Abstract
Varsity athletes often face various challenges and stressors related to their sports participation and performance, which can cause significant psychological and emotional disruptions, leading to mental health issues. Consequently, there is a pressing need for research on interventions aimed at addressing mental health among varsity athletes. Currently, there is a notable lack of insight into therapists' reflections on implementing these interventions and the challenges encountered in delivering therapy to this population. The purpose of this presentation is to reflect on the process of delivering Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) to varsity student-athletes as part of a larger study evaluating the feasibility of EFT to improve emotion dysregulation and associated outcomes among competitive athletes. The EFT intervention was delivered by trained student-therapists who engaged in weekly supervision sessions with a clinical psychologist. Key topics discussed in this presentation are: (a) challenges transitioning from cognitive-behavioral therapy to EFT (Castillo, 2020), (b) navigating countertransference and campus life as a graduate student providing therapy to varsity student-athletes (Winstone & Gervis, 2006), and (c) managing the termination of therapeutic relationships (Bartholomew et al., 2019). This presentation highlights the issues and reflections on delivering EFT from the perspective of a student-therapist, and these issues are discussed in light of current literature on clinician training within different therapeutic modalities. The presentation will also consider these topics within the context of sports that emphasize cognitive-behavioral intervention approaches and in which student-therapists must manage multiple relationships when working with athletes.
