Mental health and well-being is an area of overall wellness that is often ignored, forgotten, or put on the backburner in favor of other wellness goals. For the past year or so, myself and our club directors here at NXT have been working to bring more attention to the topic of mental health, both to improve quality of life and learn strategies that can help on-field performance.  

This past year has been extremely challenging for all of us. While stress has been extremely high, many of our normal methods for dealing with stress (e.g., sports, exercise, gathering with friends and family) have been inaccessible. A focus on our own mental health and well being is more important now than it ever has been in recent memory. 

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting a webinar with Mitch Green and Lauren Ruhl from Greenepsych Clinical and Sport Psychology along with the members of our boys and girls lacrosse club teams. This webinar served as an introduction to Mitch and Lauren and the work they do as well as served as a platform to announce our ongoing relationship with Greenepsych. Our plan is to work with Greenepsych as a means to educate our club players, parents, and coaches on how to care for their own mental health as well work on their “mental / inner game” to improve on-field performance. 

The full webinar was recorded and is available below. One of the major points of emphasis from Mitch and Lauren is that there does not have to be something terribly “wrong” with you to talk with someone like them. While they are available to help those who are in crisis, they also have several clients with whom they perform “routine maintenance.”

If you are interested in contacting Mitch or Lauren, you can reach out to them through their website, or you can reach out to me and I would be happy to make the connection!

Below is a quick bio for Mitch and Lauren:

Dr. Mitchell Greene is a licensed clinical and sport psychologist, and owner of Greenepsych Clinical & Sport Psychology, in Haverford, PA. Dr. Greene works primarily with athletes pursuing high performance goals, or coaches and athletic departments looking to educate their student-athletes on mental health and performance enhancement strategies. Sports coaches and teams appreciate Dr. Greene’s ability to make specific, practical suggestions to improve communication, build self-awareness, and establish goal-focused practice and game-day habits. Individual appointments and group workshops are available through tele-health. For more information on Dr. Greene and the Greenepsych team, go to www.greenepsych.com

 Lauren Ruhl, LPC, CSCS, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and sport psychology consultant at Greenepsych. A former collegiate athlete, Lauren found her career path in helping others after suffering a season-ending injury in college. Lauren provides individual and small group performance enhancement and mental skills training for athletes/sport parents, teams, and coaches as well as working individually with clients, from elementary to post-college age.