Welcome to the Mental Healthletes, a place to hear from athletes and coaches on how we can build positive strategies to live with our Depression, Anxiety, and other Mental Illness. I am your host Bill Garrels. I have lived with Depression and Anxiety most of my adult life and created this podcast to support other athletes who are struggling with Mental Illness and help break down that stigma. We will be hearing stories from other athletes on how they could not OUT TRAIN or OUT RACE their Mental Illness and find out where they turned to for support. Learn from Coaches and other professionals about actions you can take to live, train, and race successfully with this wonderful illness. My goal is to provide resources, ideas, and support so you don't have to do it alone. Do you have a personal story that you'd like to share? Do you know of other athletes who are open to talking about their mental health and its relationship to sports? Send me a note at bill@mentalhealthlete.com. And if you're struggling right now, reach out to a loved one, training partner, coach, or doctor, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. You are not alone.
Alex Palmer - Cyclist, Marketer, Podcast Host, and Mental Health Advocate
My guest today is Alex Palmer, a Londoner living in Austin, Texas. He's an accomplished cyclist, marketer, and men's mental health advocate. He's also the creator of the Black Dog Cast Podcast that he started after a group of cyclists started talking about their mental health struggles after a group ride. We cover a wide range of topics today and it was a blast spending time with Alex. High fives all around. Let's do this! Follow Alex on LinkedIn and check out the Black Dog Cast Podc...
24 Jun 2022
Kyle Duford - Author, Brander, Thought Leader, and an Old Friend
Our next guest is Kyle Duford. He is an author, brander, speaker, thought leader, and advocate for men’s mental health. We met 17 years ago in the Triathlon Universe and have been friends ever since. He cut his teeth with Carmichael Training Systems, Retül, Inside Triathlon, and SKI Racing magazines. We delve right into the heart of mental health with his unique but relatable story of the challenges, pitfalls, and the search for mental wellbeing. Kyle shares his inspiration...
12 Jun 2022
Dr. Kay Porter - Mental Performance Coach and Speed Walker
Welcome to the Mental Healthlete podcast! In this episode, we catch up with Dr. Kay Porter, a mental performance coach from Eugene, Oregon with a Ph.D. in psychology. You may recall from our episode with running great Melody Fairchild, that Dr. Kay was instrumental in the trajectory of Melody's life and running career. In this engrossing conversation, we cover a broad range of topics including the most current modalities and programs to improve performance in sport. While we mostly ta...
7 Jun 2022
Tyler McCandless - P.h.D Meteorologist, Data Scientist, Dad, and World Class Runner
Welcome to another episode of the Mental Healthlete. I'm your host, Bill Garrels and I am excited to share my talk with Tyler McCandless. Tyler is a world-class, professional runner with a world-class resume. When I caught up with him, he had just set the Course Record at the Colfax Marathon after qualifying for his 4th Olympic Trails only a few weeks earlier by placing 4th overall - and the first American - at the LA Marathon in a time of 2:15. In our conversation, we talked ab...
7 May 2022
Esra Kellermans - P.h.D, Dog Walker, Athlete
Hey everybody, welcome to the Mental Healthlete podcast. Thank you for listening. I'm excited for you to hear my conversation with Esra Kellermans. We had a great time hanging out and I know her story will resonate with many of you. We all evolve as people over time and many of us can look back over the years and almost see ourselves as different people at different points in our personal or professional lives but describing Esra's path takes that to an extreme. She's a runner, cyclist, a...
4 Apr 2022
Melody Fairchild - Oregon Ducks Hall of Fame Runner and Boulder Mountain Warriors Director
Welcome to the Mental Healthlete podcast. My guest this week is Melody Fairchild. If you're into running, there is a good chance you've heard of Melody. She's arguably the best high school distance runner in US history. She was the first high school girl to break 10 minutes for 2 miles. She was the NCAA indoor 3000-meter champ while running at Oregon (go ducks) and she's a University of Oregon Hall of Famer - AS SHE SAYS, not because she was the best but because she persisted. Love it. She...
1 Mar 2022
Will Murray
My guest today is Will Murray. Will is a ten-year USA Triathlon Level 1 coach with specialties in mental conditioning, youth coaching, and trauma treatment. He works with athletes in his coaching with D3 Multisport in Boulder, CO and he is a certified administrator of the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol. Will is co-author, with Craig Howie, of The Four Pillars of Triathlon: Vital Mental Skills for Endurance Athletes and Uncle: The Definitive Guide for Becoming the World...
15 Feb 2022
Michael Garfield Levine
I'm so thrilled to visit with my good friend, Michael Garfield Levine, and hear some of his stories, struggles, and triumphs in dealing with his mental health. We go back a long way and this was a good opportunity to hear how cycling played a role in his health and how he ultimately found the help he needed. Michael Garfield Levine has appeared in numerous roles in classic American and Shakespearean theater, Off and Off-Off-Broadway, and commercials and voiceovers for television and ra...
14 Feb 2022
303 Endurance invited me to be on their podcast!
I've known Rich Soares and Bill Plock for a while and I was excited and appreciative when they invited me to be a guest on their 303 Endurance podcast. We had a great time talking about racing, how I got my start in triathlon, why athletes often have a hard time talking about their mental health, and what led me to start the Mental Healthlete podcast. What a blast! I encourage you to check out that episode of the 303 Endurance podcast and follow 303 Endurance on Instagram @303endurance and ...
5 Feb 2022
Ok, we'll go first.
The interest in the Mental Healthlete podcast has been incredible. So much support from so many people. Yet, when it came to actually getting people to agree to be on the podcast and tell their mental health stories, there has been a little bit of reservation. I get that. It's a scary thing to talk about our own mental illness in such a public forum. So, while I do have some amazing guests on the recording schedule coming up, my producer Mark and I decided to put our money where our mouths a...
6 Jan 2022
Introduction of the Mental Healthlete Podcast
The Mental Healthlete podcast is a place to hear from athletes and coaches on how we can build positive strategies to live with our depression, anxiety, and other mental illness. We will be hearing stories from other athletes on how they could not OUT TRAIN or OUT RACE their Mental Illness and find out where they turned to for support. We'll learn from coaches and other professionals about actions you can take to live, train, and race successfully with this wonderful illness. My goal ...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Contact Mental Healthlete
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Mental Healthlete?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
