The Mental Matchup

When an injury or hardship changes your ability to compete, it can also change your identity, confidence, and sense of purpose. Professional track and field athlete and TBI survivor Kiana Imani-Davis joins The Mental Matchup to talk about navigating exactly that. Kiana is originally from Longview, WA, and competed in track and field at Washington State University. She now runs professionally for T...

Eating disorders in athletes are easy to miss because disordered eating can look like discipline. Eating disorders dietitian Adee Levinstein, MS, RD, LD, CEDS-C, joins The Mental Matchup to explain the red flags in student-athletes, the myths she hears most, and why the “I’m not sick enough” mindset keeps so many athletes from getting help. We also cover healthy fueling for high-level athletes, ha...

Athletes are often taught that toughness means pushing through, staying quiet, and never showing weakness. This week, Olivia Papakyrikos, M.Ed, LMHC, LPC, joins us to challenge that idea. Olivia is a Boston-based therapist and mental performance consultant, and a former collegiate field hockey player at Wheaton College. She shares two personal stories that shaped her work: a coach who asked “How a...

In this episode, we’re joined by Mike O’Connor, Chief Relationship Officer at New Hope Treatment Centers, a family owned and operated behavioral healthcare company serving adolescents with complex trauma and other psychiatric and behavioral challenges. Since 2008, he has helped New Hope connect kids and families with the services they need, and built relationships with the systems, providers, stat...

Michelle Hammer is a mental health advocate, speaker, designer, and founder of Schizophrenic. NYC. A four-year NCAA lacrosse player at SUNY Oneonta, All-Conference honoree, and senior-year team captain, she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder in college and later diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 22. Michelle shares how the structure, teammates, and a supportive coach helped her get through c...

Rebecca Smith, MA, is a recovering perfectionist, former gymnast, coach, and parent of athletes. She has spent more than 20 years helping high achievers thrive under pressure. In this episode, she shares how mental blocks derailed her own gymnastics career, and how that experience shaped her mission to help fearful young athletes trust themselves again. Rebecca talks about teaching athletes to use...

In this episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Angelique Cauterucci — a former competitive gymnast turned collegiate acrobatics and tumbling captain — to talk about the pressures athletes face around body image, perfectionism, and identity. Angelique opens up about her journey through competitive gymnastics, where messages about her body eventually contributed to an eating disorder and...

In this episode, Kat sits down with Patrick Devenny — former football player at the University of Colorado Boulder — for a raw conversation about what happens when the sport that defines you disappears. In this episode: * How deeply his identity — and his parents' identities — were wrapped up in football * Going undrafted to the Seahawks, a career-ending wrist injury, and the jarring transition to...

Scott Roussell was a Division I soccer player at UVA until two knee surgeries ended his career — and, unknowingly, took his only sense of identity with it. Years of quiet unraveling followed, masked by outward success, until alcohol became his coping mechanism. It led him for years until the moment he finally admitted he couldn't do this alone. In this episode, Scott shares his recovery, the quest...

This week on The Mental Matchup, Kat's joined by Suzanne Potts, the new Executive Director of Morgan's Message. Suzanne brings a career built at the intersection of sports, mental health, and nonprofit leadership. She's a licensed social worker with a master's in both social work and public health, a former soccer player and has spent nearly a decade in non-profit leadership. She's also taught in...

This is episode 200 of The Mental Matchup — and to mark the occasion, we're doing something we've never done before: bringing the co-founders of Morgan's Message together (well, sort of together) to reflect on how we got here. In this milestone episode, the co-founders look back on the earliest conversations after Morgan's passing, the moment they knew her story needed to become something bigger t...

Morgan Maxwell DiPrimo is the Founder & CEO of ALIGN33 Media, Inc., a national organization using documentary storytelling, public health education, and policy work to change how eating disorders are understood and treated in the U.S. A former NYC film and television professional (Pace University-trained), Morgan draws on her own experience with disordered eating and more than 300 global interview...

"Your story is someone else's survival guide." That's the phrase Julian Bell holds onto — because Morgan's story was hers. Julian's injury story starts in 7th grade, with pain she still manages today at 22. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Julian opens up about developing an eating disorder tied to that injury, the moment medical retirement entered the conversation, her healing journey, and t...

Before he became a mental wellness advocate, Charles Wittman was an All-American basketball player — four years at Queens University of Charlotte, followed by a pro career in Brazil. But behind the accolades was a private battle with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation that spanned his high school, college, and post-playing years. In this episode, Charles opens up about what it actually loo...

This week, we're joined by Jacqueline Friedland, author of the brand-new novel Breathing Under Water — that was released August 4! Jackie's path wasn't a straight line: from Penn, to law school, to practicing lawyer, to published author. We talk about that pivot — the best parts and the hardest parts — before diving into her book, which follows two women whose paths intersect through deeply relata...

This week, Emily Boyle shares how a concussion during her freshman year forced her to medically redshirt and completely reshaped her experience as a student-athlete. In this episode, we discuss: 1. Recovering from a season-ending concussion 2. The mental toll of being sidelined and losing your athletic identity 3. Balancing recovery, school, and life away from home 4. Finding purpose and staying c...

This week on The Mental Matchup, we sit down with Caitlin Walsh, a former Saint Anselm College lacrosse player whose athletic journey was shaped by multiple knee injuries, surgeries, and ultimately the difficult decision to medically retire from the sport she loved. Caitlin opens up about the mental health challenges that accompanied her recovery, including anxiety, uncertainty, and the loss of an...

This week on The Mental Matchup, we sit down with Hannah De Groot, licensed therapist and founder of Stride Counseling, to discuss the intersection of sport, eating disorders, OCD, and mental health. In this episode, we explore: * The unique pressures within sport that can impact an athlete's mental health * Hannah's personal recovery journey and how it inspired her to pursue this work * How she s...

In this episode, Kat is joined by Tiffany Yvonne Gratton, who dives into the mental side of performance and what it really takes to thrive under pressure. Athletes are often told to "be tough" or "stay locked in," but few are given practical tools to navigate the realities of competition, social media, expectations, and comparison. Tiffany shares actionable strategies to help athletes perform at t...

In this powerful episode, Kat chats with Danny O’Connor to discuss the hidden reality of eating disorders in weight-class sports and the devastating impact they can have on athletes behind the scenes. Danny shares the story behind his memoir, WEIGHT CLASS — a raw and deeply personal account of battling an eating disorder throughout his wrestling, Olympic, and professional boxing career. In sports...

This week on The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by Matt Young — former professional footballer, endurance athlete, and performance coach focused on helping people create lasting mental and emotional change. Matt shares how the pressures of high performance, identity struggles, and emotional challenges shaped his journey from professional sports into helping others break free from anxiety, fear, and...

This week on The Mental Matchup, we’re joined by Trevor Ruhland — former Division I football player and national champion at University of Notre Dame. Trevor opens up about what was happening behind the scenes while competing at the highest level of college football, including his battle with an eating disorder, identity struggles tied to performance, and the pressure to always appear strong. In t...

This week on The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by Hania Taduran—former Division I beach volleyball athlete and founder of Breaking Barriers, an organization dedicated to advancing mental health support for athletes through education, peer connection, and advocacy. Hania brings a rare and powerful perspective to this conversation, blending her lived experience as a high-performing athlete with her...

This week on The Mental Matchup , we’re joined by Tyler Ingle — a former student-athlete and communications professional whose journey through mental health challenges is as raw as it is impactful. Tyler opens up about navigating anxiety, depression, and a severe eating disorder, while also processing deeply personal experiences like his father leaving at a young age. These are the kinds of strugg...

This week on The Mental Matchup , Lisa Fiore shares a deeply personal story about how her mental health journey has shaped the way she shows up — as a parent, leader, and advocate. Lisa opens up about struggling with disordered eating beginning in high school and navigating a path that spanned more than two decades. She reflects on how those experiences changed her relationship with herself and ho...