Will you take my teen’s side or the parent’s side?

No. My role is to be fair, direct, and supportive to everyone involved, helping families work together more effectively.

How involved are parents in therapy?

Parents play an important role. Involvement may include check-ins, joint sessions, or guidance around communication and expectations, depending on what’s most helpful.

Is therapy just a place for teens to vent?

Therapy includes emotional support, but it also focuses on accountability, communication, and skills that lead to real change.

Do you work with teens who have ADHD or are neurodivergent?

Yes. I work with neurodivergent teens and young adults, including those with ADHD, with a focus on emotional regulation, responsibility, and self-understanding. Many of the adolescents I work with are neurodivergent or have ADHD. Therapy focuses on understanding how their brain works, building practical skills, and addressing the emotional impact of school, expectations, and relationships.

Former Athlete Support
with Jacob Nathan, LSW

Honest, practical therapy for life after sports, identity after athletics, and figuring out what comes next.

A lot of people underestimate how hard life after sports can be. From the outside, it can look like you just stopped playing. But for a lot of former athletes, it is much bigger than that. You lose structure, routine, competition, community, and often one of the clearest versions of who you thought you were. Even if the transition was technically your choice, it can still feel disorienting, lonely, and harder than you expected.

I work with former athletes and highly active adults who are trying to make sense of life after sports. That can include anxiety, identity issues, post-college adjustment, career questions, work stress, loss of routine, relationship changes, or the feeling that life looks fine on the surface but does not feel right. I connect well with this work because I lived it myself. I spent about fifteen years in intense athletics and played college soccer, so I know what it is like when sports stop being the structure around which everything else is organized.

Why Life After Sports Can Feel So Hard

When sports end, the loss is not just physical. It is emotional, social, and psychological too. A lot of athletes are used to clear goals, built-in structure, accountability, competition, and a strong sense of identity. Once that is gone, people often find themselves asking questions they did not expect: Who am I without this? What do I do with my energy now? Why does normal life feel flatter than it should?

I see this a lot, and I understand it personally. Life after sports can bring up anxiety, low mood, irritability, self-doubt, restlessness, and a strange sense of disconnection. Sometimes the problem is that you miss the sport itself. Sometimes it is that you miss who you were when you were in it. A lot of people do not realize how much of their confidence, routine, and social world was tied to athletics until it is gone.

It Feels Bigger Than “Just Depression”

A lot of former athletes get told they are just depressed, and sometimes that does not feel quite right. I understand why. When your life used to involve constant movement, high-level competition, intense training, built-in structure, and the kind of internal drive that pushes you all day, the shift into a more sedentary or conventional adult life can feel like hitting a wall. You may still work out, run, or stay active, but a morning workout is not the same as a life organized around training, performance, teammates, and competition. The loss is bigger than exercise. It is a full-body, full-identity change.

I understand that both as a former athlete and as a therapist. I also know what it is like to think, why can’t I just do this? For a long time, you had coaches pushing you, teammates counting on you, and a whole structure built around performance. Life outside of athletics can feel lonely by comparison, and it can be much harder to motivate yourself without that external pressure and support. Sometimes there is real depression mixed in. Sometimes it is more about loss of structure, loss of identity, loss of intensity, and the sense that normal life does not hit the same way anymore. Either way, I take it seriously. Therapy can help you understand what is actually happening, recreate some of the structure and support you miss, and build a life that feels alive again.

This Is Not Just About Missing Sports

A lot of former athletes try to explain this away by saying they just miss working out, competing, or being on a team. That can be true, but it is usually not the whole story. Often what people are really dealing with is identity after sports, life after college athletics, loss of structure, and the challenge of building an adult life that feels meaningful without the old framework.

I think this is one reason this work matters so much. When athletics have shaped you for years, it makes sense that stepping away would affect more than your schedule. It can affect your confidence, your relationships, your habits, your body image, your goals, and your sense of direction. Therapy can help you understand that transition instead of just pushing through it and hoping it gets easier on its own.

I Understand This Personally

I spent about fifteen years in intense athletics and played college soccer, so I know firsthand what it is like when sports are not just something you do, but a major part of your life and identity. I also know what it is like when that structure changes and you have to figure out who you are without it. For me, that transition was not simple. It involved losing something important, rethinking where I belonged, and learning how to build a different kind of life.

That lived experience is one reason I work well with former athletes. I am not talking about this from a distance. I understand what it is like when the thing that gave you routine, meaning, community, discipline, and momentum is no longer there in the same way. I also know it is possible to build something good on the other side, even if it takes time and does not happen all at once.

When Performance Stops Organizing Your Life

A lot of athletes are used to a life where performance drives everything. Your schedule, goals, sleep, food, training, recovery, and social world all have a structure. Then sports end, and suddenly you are expected to function in a much looser, less defined version of life. That can create a kind of emptiness or drift that is hard to explain, especially if the people around you do not really understand why this transition feels like such a big deal.

I work with people who are trying to rebuild after that. That may mean finding a healthier routine, reconnecting with your body differently, building community outside of sports, or figuring out how to carry the good parts of being an athlete into the next phase of life without feeling trapped by the old identity. The goal is not to erase that part of you. The goal is to help you keep it in a way that still lets you grow.

Former Athlete Support Is Really Therapy

Yes. Former athlete support is absolutely real therapy. Life after sports often overlaps with anxiety, depression, identity issues, life transitions, work stress, body image issues, grief, and relationship struggles. Sometimes the transition out of sports happens at the same time as graduating college, moving to a new city, starting a first job, or trying to build adult relationships. That is a lot for one person to carry at once.

I take this work seriously because I know how much people can minimize it. They tell themselves they should be over it, or that it should not matter this much anymore. But if sports shaped your life for years, it makes complete sense that the transition out of that world would affect you deeply. Therapy can help you understand the transition, process what you lost, and build something new with more intention.

My Approach to Former Athlete Support

My style is collaborative, conversational, and direct. I want this work to feel like a real conversation, not just a place where you say you miss sports and I tell you to find a new hobby. I ask a lot of questions, bring ideas into the room, and help you understand what is actually happening underneath the surface. That may include anxiety, perfectionism, identity issues, sadness, frustration, work stress, relationship strain, or the feeling that you do not quite know where to put your energy now.

I also think this work needs to be practical. I do not want therapy to stay abstract. I want to help you think through routine, community, goals, movement, relationships, and what kind of life you are building now. My goal is not to help you get over sports. My goal is to help you understand what that part of your life meant, what parts of it you still want to carry forward, and how to build a future that feels real and sustainable.

How Former Athlete Support Can Help

understand why life after sports feels harder than you expected
work through identity issues, anxiety, sadness, or drift after athletics
adjust to post-college life and post-college athletic life
rebuild routine, structure, and purpose after losing the framework of sports
make sense of the loss of competition, community, and physical outlet
carry the strengths of being an athlete into the next phase of life
build a fuller life without feeling like you have to erase who you used to be

How I Help with Former Athlete Support at Modern Therapy Alliance

I do not treat this as a niche side issue. I look at the broader pattern. Life after sports often connects to anxiety, identity issues, career and work stress, life transitions, body image, relationships, and the loss of a clear role. I want to help people understand those connections so therapy leads to real movement instead of just nostalgia or frustration.

For some people, that means grieving what they lost. For others, it means figuring out how to build community, structure, and purpose without athletics organizing everything. I know from my own life how complicated that transition can be. That experience helps me stay honest, practical, and patient when I work with former athletes who are trying to figure out what life looks like now.

Is Former Athlete Support with Jacob a Good Fit?

I am a strong fit for former athletes, former college athletes, and highly active adults who feel stuck, restless, uncertain, or disconnected after sports and want more than generic encouragement. You do not need to have everything figured out before starting, but it helps if you are willing to talk honestly about what you lost, what still matters to you, and what you want life to look like now.

I work especially well with people dealing with identity after sports, post-college athletic adjustment, loss of routine, anxiety, work stress, and the challenge of building a new version of life after a highly structured one. If you want thoughtful, direct, collaborative therapy for life after sports, this may be a good fit.

Related Services

Frequently Asked Questions About Former Athlete Support

Do you work with former college athletes?

Yes. I work with former college athletes who are trying to adjust to life after sports, especially when that change overlaps with graduation, starting a first job, moving, or trying to build a new identity outside of athletics.

What if I feel lost after sports but do not know why?

That is very common. A lot of people know they feel off, restless, or disconnected, but have not fully put together how much sports shaped their life. Therapy can help you understand what changed and why it is affecting you the way it is.

Do you only work with elite athletes?

No. I work with former athletes more broadly, including people whose lives were heavily shaped by sports even if they were not playing at the highest level. What matters is how much athletics organized your identity, routine, and sense of self.

Can therapy help if I miss the structure and routine of sports?

Yes. That is one of the main things I help with. A lot of former athletes miss not just the sport, but the structure, accountability, community, and built-in sense of purpose. Therapy can help you rebuild those in a way that fits your life now.

Do you help with identity after sports?

Yes. This is one of the core parts of the work. I help people understand who they are after sports, what parts of that identity still matter, and how to build a life that feels meaningful without being trapped in the past.

What if I am still active but do not feel the same connection to it anymore?

That is also something I work with. Sometimes the issue is not that sports are completely gone. It is that your relationship to your body, competition, or performance has changed, and you are trying to make sense of what that means now.

Ready to Start Former Athlete Support?

You do not have to figure out life after sports on your own. If you are looking for former athlete support in Chicago that is practical, direct, and collaborative, I would be glad to talk with you. Reach out for a consultation and we can start figuring out what changed, what still matters, and what needs to happen next.

Former Athlete Support with Jacob Nathan, LSW