BEAVERTON, Ore. — Two local female authors are sounding the alarm on the mental health crisis in women’s sports in their newly published book "The Price She Pays."
"You know, it really came out [of] such a love and passion for women in sports," said co-author and licensed therapist Tiffany Brown.
The book shares firsthand accounts from women of all ages about the mental challenges that stem from competitive sports that often follow them for the rest of their lives.
“It's not just a new phenomenon,” said Brown. “It's just that it's new in terms of being able to be talked about, even though people have been feeling it for so long."
Katie Steele is the co-author of the book and is also a licensed therapist. Both women have dedicated their careers to advocating for athletes' mental health. It's a topic Steele connects to on a personal level as a former collegiate athlete herself.
"And I learned through my lived experience the impact,” said Steele, “so, one of the biggest things in writing 'The Price She Pays' is we learned that my story is not unique."
The book highlights the tough realities women of all ages and competitive levels face in sports — depression, eating disorders, abuse and mistreatment by some coaches.
"It didn't just come and end with the sport,” said Steele. “It continued on for these folks often time for a lot of them for their entire life."
An NCAA study on college student-athlete wellbeing found women in sports experienced higher rates of anxiety, mental exhaustion and body image issues compared to men.
“We wrote this book with an urgent call to action, knowing that over half of young girls are leaving sport because of their experiences at a young age,” said Brown.
To help change that statistic with their investigation findings, the pair highlighted small changes coaches and parents can make to ease the mental impact that comes with competitive sports.
“We want to see change,” said Brown. “This is not a book that we put out into the world to have it sit on a shelf and hope somebody picks it up here and there.”
While it can be difficult for athletes to improve their mental health after such vile treatment, it can happen, though triggers still come up.
“We were in Eugene for the track and field trials, and I had a visceral response,” shared Steele. “My body took over. It wasn’t necessarily conscious memories that were coming back, but it was a body response of protection and preservation that I was surprised by.”
Steele says it takes time to heal, although noticing the internal triggers and feelings is a start in understanding there’s something to work on.
“Knowing that the harm that is being done to young girls and women in sports is preventable and changeable, but we all have to be in the conversation together to do that,” said Brown.
There will be a book signing event Thursday, June 27, at 7 p.m. at the Powell’s Book Store location in Beaverton. Jenny Nguyen, the founder of The Sports Bra, will also be there.