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Elite Neuroencoding...

Ally Irish is back for Part 2 on The Mental Matchup —and this time, we’re diving deeper into her work in athlete mental health research. Building off her experience co-founding The Head Game Project, Ally shares insights from a qualitative research study conducted with NCAA Division III athletes, focused on understanding well-being through the lens of the whole person . From identity and time dema...

This week on The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by former Division II lacrosse player Allison Irish , who co-founded The Head Game Project , a peer-to-peer mental health advocacy group created to support student-athletes and spark more open conversations about well-being. What started as a senior-year initiative at Saint Anselm College became the foundation for Ally’s career in clinical psychology...

What if an athlete doesn’t quit because they stop loving their sport — but because they never learned how to handle the pressure? This week on The Mental Matchup , Coach Bre shares her journey as a former collegiate volleyball player who appeared successful on the outside while quietly struggling with the mental demands of high-level competition. Discovering mental performance training later in he...

This week, we’re joined by former Division III lacrosse player and mental health counselor Maddie Meadows. Maddie shares her journey with anxiety — and the pivotal conversation with her mom that led her to begin therapy. Just two years later, during her senior lacrosse season, her mom was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Maddie opens up about navigating anticipatory grief while ba...

In this episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat chats with Aubrey — a Division I field hockey player at Lehigh University and co-founder of the Live Like Liv Foundation — to talk about what it’s really like to navigate profound loss as a young adult and student-athlete. After losing her best friend, Liv, to leukemia, Aubrey found herself balancing the demands of Division I athletics while carrying a g...

This week on The Mental Matchup , Kat sits down with a true force of nature, Mallory Holloway. Mallory is a Division I runner at Marist University who’s redefining what’s possible while living with cystic fibrosis. From childhood days spent doing three breathing treatments a day to becoming a collegiate athlete, her story is all about resilience, perspective, and the power of hope. In this convers...

In this episode, Kat is joined by the team behind The Keep Going Podcast — a show born from the same mission that started Morgan’s Message: to destigmatize mental health in athletics and remind student-athletes that they are never alone. They share the story of how Morgan’s Message began, how The Keep Going Podcast continues that mission, and the impact of bringing real, raw mental health conversa...

In this deeply personal solo episode, Kat opens up about losing a close friend to suicide — and how grief reshaped every part of her life. She reflects on what it means to live through unimaginable loss, the ways grief shows up in the body and mind, and how healing isn’t about “getting over it,” but learning to carry it differently. Kat also shares insights from her own journey and the science beh...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat sits down with Erin Devine, a current member of the Rutgers Women’s Lacrosse team, to talk about resilience, identity, and finding yourself beyond the setbacks. After enduring multiple knee injuries, Erin opens up about what it was like to shift into a new role on her team, the mental toll of recovery, and how she learned to listen when she stoppe...

This week, Kat sits down with Gabby Pelfrey to talk about the pressures of college athletics, the challenges of graduating, and the journey of rediscovering joy after sport. Gabby shares how she found healing in new routines, self-discovery, and building a life beyond competition by offering encouragement to anyone navigating the transition out of athletics. Connect with Gabby on IG here Learn mor...

This week on The Mental Matchup , Kat sits down with Lisa Isenman, a psychotherapist with the Wake Kendall Group in Washington, DC. Lisa’s career journey is anything but traditional—after decades in communications and education, she returned to school to become a psychotherapist, guided by her belief that “mental health care isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.” In this episode, Lisa shares how curio...

This week on The Mental Matchup , Kat sits down with Paula Widerlite, Co-Founder and Chair of Champions for Children, a nonprofit led by women dedicated to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to thrive. With over 40 years of experience in nonprofit healthcare leadership, including 25 years as Chief Strategy Officer for a major DC-area health system,  Paula brings deep expertise and...

This week on The Mental Matchup, Kat chats with Kaylin Ricci. Kaylin is a Division I soccer player and fierce advocate for resilience. Just one day after her final season opening game, Kaylin’s world shifted unimaginably with the sudden loss of her mother. Through unimaginable grief, she made the courageous decision to return to the field, playing out her senior season in her mother’s honor. In th...

In this week's episode, Kat chats with Alec Ingold about identity, creating locker room culture, and leadership. Alec plays professional football for the Miami Dolphins. Alec grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was adopted into a close-knit and supportive family. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers. In 2019, he signed with the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent, and...

Hannah Conner is a licensed clinical professional counselor based in Chicago, IL, with a Master of Arts in Counseling and a specialization in Sport and Health Psychology from Adler University. She specializes in supporting athletes, particularly those navigating the transition out of collegiate or elite sports. In this episode, Hannah joins Kat to explore emotionally unsafe environments in athleti...

This week on The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by Lysander Rehnstrom, a former walk-on at George Mason to Navy Men's Basketball Captain, and U.S. Marine Corps Ground Officer in training. Lysander shares his deeply personal journey with mental health: from growing up under pressure, navigating a life-threatening injury in high school, walking on at George Mason, and ultimately transferring to the N...

#168: In this episode of The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by Alex Heishman, a former DIII women’s lacrosse player, campus liaison for Morgan’s Message, and now a licensed social worker. Alex opens up about her 4+ year journey with Morgan’s Message and her own experience navigating mental health challenges as a student-athlete. From battling self-criticism and panic attacks to a difficult coaching...

Catie-Reagan King, Ed. D., is the Director of Mental Health Education at the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation. She joins The Mental Matchup to discuss the foundation and its resources, including free digital toolkits designed to support individuals and organizations focused on mental health. These toolkits offer practical strategies for starting conversations, coping with challenges, and creating s...

This week's guest is Lindsey Wilson, a mindset and mental performance coach best known as The Sports Hypnotist. With a professional basketball career spanning close to a decade, Lindsey took her knowledge of the mental game to work with collegiate athletes, professional athletes from Olympians and players in the NFL and WNBA all the way to youth athletes.  She is the founder of Positive Perfo...

Redefining Strength: Megan Shaver on Recovery, Rowing & Changing the Culture In this episode of The Mental Matchup , Kat chats with Megan Shawver, a former collegiate rower and current graduate student studying Nutrition and Dietetics. Megan shares her personal journey with disordered eating, her experience navigating mental health challenges as a student-athlete, and how finding supportive co...

Catholic University field hockey player Mary Rojack joins us to talk about her journey with mental health, being part of the Morgan’s Message community, and the impact of building support both on and off campus. 💙 From New Jersey to Catholic U, Mary’s passion for advocacy and connection shines through. Tune in to hear her story! Find out more about Morgan’s Message here Follow Morgan’s Message he...

In this episode, Kat chats with Clare Kehoe, the Director of Education and one of the co-founders of Morgan’s Message . Clare opens up about her friendship with Morgan Rodgers—the memories they shared, the support she tried to offer, and the heartbreak of losing someone you love to suicide. She shares what drove her to help launch Morgan’s Message and how that loss forever changed the direction of...

Marina Paul  is the founder of SPRHRA, a women's sportswear brand built on real female athlete data. A former Division 1 soccer player and All-American at Georgetown University, Marina overcame significant challenges—depression, eating disorders, and ACL injuries—to become the program’s first-ever three-time captain, leading her team to the first-ever College Cup Final Four. Through SPRHRA an...

In this episode of The Mental Matchup , we sit down with Emma Kilbride, co-founder of Here for You Clothing, to talk about her lifelong journey with anxiety, depression, and tic disorder, and how stepping away from college became the turning point in her healing. Emma shares her raw and honest story of hitting pause on life as she knew it, doing the inner work through therapy and reflection, and u...