I am elated to welcome fellow Inland Empire native, Taj Dashaun to the locker room! Taj is a former Division 1 football player turned author, speaker, and athlete transition coach. When his football career ended, Taj struggled heavily with depression. Due to being so focused on the game, he never fully developed a clear vision for his life. Taj found a new passion and purpose in taking his eyes off of himself and serving others.

Through his business, "Thrive After Sports," Taj runs holistic programs for retired athletes who, like he once was, are struggling to adapt to life after the game. Not only does Taj help former players land jobs and start businesses, he helps them find fulfillment in every area of their lives.

Taj's mission and passion is to help others overcome the fear, frustration, and uncertainty associated with life post-athletics.

In today's episode, we discuss Taj's football career, his experience as an African American student-athlete at a public Ivy League Institution, what retirement and the mental health struggles that followed looked like for him, and more.

Instagram: @tajdashaun
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tajdashaun/
Purchase Taj's Book!: https://www.amazon.com/Thrive-After-Sports-Dominate-Game/dp/B08PX79RQG
https://www.tajdashaun.com/

If you have a story you would like to share, support, or feedback, please text me!

Put a finger down if you have ever struggled to stop eating something, not because it tasted so good but due to something incredibly psychological and greater than your own comprehension. Put a finger down if you can't help but numb yourself with food after you've had a bad day, resulting in feelings of shame so great you can barely look at yourself or even others the next day.

Dr. Mary Wansley joins me in the locker room to discuss the shame-based addiction, Binge Eating Disorder. BED is a mental illness that manifests as a behavioral disorder, resulting in chronic overeating.

BED is an affliction I have struggled with since I was a young girl, and I lost myself in this struggle during my first two years of college. My challenges with BED also led to other eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors, wreaking havoc on my studies and responsibilities, relationships, and mental health. I lost my sport, I lost my family and friends, and I lost myself.

Working with Dr. Wansley saved my life.

Dr. Wansley is a personal development coach, hypnotherapist, and program coordinator of the Mind Body Reset Method, an 8-session intensive program of recovery for individuals who suffer from emotional overeating, binge eating, restrictive eating, and yo-yo dieting. She developed a non-diet approach to change how those who struggle think about food and eating to end self-destructive eating, stop self-sabotage, reach a comfortable body weight, and regain the quality of their lives.

Dr. Wansley works with clients remotely throughout the country and in her office in Dallas, Texas. Before moving to Dallas, Mary worked in private practice in Los Angeles.

Dr. Wansley holds a BA in Mass Communication, a Master's in Speech and Communication, and a PhD in Interpersonal Communication. Though a former college professor turned clinician, Dr. Wansley remains involved in academia as a speaker and educator about eating disorders and body perfectionism.

Instagram: @drmarywansley
Website: https://drmarywansley.com

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I'm honored to welcome Coach Forest Braden (former UCLA Assistant Coach, Mid-Distances, Distance, and Cross Country) to the locker room as we have an open and candid conversation, now in hindsight about the circumstances that led to the collapse of my running career while under his tutelage. Now in his seventh season as head distance coach at William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Virginia, Braden shares how his coaching philosophies have evolved as mental health discussions in distance running have continued to take center stage in comparison to the delicate and even nonexistent nature of these topics during our time working together, as well as his time as a student-athlete at Boise State University.

Braden completed his Boise State career as the most decorated distance runner in the history of the program, and the only distance runner to earn three NCAA All-American honors in school history- earning accolades in indoor and outdoor track as well as cross country.

Prior to his time developing some of UCLA's all-time best middle distance and distance runners, Braden also coached at Gonzaga University.

Braden also ran for Team Indiana Elite for one year and placed in the top-10 in five USATF Championship meets.

• View Braden's PR's here: https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/forest-braden-14233143
• Instagram: @theboisebruiser
• William & Mary Bio: https://tribeathletics.com/sports/mens-track-and-field/roster/coaches/forest-braden/3472

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I'm honored to reunite with former UCLA Sports Performance Coach Karen Costello, MA. I was lucky to work with Karen during my first year at UCLA. Karen worked closely with me to understand the interconnectivity between negative self-talk and sports performance as I struggled to acclimatize to life as a student, athlete, and member of the UCLA community. Today in the locker room, we discuss some of the everyday challenges student-athletes face, what needs to change in the landscape of intercollegiate athletics to better support our student-athletes, and where her path has taken her in her current work with the U.S. Army using her expertise in Sports Psychology and Resilience.

If you have a story you would like to share, support, or feedback, please text me!

Everyone remembers their first love. For me, mine was my sport...and if you have found yourself here, I think yours was too.

Welcome to Locker Talk®, my podcast I've created to spread mental health awareness, share space, and build community.

My Locker Talk® concept consists of Women's Locker Talk®, Men's Locker Talk™, LGBTQ+ Locker Talk™, and Locker Talk University™. I articulate stigmatized topics that may or may not be discussed both openly and behind the scenes in our sports environments and communities today. They certainly were left unspoken throughout my career as a competitive distance runner when I struggled tremendously with Depression, eating disorders, food insecurity, suicidal ideations, and much more during my time competing as a nationally acclaimed distance runner for UCLA women's cross country and distance track and field. My simple hope for my Locker Talk™ concept is to use the art of storytelling with some help from some highly esteemed professionals I met along my journey to carry the love that I had for my sport and intercollegiate athletics as an act of love, compassion, and wellness, not self-destruction. Regardless of your sport or lack thereof, demographic, gender identity, sexuality, or race, I welcome all to my locker rooms to listen and hopefully take the stories and resources I share as a roadmap and source of unconditional and unwavering acceptance and support to something that you might be currently undergoing.

If you have a story you would like to share, support, or feedback, please text me!