Independent mental health care for athletes
13th Care helps athletes find vetted mental health professionals who understand performance pressure, injury, identity, and transition. Matching is built around trust, fit, and continuity in care.
Athlete path
Pressing Find care now opens a dedicated athlete path page built around goals, privacy, fit, and continuity.
The care gap
The barrier is not awareness alone. Athletes often delay care when trust feels uncertain, sport context is missing, or the first match does not hold.
01
Care can feel risky when it sits too close to team dynamics, outside judgment, or the pressure to keep everything contained.
02
Performance stress, injury, identity, and transition all need specific context, not just a general intake form.
03
The first appointment matters less than finding a relationship worth staying with after the initial introduction.
The care model
13th Care is built around three things general marketplaces rarely solve well: independence, specialization, and match quality.
Independent by design
Built for sport-specific care
Focused on continuity, not convenience
Why 13th Care
Most support options for athletes solve one piece of the problem. None combine provider vetting, sport-specific preparation, multi-dimensional matching, and retention focus into one system open to athletes at every level.
| Dimension | What exists today | What 13th Care does differently |
|---|---|---|
| Matching | Availability, zip code, and insurance filters | Six dimensions including sport context, communication style, and bidirectional provider fit |
| Provider readiness | Any licensed therapist can join | Providers are tested, trained in sport context, and verified before introduction |
| Success metric | Sessions booked or first contact made | Retention in care and relationship quality over time |
| Who it serves | General population, or elite athletes only | Youth through retired, every competition level |
| Clinical care | Content apps and peer communities without licensed providers | Clinical matching to licensed, sport-specialized professionals |
| Independence | Team-employed psychologists with disclosure risk | Structurally independent — no reporting to coaches or rosters |
| Specialization | General therapy with no sport-specific baseline | Sport-specific competency as a requirement, not an optional filter |
Rematch without stigma
Rematching is treated as a continuation of care, not a correction. Context carries forward so the next introduction can move faster and feel more informed.
Independence by default
Athletes should not have to weigh disclosure risk before asking for support. The platform is designed so care access never sits inside team-side pressure.
Research highlights
Trust, context, and support quality shape whether care begins and whether it lasts. Research across 40 studies and 14,462 athletes backs this model. See the evidence
Next step
13th Care is built to help athletes find support that feels independent, specialized, and worth staying with. Organizations can support access without controlling care.