I loved the game. Then the plan changed.
I built Unlocking Success because I know what it feels like to care deeply about success and still need support.
For as long as I can remember, basketball was how I knew myself.
I was the basketball player. The teammate. The competitor. The person who always had another workout, another season, another goal in front of him.
I stepped onto Davidson’s campus as a Division I basketball player and later became a team captain. I loved the game, but I also built a lot of my identity around it. Basketball gave me structure, people, purpose, and a picture of who I thought I would become.
Then four knee surgeries changed the plan.
Everyone could see the physical part. What was harder to explain was everything that came after. I was trying to figure out who I was without the thing that had shaped most of my life. I did not know what career I wanted. I did not know what came next. And I did not have good words for why losing sport felt like losing a piece of myself.
I went to four different therapists during that stretch. Some conversations helped in different ways, but I still remember how hard it was to explain why basketball mattered so much before I could even explain what hurt. I wish I had understood sooner that the change I was going through was bigger than just “not playing anymore.”
Sport can give you a role, a family, a routine, and a future to chase. Losing or changing that role can hit deeper than people expect.
Experience from both sides.
I know the sports side. I also have the training to help when life gets heavier than sports.
Former Division I Team Captain
I know what competition, injuries, roles, teammates, coaches, and expectations can feel like from the inside.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
I am trained to help with anxiety, grief, stress, identity, relationships, and other mental health concerns.
Certified Sport Social Worker
I have added training in the place where sport, mental health, development, and performance meet.
Before I became a therapist, teammates were already coming to me.
Over the years, teammates would pull me aside and talk. Sometimes it was basketball. Sometimes it was confidence, relationships, family, stress, or something they did not feel comfortable saying to everyone else.
I did not have clinical words for that yet. I just knew I could listen, be real with people, and help them feel a little less alone.
After basketball, that memory kept coming back to me. It helped point me toward youth work, social work, therapy, coaching, and eventually sport mental health.
Unlocking Success grew from that idea: support should make sense to the person receiving it. You should not have to explain why the game, the role, the job, or the pressure matters before we can talk about what is happening underneath it.
The setbacks came before the work.
That is part of why this feels personal.
This did not start with a business.
Injury, waiting, starting over, and finding purpose were part of my story long before Unlocking Success had a name.
Athletes are the front door. They are not the only people who fit here.
My story and training make sport a natural starting point. I also work with men and other high performers who are used to being dependable, productive, and strong for everybody else.
Athletes & teens
Pressure, identity, injury, confidence, family stress, relationships, school, and life outside the game.
Men
A place to talk without having to perform, fix everything, or already know the right words.
High performers
For people who look successful on the outside but feel stressed, stuck, burned out, or unsure of who they are becoming.
The right kind of support matters.
Therapy, coaching, and team work are not the same. I keep those lines clear so you can get what fits.
Therapy
Mental health care for problems that are affecting everyday life, not just performance.
Coaching
Skill building for confidence, focus, routines, leadership, and handling pressure.
Teams
Training and support that helps coaches and programs better support the people they lead.