Athletes hold a lot of privilege and power in our culture. They can easily be idealized. Fans and spectators are wowed and inspired by what athletes can accomplish with their bodies. The athletes’ physical art, strength, agility, and technique is all on display for us to see, yet for an athlete, there can be a whole other story on their “inside”- their mind, heart and spirit. All too often, we are missing what the athlete (especially female) needs in terms of developing their relationship to themselves outside of their athlete identity and helping them learn to care for their mental health, bodies, and spirit.

 

When we opened Opal almost eight years ago, we committed to serving athletes. Through our higher level of care services, we have had specialized programming to help countless athletes as they find healing in their relationship with food and exercise. Now, eight years later, we are proud to announce that we are expanding our services to athletes in our local community by offering an outpatient Athlete Clinic. Although this clinic will service all genders, there will be special attention to the unique needs of the female athlete.

 

 

We are inspired by the Female Athlete Program in Boston, MA and believe that the West Coast needs more services to holistically treat athletes with specialized training in mental health and eating disorders.