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NEDA TOOLKIT for Coaches and Trainers Psychologists’ stories How to work effectively with your athlete’s treatment team Talking with Carlin M. Anderson, PhD Carlin M. Anderson, PhD, is a sport psychologist at the University of Minnesota who works frequently with eating-disordered athletes, their coaches and families. For coaches used to being the primary guiding force in athletes’ lives while they are engaged in their sport, the sudden intrusion of other professionals into the picture can be off-putting and a difficult adjustment. This is the frequent scenario the coach or athletic trainer encounters when an athlete is diagnosed with an eating disorder: the athlete’s meal plan, training, playing schedule and priorities are often altered dramatically, upsetting the natural coach-athlete relationship. Having an athlete in treatment for an eating disorder can be both a relief and a challenge for a coach. It can be a relief that your athlete is getting help, but also difficult to know how to work with your athlete’s treatment team. Trust issues between coaches and eating disorder specialists are more common than many people realize. When I work with coaches, one of the first things I talk about is where they fit in and the role they can play in their athlete’s recovery. It’s hard when the coach feels left out of the process and/or unsure of how treatment might affect the athlete’s performance. An athlete in recovery from an eating disorder needs both a treatment team and a management team. A treatment team is composed of health care professionals, and it might include a therapist, dietitian, physical therapist, family members and medical doctor. A management team includes the coach, athletic trainer and family, who help manage and carry out the plan of the treatment team. Although many medical doctors and therapists do not include coaches in management of the athlete, if you are able to establish a rapport with the treatment team, you can play an important role in the management of your athlete’s recovery. Athletes will have different degrees of comfort in sharing information with their management teams. Most athletes are willing to share treatment progress, such as “I’m meeting with my therapist twice a week, and things are going okay,” but they are usually less comfortable sharing personal details, such as body image concerns, feeling unmotivated at school, or dealing with depression. I try to encourage athletes to clarify what they feel comfortable sharing with their coach in a release of information form, so that the coach can be kept up to date on the athlete’s progress without the athlete feeling as though his or her confidentiality is being jeopardized. For example, if your athlete is not showing up for a therapist’s or doctor’s appointment, the coach is informed. The coach can talk to the athlete about the missed appointment, just as one might when an athlete misses an appointment with an academic tutor. It can be extremely hard for coaches to make training decisions for an athlete with an eating disorder when they are not privy to the decisions of the treatment team, and I sometimes see coaches who feel frustrated and shut out. You might feel that treatment providers have forgotten about your important role in the athlete’s life, or that they think you won’t understand the medical issues. Often legal confidentiality issues prevent you as coaches from having the degree of access you would like. However, if you are aware of the legal constraints from the beginning, it is possible to forge a good relationship with the treatment team. The best approach is to be proactive in your efforts to work with your athlete’s treatment team. Good rapport with the treatment team will make it easier to get the information you need. Voice an interest in his or her treatment plan. Find out more about the professionals on your athlete’s treatment team. Ideally, a member of the treatment team will talk to the athlete’s coach to learn more about the sport and its demands, and will speak with the athletic trainer about how the athlete should be training. If you are a trainer, you may feel you need more information in order to tailor practices for your athlete. Ask questions. Should you have him or her run as hard as everyone else? To what degree can you push your player and what can you expect from this person in a game or meet? The treatment team may inform you that your athlete is in danger and needs to stop participating in their sport for a while. You may feel that the athlete is performing better than ever. There are situations where, yes, an eating disordered athlete’s performance improves in the short run, but the behaviors the athlete is engaged in will eventually result in impaired performance and potentially serious physiological problems. Pulling an athlete from a team is a difficult decision. I have never worked with a treatment team that takes this decision lightly. If your athlete is young and still growing, the team may be more cautious in allowing continued participation, whereas with a collegiate athlete on scholarship, the team may want to keep him or her in as long as Page  | 42