Your best performance starts in your head and ends with having FUN
What really makes an athlete successful? Is it strength, speed, talent, or something deeper? While physical training is essential, the greatest challenge often happens inside an athlete’s mind. In sports, confidence, focus, and the ability to overcome pressure can make the difference between giving up and pushing through. Many coaches and athletes even say that success is 90 percent mental and only 10 percent physical.
As the school year begins, sports teams are ramping up, and athletes are getting ready for practices, games, and competitions. While most athletes understand the importance of physical preparation—such as attending practice, maintaining a healthy diet, and getting enough sleep—the mental side of sports is often overlooked until problems emerge. Athletes can struggle for many reasons: fear of making mistakes, returning after an injury, performance pressure, or conflicts with coaches or teammates. Sometimes, the cause of a drop in performance is unclear, leaving athletes feeling stuck. Prioritizing the mental game is just as essential as preparing physically.
Take baseball, for example: a player might start the season hitting well, only to suddenly enter a slump. At first, this seems normal—just part of the game—but sometimes the slump lasts longer than expected. The player may start to worry whether they'll ever break out of it, practicing harder but seeing no improvement. At this point, it's helpful to examine the mental side. What does the player’s self-talk sound like? Has a coach or teammate made an offhand comment, or is the player replaying a bad game in their mind?
Just as sleep, nutrition, and hydration are essential, athletes also need to practice positive self-talk and visualize success. Younger athletes, in particular, often underestimate the power of their inner dialogue. One simple way to build confidence is to repeat a personal mantra before a game, such as: "I’m a good baseball player. I practice well. I can hit the ball hard."
Sometimes, the reason a player is in a slump goes deeper than mindset or visualization. In these cases, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can make a significant difference in sports performance by helping athletes process and move past negative or stressful experiences more efficiently. EMDR can also reduce performance anxiety, build confidence, and help manage pressure.
(EMDR is a therapeutic technique that helps athletes process stressful thoughts or experiences by focusing on them while engaging in guided eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation.)
One last thing, dear athletes: remember that one performance doesn’t define you. Believe in yourself, trust the work you’ve put in, and most importantly - have FUN!
Her Brain on Adolescence (And How to Help)
Adolescence is a period of rapid change, and for many girls, it's also when mental health struggles first surface. Understanding what's happening beneath the surface — and how the adults around them can help — matters more than ever.
Why This Stage Is So Vulnerable
Puberty brings hormonal shifts, body changes, and new social pressures all at once. Add academic stress, social media comparison, and evolving friendships and identity questions, and it's a lot to navigate at once. Research consistently shows that rates of anxiety and depression rise sharply for girls during early-to-mid adolescence, more so than for boys in the same age range.
Several factors contribute to this gap:
Earlier puberty onset paired with heightened self-consciousness about body image
Social media use, which tends to involve more appearance-based comparison for girls
Relational stress, since girls' social worlds are often built around close friendships where conflict can feel especially destabilizing
Academic and achievement pressure, which can tip into perfectionism and anxiety
Common Signs Worth Paying Attention To
Every teen has bad days, but certain patterns are worth noticing:
Withdrawal from friends or activities she used to enjoy
Significant changes in sleep or eating habits
Persistent irritability, sadness, or hopelessness
Declining grades or loss of motivation
Increased secrecy about phone or social media use
None of these alone means something is wrong, but a cluster of changes lasting more than a couple of weeks is a signal to check in.
How Parents, Teachers, and Mentors Can Help
Stay curious, not corrective. Open conversations work better than interrogations. Simple, low-pressure check-ins ("You've seemed quieter lately — want to talk about it?") tend to open more doors than "What's wrong with you?"
Normalize seeking help. Therapy and counseling should be framed the same way as seeing a doctor for a physical issue — routine, not a last resort.
Model healthy coping. Teens absorb far more from what adults do than what they say. Talking openly about your own stress management sets a tone.
Limit isn't the whole answer. Blanket restrictions on phones or social media rarely work alone; conversations about howshe's using these tools and how they make her feel tend to be more productive.
Build in unstructured time. Down time, sleep, and movement are protective factors that often get squeezed out by packed schedules.
A Good Place to Start
Sometimes the hardest part isn't finding a solution — it's knowing who to talk to first. Lauren Hess, a Certified Nurse Midwife who provides psychiatric care for female patients age 13 and up, is a great starting point for exactly that conversation. With particular expertise in anxiety, depression, and ADHD, she takes a holistic, patient-centered approach to help families think through what's going on and map out the right next step — whether that's a medication conversation, a referral to a therapist, or simply a consultation to talk through options together. You don't need to have it all figured out before reaching out — that's the point of starting the conversation.
Whatever Season You're In, You Don't Have to Navigate It Alone
Women move through a lot of seasons — new careers, new relationships, motherhood, caregiving for aging parents, perimenopause, menopause, and everything in between. Each one comes with its own emotional weather. Mental health care that actually works for women accounts for all of it, rather than treating every stage the same way.
Why Women's Mental Health Deserves Its Own Lens
Hormonal shifts alone make a strong case for specialized care. Estrogen and progesterone fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause — and each of these transitions can meaningfully affect mood, anxiety, sleep, and cognition. A provider who understands this rhythm can tell the difference between "this is a hard week" and "this is a hormonal shift worth addressing directly."
On top of biology, women often carry a particular mix of pressures: the mental load of managing a household, career demands, caregiving responsibilities, and social expectations around how they're "supposed" to feel. All of this shapes what mental health support needs to look like.
Common Reasons Women Seek Psychiatric Care
Anxiety that feels constant or disproportionate to daily stress
Depression, whether new or recurring
Mood changes tied to the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, or perimenopause
ADHD that was missed or masked earlier in life
Difficulty sleeping, focusing, or feeling like herself
Wanting a second opinion or a different approach after past treatment didn't fit
Medication Is a Tool, Not a Life Sentence
One of the biggest misconceptions about psychiatric medication is that starting it means staying on it forever. In reality, medication can be:
A short-term bridge — support through a specific season, like postpartum or a period of high stress, with a plan to taper off once things stabilize
A longer-term foundation — ongoing support for conditions that benefit from sustained treatment
Something that evolves — many women adjust their approach as life stages change, and a good provider revisits the plan regularly rather than setting it once and moving on
The goal isn't to be on medication indefinitely or to avoid it at all costs — it's to find what actually helps, for as long as it's needed, and to feel supported in that decision either way.
What Compassionate Care Looks Like
Good psychiatric care for women isn't just about prescriptions. It's:
Listening first. Understanding the full picture of what's going on before jumping to solutions
Shared decision-making. Walking through options together, rather than handing down a plan
Education, not judgment. Helping patients understand what's happening in their bodies and minds
Flexibility. Recognizing that what worked last year — or last season — might not be the right fit today
A Provider Who Specializes in Women
Lauren Hess, a Certified Nurse Midwife with over 15 years of nursing and midwifery experience, provides psychiatric care with particular expertise in anxiety, depression, ADHD, and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). Lauren’s deep understanding of how hormonal transitions affect mood and mental health informs the psychiatric care she provides. Her approach is holistic and patient-centered — grounded in evidence-based education and shared decision-making — because every woman's journey looks different, whether she's navigating pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, or simply trying to feel like herself again.
Whether medication is the right fit for a season or for the long haul, having a provider who understands the full arc of a woman's life makes all the difference.
The Teen Years Are a Roller Coaster. Your Home Doesn't Have to Be.
You Don't Have to Ride the Roller Coaster With Them. If it feels like your teenager's mood can swing from euphoric to devastated in the time it takes to make dinner, you're not imagining it. The adolescent brain is under construction — and that construction comes with real, physiological ups and downs that aren't fully within a teen's control.
Their Brain Is Doing Exactly What It's Supposed To Do
During adolescence, the emotional centers of the brain mature faster than the parts responsible for judgment, impulse control, and long-term thinking. Layer in fluctuating hormones, and you get a nervous system that's wired to feel everything intensely, without yet having the full toolkit to manage that intensity on its own.
This isn't a character flaw. It's development. And it means the roller coaster isn't optional — but how we respond to it can make all the difference in how long the ride lasts and how quickly they find their footing again.
The Most Powerful Thing You Can Offer: Your Own Steadiness
Here's the part that surprises a lot of parents: the goal isn't to match their intensity — it's to be the calm, steady presence that stays the same no matter which way their mood swings.
Think of it like this — a swing set stays useful because the frame doesn't move. If the frame started swinging along with the swing, the whole thing would come crashing down. Your steadiness is the frame. It's what gives them something solid to swing from and eventually return to.
When we ride the roller coaster alongside them — matching their panic with our panic, their anger with our anger, their despair with our despair — we unintentionally make the ride longer and scarier. When we stay regulated, we become the anchor that helps them find their way back to baseline faster.
High Warmth, High Boundaries
Adolescents — like kids of every age — thrive under a specific combination: high warmth and high boundaries, held at the same time.
High warmth means genuine connection, empathy, and unconditional love, even in the middle of conflict. It's "I love you, and I'm not going anywhere," said through both words and actions.
High boundaries means clear, consistent limits that don't bend just because emotions are running high. It's "the answer is still no," delivered calmly rather than reactively.
The two aren't in tension — they work together. Warmth without boundaries leaves teens without the structure they need to feel safe. Boundaries without warmth can feel punitive and damage connection. Both, held simultaneously and calmly, give teens something to push against and something to fall back into.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Pause before responding. When emotions spike, a few seconds (or a few breaths) of pause protects you from reacting from the roller coaster instead of to it.
Validate the feeling, hold the boundary. "I get that you're furious about this. The curfew still stands." Both things can be true at once.
Don't take the bait of urgency. Big emotions often come with a sense that everything needs to be resolved right now. It rarely does. "Let's talk about this once we've both calmed down" is a complete sentence.
Protect your own bandwidth. You can't offer steadiness from an empty tank. Sleep, support, and your own outlets aren't indulgent — they're what make this kind of parenting possible.
Expect the swing back. The same teen who slammed a door an hour ago may curl up next to you tonight. That's not inconsistency on their part — it's the ride doing what it does.
When the Ride Needs More Support
Sometimes what looks like typical adolescent turbulence is something more — an underlying anxiety, mood, or attention concern that benefits from additional support beyond what happens at home. That's not a sign anything went wrong; it's simply part of understanding what a particular teen needs. Providers like Lauren Hess, who specializes in mental health care for patients age 13 and up, can be a helpful next conversation when it's time to bring in extra support — whether that means therapy, medication, or simply a professional perspective on what's going on.
Most of the time, though, the most powerful support a parent can offer is already available: staying steady, staying warm, and staying planted — even when the ride gets wild.
Beautiful Chaos, Barely Held Together
Pregnancy and the months that follow are often painted as pure joy — but for a lot of women, it's also one of the most emotionally complex chapters of life. Between hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, identity changes, and the sheer weight of caring for a new baby, it's no wonder so many women find themselves struggling in ways they didn't expect.
What Are Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs)?
PMADs is the umbrella term for the range of mood and anxiety conditions that can arise during pregnancy and up to a year postpartum, including:
Postpartum and prenatal depression — persistent sadness, hopelessness, or numbness that goes beyond typical "baby blues"
Postpartum and prenatal anxiety — constant worry, racing thoughts, or a sense of dread that's hard to shake
Postpartum OCD — intrusive, unwanted thoughts paired with compulsive behaviors to manage the anxiety they cause
Postpartum panic disorder — sudden, intense episodes of fear alongside physical symptoms like a racing heart
Postpartum psychosis — a rare but serious condition marked by possible hallucinations, delusions, or extreme confusion. This requires immediate medical attention
These aren't signs of failure or weakness. They're medical conditions, often driven by a combination of hormonal changes, sleep disruption, and life stress — and they're treatable.
Why "Baby Blues" Isn't the Whole Story
Up to 80% of new mothers experience some version of the baby blues — mood swings, tearfulness, and overwhelm in the first couple of weeks after birth. That's considered normal and usually resolves on its own. PMADs are different: the symptoms are more intense, last longer, and interfere with daily functioning and bonding with the baby. The line between the two isn't always obvious, which is exactly why having a knowledgeable provider to talk to matters.
Signs Worth Paying Attention To
Persistent sadness, anxiety, or irritability lasting more than two weeks
Difficulty bonding with the baby
Intrusive or scary thoughts that feel out of character
Trouble sleeping even when the baby is asleep
Loss of interest in things that used to bring joy
Feeling like a failure as a parent, or excessive guilt
Treatment Looks Different for Every Woman
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to perinatal mental health. Support might include:
Therapy — especially approaches tailored to the postpartum period
Medication — which can be a short-term bridge through pregnancy or postpartum, or a longer-term piece of the picture, depending on what a woman needs
Practical support — help with sleep, meals, and childcare that lightens the daily load
Education — understanding what's happening hormonally and emotionally can make symptoms feel less frightening and more manageable
The goal is always to find the combination that helps a woman feel like herself again — however long that takes.
A Provider Who Specializes in This Exact Season
Lauren Hess, a Certified Nurse Midwife with over 15 years of nursing and midwifery experience, has specialized training in perinatal mental health and particular expertise in PMADs. She takes a holistic, patient-centered approach — grounded in evidence-based education and shared decision-making — to help women navigate mental health concerns during pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond. While she doesn't prescribe hormone therapy, her deep understanding of how this season's hormonal shifts affect mood shapes the psychiatric care she provides.
If this season feels harder than anyone told you it would be, that's worth talking about — and you don't have to figure it out alone.
Learn more about Lauren!