Is It In My Mind
On this week's episode of The Dance Docs I sit down with Dr. Jen Davis PT who has transitioned her career into the field of mindset coaching. We sit down to discuss what is mindset coaching, how this work may be the missing link to your dancer’s injury, how to identify a dancer who would benefit from this work and when to refer out to a mindset coach.
How did you get into PT and then mindset coaching
I was an injured athlete myself with multiple knee injuries that took me out of the sport that I loved
Began career in PT focusing in sports medicine and suffered many of her own injuries
Began to fall in a dark place when injured and could no longer play the sport that defined her
Her sport defined her, brought in many positive traits, joy, confidence boosting, and experiences into life outside of sport
Due to multiple surgeries she has been in this place multiple times
She realized that there is a gap in the medical field and rehab/orthopedics, we need to work better in supporting the athlete in all aspects of their rehab including physical, mental, and emotional components.
Has taken on a few coaching certifications to help athletes to not fall as hard as she did
What is mindset coaching-
Learning the in’s and out’s of you mind and what makes you tick
Helping you to learn about the strategies and decision making skills, and how that has developed throughout your life
Lot of unpacking you as a human- how do you feel or not feel things
The tools to nip the road blocks in the bud and make decisions to think about things and feel things productively and efficiently so you don’t get stuck in the same road blocks in the future
Guidance and accountability for overcoming the mental and emotional roadblocks that keep an athlete feeling stuck, lost, confused, frustrated, unmotivated, feeling unlike themselves, etc.
So many PT wear multiple hats, especially when working in the dance medicine world. I have realized over the years that it is as much about really listening to your client as well as working on their physical injury.
I have worked with dancers where I know that the injury goes so much deeper than the physical ailments
How does your work differ from what a sports psychologist might do?
How can a PT support a healing athlete
Know when you are practicing outside of your area of expertise, build your community for a strong interdisciplinary team
Connect human to human with listening ears from a place of curiosity
As a PT focus on your musculoskeletal exam, and get to know their personality
Be a curious human and check in with your patient to know How is he/she really doing today? What’s bugging him/her?
Athletes are great at masking how they actually feel
If it seems like something is bothering the patient or has been bothering them for awhile and no other support seems to be working, refer out to mindset coach.
I am on the same team as PTs – we all want our clients to have rockstar outcomes.
Injuries most obviously include physical impairments but most athletes will tell you that the mental game is the toughest. And they often don’t know how to work through it by themselves.
Providing them with an outlet for mental and emotional support is the gateway to mental + emotional healing… which directly impacts the physical healing.
When should a PT refer a patient to a mindset coach
As soon as you feel something is off
When you feel like you’ve tried everything and the athlete still seems like she’s not herself, send her to me.
It is subjective
Need to listen to body language as athletes are pros at hiding their emotions to coaches, teachers, bosses
Is there a behavior change in the dancer, are they becoming:
Withdrawn
Not participating as much or as consistently in PT
Are they suddenly lacking motivation
a typical behavior changes
Never to early to start
Many times outward behavior changes will begin after it has been going on for a while
Help them to know what they are struggling with sooner rather than later
New research that is showing if we do not address the patients mindset it can directly affect physical recovery success
May have slower return or failed return to sport
Seeing a mindset coach may make it easier for the athlete to avoid larger mental/physical setbacks during the rehab process
Rehab process is never linear, many times it us up and down, forward and backwards, side to side and in circles
Remember a mindset coach is there to help the athlete master the mental and emotional part of injury that is likely to directly improve their motivation in physical recovery and return-to-sport success.
When might a dance teacher or parent reach out to support a healing dancer
Dance teachers or parents should also be aware of some of these changes and if you feel comfortable make the recommendation for the dancer to see a mindset coach.
The dancer may have returned from their injury, they did great on all their return to dance protocols but are hitting a wall now that they are back in the studio.
Could be fear avoidance behavior
Can lead to a failed or unsuccessful return to sport
May be at greater risk of another injury
Have a mindset coach in your back pocket and connect healing athlete as soon as you notice they’re struggling.
It’s NEVER too early to start working on this stuff – in fact, the earlier we work on the mental and emotional healing, the more quicker and easier the recovery process.
Tools that you may give an athlete to help them through the healing process
I’ve treated healing athletes for almost 5 years and, like many other PTs, have done everything I could in terms of manual therapy, taping techniques, strength exercises, etc but still have hit brick walls with patient success. It often left me scratching my head, feeling like there was something I was missing.
Help athletes tap into their human side
It’s not just about time and effort into dance, and recovery strategies
These tools involve digging much deeper than the physical ailments
It involves healing wounds that other people can’t see
Give athletes the tools to navigate the human side of things
Embrace the uncertainty
Letting go of total control
Understand the places where you are getting stuck and diving into how to move through it
unpack the problem down to the root.
Getting confident about what's in your heart and your mind
Stay tuned for the next episode on perfectionism
Jen has developed the Athlete Empowered Method, which helps athletes to heal from the inside out.
It goes deeper than mediation, yoga, journaling and reading every brene brown book out there.
These can be a great starting point, and raise awareness but many times do not have the actionable steps that someone may need
It involves crystal clear guidance for navigating mental and emotional blocks that keep athletes stuck as well as consistent accountability to PRACTICE the learnings
The dancer becomes as skilled in the deep heart work as they are in their work in the studio and onstage.
When they feel confident doing BOTH things, that’s when they start to see forward progress in their recovery and feel like themselves again – whether they’re participating in dance or not.
When to choose a mindset coach over a sports psychologist
Talk therapy is more problem oriented, coaching is solution based
Mindset coaching is geared towards helping you to get out of the dark place and move you forward so that you don't just keep it at bay.
Know that they both have tools that cross over
The most important things in knowing the dancer that is in front of you and guiding them to the right practitioner
Love your quote- Helping injured athletes reclaim their happiness and feel like themselves again
Where can our listeners find you?
Instagram @I_am_jendavis
Email jen@jendaviscoaching.com
About Jen Davis:
Jen is a Healthy Mindset Coach serving injured athletes feeling like they’re losing their sense of self during/after the rehab process.
Jen started her career as a Doctor of Physical Therapy and served the sports medicine population for nearly 5 years before she started her own business as a Mindset Coach. She loved helping athletes physically get back to sport, but she always felt an important part of the rehab process was missing. During her personal experience recovering from 8 sports-injury-related surgeries, Jen felt like the most challenging part of recovery and returning to sport was not the physical – it was 100% the mental game. And in her clinical practice as a Physical Therapist, she recognized that the non-physical sides of injuries are often where athletes crave support the most. This is what led Jen to learn everything she could about coaching athletes through the mental and emotional roller coaster associated with injury and the return-to-sport process.
Now Jen works full-time leading injured athletes in all sports through her tried-and-true Athlete Empowered Method, helping athletes to heal from the inside out. Her mission is to educate and empower athletes to take the reigns back on their happiness during all stages of injury and recovery so that they can feel like their best selves inside and outside of sport.
Are you an injured athlete ready to do whatever it takes to feel like yourself again? Sign up for your complimentary discovery call here.
Are you a provider looking to join forces and establish a dream team for your patients to heal physically AND mentally so that they can get back to sport SOONER?
Email Jen at jen@jendaviscoaching.com.