Lauren Sesselmann competed at the highest level of women's soccer — representing Canada at the World Cup, winning an Olympic medal at the 2012 London Games, and playing professionally for years. From the outside, her career looked like everything an athlete could dream of.

But behind that career was a story most people never heard.

In this conversation, Lauren opens up about the mental and emotional toll of elite sports — from nearly walking away from professional soccer in her first three years, to a pivotal World Cup moment that pushed her into one of the darkest periods of her life. She talks openly about the depression and concussion-related challenges that forced her retirement, what it felt like to lose her identity when the game ended, and the long road back to finding purpose.

She also gets into what she is building now — mentoring the next generation of female athletes, working as a soccer agent and advisor, launching programs globally, and joining the AS Monaco women's team. And she shares the practical things nobody taught her as a young player: how to actually take care of your body, why overtraining is quietly breaking young athletes, and what she would tell her younger self today.

This one is for every athlete who has ever felt the weight of performance, every parent trying to support a young player, and every person navigating who they are when the thing they love most is taken away.

In this episode:

• The mental health crisis quietly affecting young soccer players
• Why overtraining is more dangerous than most coaches admit
• The World Cup moment that changed everything
• Concussions, brain health, and what her scan revealed
• Depression, identity loss, and life after professional sports
• Mentorship, agency work, and her next chapter in women's soccer
• What she would tell her younger self

About Deep Tissue Talks

Deep Tissue Talks is hosted by Doris, a licensed massage therapist and physical therapy educator whose work sits at the intersection of body care, athlete performance, and human stories. Each episode is recorded during a real session — creating an intimate space where guests open up in ways a traditional studio never allows.

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