Michelle Hammer is a mental health advocate, speaker, designer, and founder of Schizophrenic.NYC. A four-year NCAA lacrosse player at SUNY Oneonta, All-Conference honoree, and senior-year team captain, she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder in college and later diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 22. Michelle shares how the structure, teammates, and a supportive coach helped her get through college, and why she believes athletes need open conversations about mental health.

We Talk About:

• Playing college lacrosse while living with a misdiagnosis

• How structure and a supportive coach made a difference

• Lessons in discipline and resilience that carry into mental health

• Breaking the stigma around schizophrenia

Connect with Michelle:

• Connect with Michelle and learn more here

• Follow Michelle on IG here

• Follow Michele on YouTube here

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

If this episode resonates with you or someone you know, Morgan's Message resources are available — you don't have to navigate this alone.

Rebecca Smith, MA, is a recovering perfectionist, former gymnast, coach, and parent of athletes. She has spent more than 20 years helping high achievers thrive under pressure. In this episode, she shares how mental blocks derailed her own gymnastics career, and how that experience shaped her mission to help fearful young athletes trust themselves again. Rebecca talks about teaching athletes to use their voice, make good choices, and advocate for others, and about what it takes to push back on the toxic culture that has long existed in youth sports.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Rebecca's journey as a gymnast and how mental blocks ended her career

• Living as a "recovering perfectionist"

• Why an evidence-based approach to mental performance matters

• Helping fearful athletes rebuild self-trust

• Empowering athletes to find their voice and stand up to toxic youth sports culture

• Navigating sports as a parent of an athlete

• Building a positive athletic culture that supports mental health and resilience

Connect with Rebecca on IG here

Connect with Rebecca on her site here

Listen to Rebecca on PerformHappy with Rebecca Smith Podcast

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

In this episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Angelique Cauterucci — a former competitive gymnast turned collegiate acrobatics and tumbling captain — to talk about the pressures athletes face around body image, perfectionism, and identity.

Angelique opens up about her journey through competitive gymnastics, where messages about her body eventually contributed to an eating disorder and a loss of identity outside of sport. She shares how stepping into a healthier team environment helped her rebuild her sense of self — and how that experience led her to found You Define Beauty, a nonprofit that has since reached over 9,000 students nationwide through school presentations, affirmation campaigns, and community events.

We dig into:

• The pressure athletes place on themselves to look and perform a certain way

• How body image struggles show up in sport — and often go unspoken

• Finding identity beyond competition

• Turning a difficult chapter into purpose and advocacy

• Why mental health deserves the same attention as physical health

• The mission behind You Define Beauty and its growth into a national movement

Angelique's message is simple but powerful: setbacks don't define you, and every athlete has the power to write their own story.

Connect with Angelique:

• Connect with Angelique on IG here

• Connect with Angelique's non-profit on IG here

• Learn more about You Define Beauty here

• Listen to Angelique's Podcast You Define Beauty here

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

If this episode resonates with you or someone you know, Morgan's Message resources are available — you don't have to navigate this alone.

In this episode, Kat sits down with Patrick Devenny — former football player at the University of Colorado Boulder — for a raw conversation about what happens when the sport that defines you disappears.

In this episode:

• How deeply his identity — and his parents' identities — were wrapped up in football

• Going undrafted to the Seahawks, a career-ending wrist injury, and the jarring transition to working as a restaurant host with a cast on his hand

• The unexpected loss of his mother and how it accelerated a downward spiral

• How disordered eating became a way to reclaim control — and how it nearly cost him his life

• The random podcast episode that became his lifeline

• Why he decided to speak publicly about an issue so stigmatized in men's sports

• His take on disordered eating rates among athletes and why so few talk about it

• A broader conversation on college athletics, coaching turnover, and what support for student-athletes should actually look like

A note on this episode: This conversation includes discussion of eating disorders and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) are both available 24/7

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

Scott Roussell was a Division I soccer player at UVA until two knee surgeries ended his career — and, unknowingly, took his only sense of identity with it. Years of quiet unraveling followed, masked by outward success, until alcohol became his coping mechanism. It led him for years until the moment he finally admitted he couldn't do this alone.

In this episode, Scott shares his recovery, the questions it raised about how athletes are prepared for the game but not for life after it, and how that led him to found After We Play, a mental performance platform for competitive youth and college athletes.

Learn more about After We Play here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

This week on The Mental Matchup, Kat's joined by Suzanne Potts, the new Executive Director of Morgan's Message.

Suzanne brings a career built at the intersection of sports, mental health, and nonprofit leadership. She's a licensed social worker with a master's in both social work and public health, a former soccer player and has spent nearly a decade in non-profit leadership. She's also taught in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin and previously served as Executive Director of the Autism Society of Texas.

In this conversation, we cover how Suzanne got here, what drew her to Morgan's Message, and where she sees the organization headed under her leadership.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please know that Morgan's Message and resources like it exist for exactly this reason. You don't have to go through it alone.

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

This is episode 200 of The Mental Matchup — and to mark the occasion, we're doing something we've never done before: bringing the co-founders of Morgan's Message together (well, sort of together) to reflect on how we got here.

In this milestone episode, the co-founders look back on the earliest conversations after Morgan's passing, the moment they knew her story needed to become something bigger than grief, and how "eliminate the stigma" and "treat mental health equally with physical health" became the core of the mission. They talk about watching Morgan's Message grow beyond their own circle, what they've learned about grief and legacy along the way, what they'd do differently if they were starting over, and the people behind the scenes who made it all possible.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please know that Morgan's Message and resources like it exist for exactly this reason. You don't have to go through it alone.

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

Morgan Maxwell DiPrimo is the Founder & CEO of ALIGN33 Media, Inc., a national organization using documentary storytelling, public health education, and policy work to change how eating disorders are understood and treated in the U.S. A former NYC film and television professional (Pace University-trained), Morgan draws on her own experience with disordered eating and more than 300 global interviews to build ALIGN33 into a lasting platform — not a single project, but a movement.

In this episode:

• Morgan's path into media

• Her personal story with disordered eating

• What sparked ALIGN33 and her vision for national, systemic change

Links:

Morgan's Substack here

Connect with Morgan on IG here

Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn here

Connect with ALIGN33 Media here

Note: This episode discusses disordered eating. If you're struggling, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline can help: 1-866-662-1235.

"Your story is someone else's survival guide." That's the phrase Julian Bell holds onto — because Morgan's story was hers.

Julian's injury story starts in 7th grade, with pain she still manages today at 22. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Julian opens up about developing an eating disorder tied to that injury, the moment medical retirement entered the conversation, her healing journey, and the road back to rebuilding a relationship with her body, her sport, and herself.

Through it all, Morgan's story was Julian's throughline. Now, Julian is ready to be that for someone else.

In this episode:

• Living with a chronic injury since 7th grade

• Developing an eating disorder tied to injury and identity loss

• Medical retirement and recovery

• How Morgan's story became Julian's survival guide

• Julian's vision for advocacy moving forward

Content warning: this episode discusses disordered eating and suicidal ideation. If this episode brings up anything difficult: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call/text 988). You are not alone.

Connect with Julian on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

Before he became a mental wellness advocate, Charles Wittman was an All-American basketball player — four years at Queens University of Charlotte, followed by a pro career in Brazil. But behind the accolades was a private battle with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation that spanned his high school, college, and post-playing years.

In this episode, Charles opens up about what it actually looked like to compete at an elite level while struggling internally — and how those experiences led him to write The Internal Game Plan, a guide that applies the discipline and principles of sports to everyday emotional, physical, and mental health.

We talk about:

• What it was like carrying mental health struggles through his career 

• The moment Charles decided to turn his lived experience into a framework for others

• How "The Internal Game Plan" helps people build clarity, resilience, and self-awareness through consistent habits — not quick fixes

• Why Charles sees himself as an impactor, not an influencer

• Practical tools listeners can start using today to navigate their own challenges

Charles is a father, entrepreneur, and speaker based in Los Angeles, working with athletes, students, and professionals to help them build systems for real, sustainable growth.

Connect with Charles on IG here
You can find The Internal Game Plan here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

This week, we're joined by Jacqueline Friedland, author of the brand-new novel Breathing Under Water — that was released August 4!

Jackie's path wasn't a straight line: from Penn, to law school, to practicing lawyer, to published author. We talk about that pivot — the best parts and the hardest parts — before diving into her book, which follows two women whose paths intersect through deeply relatable (if very different) life experiences.

We also cover what inspired the story, including the financial pressures faced by McKenna, a competitive swimmer, and get personal about Jackie's author's note on her mom's decades of work with children on the autism spectrum — and how that's shaped the way Jackie sees the world and raises her own kids.

About the book: Breathing Under Water released August 4 and is available at https://www.jacquelinefriedland.com/books/breathing-under-water or wherever books are sold.

Connect with Jackie on IG here
Connect with Jackie online here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here
Connect with Morgan’s Message here

This week, Emily Boyle shares how a concussion during her freshman year forced her to medically redshirt and completely reshaped her experience as a student-athlete.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Recovering from a season-ending concussion

2. The mental toll of being sidelined and losing your athletic identity

3. Balancing recovery, school, and life away from home

4. Finding purpose and staying connected to your team while injured

Emily's story is a reminder that even when you're unable to compete, you still belong—and healing is about so much more than returning to play.

Connect with Emily on IG here

Learn more about Morgan’s Message here

Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we sit down with Caitlin Walsh, a former Saint Anselm College lacrosse player whose athletic journey was shaped by multiple knee injuries, surgeries, and ultimately the difficult decision to medically retire from the sport she loved.

Caitlin opens up about the mental health challenges that accompanied her recovery, including anxiety, uncertainty, and the loss of an athletic identity she had built for years. She shares how she navigated some of the hardest moments of her life, what helped her move forward, and why choosing to step away from the game became the right decision for her.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The mental health impact of long-term injuries

• Navigating multiple surgeries and recoveries

• Anxiety during the rehab process

• The challenges of medically retiring from sport

• Grieving the loss of an athletic identity

• Finding purpose and confidence beyond the game

Connect with Caitlin here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we sit down with Hannah De Groot, licensed therapist and founder of Stride Counseling, to discuss the intersection of sport, eating disorders, OCD, and mental health.

In this episode, we explore:

• The unique pressures within sport that can impact an athlete's mental health

• Hannah's personal recovery journey and how it inspired her to pursue this work

• How she supports athletes through eating disorder and OCD treatment with a compassionate, evidence-based approach

• Breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health struggles and help-seeking in athletics

• What recovery can look like for athletes and why healing doesn't mean giving up on your goals

Whether you're an athlete, coach, parent, or teammate, this conversation offers insight, hope, and practical ways to better understand and support mental health in sport.

To learn more about Stride Counseling you can visit the website here
Connect with Hannah and Stride Counseling on IG here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here

In this episode, Kat is joined by Tiffany Yvonne Gratton, who dives into the mental side of performance and what it really takes to thrive under pressure.

Athletes are often told to "be tough" or "stay locked in," but few are given practical tools to navigate the realities of competition, social media, expectations, and comparison. Tiffany shares actionable strategies to help athletes perform at their best while protecting their mental well-being.

Topics discussed include:
• Why building an identity beyond sport is critical for long-term success and fulfillment
• How pressure impacts the brain, decision-making, and performance
• Practical tools athletes can use when anxiety, self-doubt, or overwhelm show up

We also explore the Pause → Plan → Play to Win framework, a simple yet powerful approach that helps athletes reset, regain clarity, and compete with confidence when the pressure is on.

This conversation is a reminder that excellence and well-being are not mutually exclusive. The goal isn't just to perform—it's to pursue greatness without losing yourself in the process.

To learn more about Tiffany you can visit her website here
Connect with Tiffany on IG here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on IG here

In this powerful episode, Kat chats with Danny O’Connor to discuss the hidden reality of eating disorders in weight-class sports and the devastating impact they can have on athletes behind the scenes.

Danny shares the story behind his memoir, WEIGHT CLASS — a raw and deeply personal account of battling an eating disorder throughout his wrestling, Olympic, and professional boxing career. In sports where extreme weight-cutting is normalized, what looked like discipline from the outside became a decades-long cycle of starvation, dehydration, purging, and silence.

Together, we discuss:

• The culture of weight-cutting in sports

• Why eating disorders in male athletes are so often overlooked

• The mental and physical toll of silence and shame

• Recovery, identity, and rebuilding life after sport

• What parents, coaches, and athletes need to know

This conversation is honest, emotional, and necessary. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, parent, or someone struggling silently yourself, Danny’s story serves as both a warning and a lifeline.

You can connect with Danny on IG here
Find Danny's book here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on Instagram here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Submit your story for The Mental Matchup here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we’re joined by Matt Young — former professional footballer, endurance athlete, and performance coach focused on helping people create lasting mental and emotional change.

Matt shares how the pressures of high performance, identity struggles, and emotional challenges shaped his journey from professional sports into helping others break free from anxiety, fear, and limiting beliefs.

We talk about:

• Why people stay stuck mentally and emotionally

• The difference between the thinking mind and emotional mind

• Masking identity and hiding from the truth

• Breaking through fear, anxiety, and limiting beliefs

A powerful conversation about healing, self-awareness, and transformation.

Connect with Matt here

Matt's 5 Day Mindset Training linked here

The Power of Your Identity linked here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on Instagram here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Submit your story for The Mental Matchup here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we’re joined by Trevor Ruhland — former Division I football player and national champion at University of Notre Dame.

Trevor opens up about what was happening behind the scenes while competing at the highest level of college football, including his battle with an eating disorder, identity struggles tied to performance, and the pressure to always appear strong.

In this episode, we talk about identity beyond sport, the silent battles many athletes face, vulnerability in men’s mental health, and what it looks like to find purpose after the game ends. Trevor shares his story with honesty in hopes that other athletes feel less alone and more willing to ask for help.

Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn here
Connect with Trevor on Instagram here
Connect with Morgan’s Message on Instagram here
Learn more about Morgan’s Message here
Submit your story for The Mental Matchup here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we’re joined by Hania Taduran—former Division I beach volleyball athlete and founder of Breaking Barriers, an organization dedicated to advancing mental health support for athletes through education, peer connection, and advocacy.

Hania brings a rare and powerful perspective to this conversation, blending her lived experience as a high-performing athlete with her clinical training in Marriage and Family Therapy. Having competed on a nationally ranked NCAA team at FIU, she understands firsthand the pressure, identity challenges, and emotional weight that often come with elite athletics.

In this episode, Hania opens up about her personal journey and the experiences that shaped her passion for making mental health support more accessible and usable for athletes.

Together, we explore:

• Hidden grief in athletics and how it shows up in performance, identity, and emotional well-being

• Why athletes often struggle to name or process grief—and what actually helps

• Barriers to help-seeking in sports and the subtle ways stigma shows up in athletic culture

• What it takes to shift environments so athletes feel safe asking for support

• The story behind Breaking Barriers and how Hania is turning awareness into meaningful, systemic change

This conversation is an honest look at what so many athletes carry behind the scenes—and a reminder that vulnerability isn’t weakness, it’s a pathway to connection, healing, and growth.

Connect with Breaking Barriers Org here

Follow Breaking Barriers Org on IG here

Follow Morgan's Message on IG here

Follow The Mental Matchup on IG here

Find out more about Morgan's Message here

This week on The Mental Matchup, we’re joined by Tyler Ingle — a former student-athlete and communications professional whose journey through mental health challenges is as raw as it is impactful.

Tyler opens up about navigating anxiety, depression, and a severe eating disorder, while also processing deeply personal experiences like his father leaving at a young age. These are the kinds of struggles that often go unspoken in athletics and in life—and Tyler is changing that.

Through honesty and reflection, Tyler shares how his experiences shaped not only who he is today, but how he shows up for others. From working across professional sports leagues like the NWSL and USL to supporting athletes at the collegiate level, his mission is clear: to make a positive difference and remind people they’re not alone.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The hidden nature of mental health struggles in athletes

• What it looks like to confront anxiety, depression, and disordered eating

• Processing abandonment and its long-term impact

• Practical strategies Tyler used to move forward

• How vulnerability can become a tool for connection and change

This conversation is a powerful reminder that healing isn’t linear—and that your story, no matter how heavy, can become something that helps someone else keep going.

Connect with Tyler on IG here

Connect with Tyler here

Follow Morgan's Message on IG here

Follow The Mental Matchup on IG here

Find out more about Morgan's Message here