Why this work
I was the athlete who wouldn’t rest
I ran collegiate distance and captained my team. I trained hard, ate too little for the load I was carrying, and read my own exhaustion as a discipline problem. I once caught myself hoping for an injury, because an injury would have been a permissible reason to stop.
Nobody around me was looking for RED-S, and I didn’t have the language for it either. That is the gap I work in now.
The condition
What RED-S actually is
Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport is what happens when the fuel coming in doesn’t cover both training and the basic work of staying alive. The body starts shutting down what it considers non-essential. Signs athletes and coaches most often miss:
- Stress fractures that keep recurring, or injuries that heal slowly
- Performance flattening or sliding backwards despite harder training
- Periods that become irregular, light, or stop altogether
- Suppressed libido or lowered testosterone
- Feeling cold constantly, poor sleep, persistent gut problems
- Mental fog, irritability, anxiety, low mood
Who I work with
College athletes, and the people who never stopped
Most of the athletes I see are in college or just out of it — managing training load, class, competition and a body they’ve been taught to treat as an instrument. Some are still competing. Some have retired and found that the rules didn’t retire with them.
You don’t need a diagnosis, a coach’s referral, or a certain level of severity to start. If food and training have stopped feeling like yours, that’s reason enough.
The work
What therapy looks like here
We start with what your sport means to you, not with a plan to take it away. Identity, perfectionism and performance pressure are usually tangled together with the fuelling, and pulling on one strand moves the others.
The work is HAES®-informed and anti-diet. It draws on CBT, DBT, ACT and somatic practice, and it is paced so that returning to sport — safely, and in a way that lasts — stays on the table wherever that’s realistic.
For coaches & clinicians
Referring an athlete
I coordinate regularly with physicians, dietitians, psychiatrists and higher levels of care, with the athlete’s written permission. I work with medically stable clients and will ask that an athlete has an established primary care physician.
If you’re an athletic trainer, coach, sports dietitian or campus counselling centre and you’re not sure whether a referral fits, write to me and ask. I’d rather have the conversation early.
Read more
Understanding RED-S
I’ve written about what RED-S looked like from the inside, and the warning signs that go unnoticed.
Start here
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment
If any of this sounds like your season, or your athlete’s, get in touch. The first conversation is free and there’s no expectation that you book anything after it.