5th Annual Conference
2026 Eating Disorders in Sport:
A Treatment Playbook for Providers
Treating the Adolescent and Young Adult Athlete
Eating Disorders in Sport: A Treatment Playbook for Providers
Treating the Adolescent and Young Adult Athlete
Riley Nickols, PhD, CEDS-C
Founder – Mind Body Endurance, Counseling & Sport Psychologist
Hidden
About Riley
Riley Nickols, PhD, CEDS-C is a counseling and sport psychologist who specializes in working with athletes to address mental health and sport performance concerns. Dr. Nickols obtained an MS in Sport Psychology from Ithaca College in addition to an MS in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University. He regularly speaks to athletes, coaches, and sports medicine personnel about supporting the mental health of athletes, disordered eating, and unbalanced exercise in sport. Additionally, Dr. Nickols consults with eating disorder professionals on best practices for integrating exercise during eating disorder treatment and is sensitive to the unique demands of eating disorder recovery in relation to training and competing in sport. Currently, Dr. Nickols is the Senior Program Advisor for Athlete EDGE at EDCare in Denver, CO where specialized intensive eating disorder treatment is provided for athletes. He was previously the Director of the Victory Program, the nation’s first residential eating disorder treatment facility for athletes, from 2013-2021 at McCallum Place in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Nickols is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) Expert Panel and is listed in the USOPC’s Mental Health Directory. He is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) and Consultant (CEDS-C) through the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP) and holds a certificate in the Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders from the Contemporary Psychotherapy’s Center for the Study of Anorexia & Bulimia (CSAB) in New York, NY. He currently serves on the Clinical Advisory Council for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). Dr. Nickols is currently on the steering committee for the Eating Disorders and Body Image Special Interest Group as part of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division 38 (Society for Health Psychology) and was on the steering committee for Safe Exercise at Every Stage’s (SEES) Athlete Guidelines. Dr. Nickols is a member of the Big Sky Sport Psychology Group, Collegiate Clinical/Counseling Sport Psychology Association (CCSPA), American Psychological Association’s Division 47 (Exercise & Sport Psychology), and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) Eating Disorders Special Interest Group. He is also an Approved Mentor through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Dr. Nickols is a licensed psychologist in California, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New York. Additionally, he is an approved, participating PSYPACT psychologist and can provide telehealth in the participating PSYPACT states. In addition to competing in endurance sports for over 20 years, Dr. Nickols is a running and triathlon coach. His proudest accomplishment is being married to his best friend and raising three adorable kids.
Rebecca “Becca” McConville,
MS, RD, LD, CSSD, CEDRD-C
Director of Performance Nutrition – Mind Body Endurance
Hidden
About Becca
Becca is the Director of Performance Nutrition at Mind Body Endurance. Over the past 10 years Becca has specialized in the intersection of sports and eating disorders, understanding how the path to driven sometimes can become destructive without the support of professionals that get it. Being a former collegiate athlete now youth coach and Mom to an active daughter, my career’s mission is to create a safer place in sport to see athletes thrive. This means aligning with like-minded, value-driven professionals. As the director of Performance Nutrition at MBE Becca creates a place to challenge the status quo and have ongoing peer consultation to stay evidence-informed & connected to the clients. In addition to private practice, she has served as a consultant to the University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics, Kansas City Ballet, local colleges and previously worked with the Kansas City Chiefs. Becca and Riley have developed and presented over the US The Eating Disorder in Sport Workshop for athlete providers. Becca is also the author of Finding your Sweet Spot- How to Avoid REDs (Relative Energy Deficit in Sport) by Optimizing Your Energy Balance and RED-Solution mentorship program for clinicians.. She is a co-host of a podcast called PHIT for a Queen devoted to female athletes. In 2022, she released her workbook on transitioning out of sport, At LAST, with Dr. Mel Streno.
Special Guest Presenters
Hear from leaders in the field of treating eating disorders in the context of sport.
Kara Bazzi, LMFT, CEDS
Co-Founder, Clinical Director and Director of Exercise+Sport
Program at Opal: Food+Body Wisdom
Hidden
About Kara
Grounded in both clinical expertise and lived experience, Kara brings a deeply personal perspective to her work. As a former Division I collegiate distance runner who navigated her own eating disorder, she is passionately committed to prevention efforts at both the local and national levels. Her work includes athlete and coach education, podcasting, providing expert insight into media interviews, and volunteer coaching within a local high school distance running program.
Kara is also the mother of two daughters—a high school junior and a collegiate freshman—both highly competitive distance runners. This personal connection further fuels her dedication to creating healthier, more supportive sport systems for current and future generations of athletes.
Katherine Hill, MD, FAAP
Co-founder & Medical Director, AthleatMD P.C.
Hidden
About Dr. Hill
specialist with over 20 years of experience. As an NCAA Division I swimmer, Dr. Hill first
became interested in the intersection of athletics and disordered eating while conducting
research on medical complications of disordered eating among collegiate athletes.
Dr. Hill completed her undergraduate education, medical degree, and pediatric residency at
Stanford University, followed by four years as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Adolescent
Medicine at Stanford. She then spent nearly five years as Medical Director, Practice Owner, and
Vice President of Medical Affairs and Care Delivery at Equip Health, helping to build and scale
one of the nation’s leading virtual eating disorder treatment programs.
In 2025, Dr. Hill co-founded AthleatMD with Dr. Megan Hellner—a multi-state virtual medical and
nutrition practice dedicated to supporting athletes affected by REDs, sports nutrition challenges,
and eating disorders. She also serves as a medical consultant for multiple digital health startups
and holds medical licenses in nearly every U.S. state.
Before her medical career, Dr. Hill was an Olympic Trials qualifier, two-time Georgia High School
Swimmer of the Year, and member of Stanford’s Pac-10 Championship women’s swim team.
Today, she brings both her clinical expertise and lived experience to her work as a physician,
founder, and advocate. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, Matt, and three children,
Connor, Kaitlyn, and Ethan.
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, OLY, M.Ed.
High-Performance Consultant
Keynote Speaker
Mental Health Advocate
Hidden
About Samantha
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone is an Olympic gold medalist, high-performance consultant, keynote speaker, and mental health coach whose work sits at the intersection of athlete wellbeing, mental health, and sustainable performance. She partners with organizations, teams, coaches, and leaders to strengthen mental wellbeing, build true mental toughness, and create environments where individuals can perform, recover, and thrive.
A former U.S. National Team member and 2000 Olympic gold medalist in the 4×200 freestyle relay, Samantha brings both elite sport credibility and lived experience to her work. During her athletic career, she navigated debilitating mental health challenges including a diagnosed eating disorder. Now 25 years into recovery, she brings a deeply informed perspective to conversations about athlete mental health, identity, pressure, and the performance environments that shape wellbeing. Her personal and professional journey informs her commitment to helping athletes and high performers move through adversity with greater awareness, support, and skill.
In 2016, Samantha founded Livingstone High Performance and the Whole Athlete Initiative (WAI) in response to the growing adolescent mental health crisis. Through this work, she supports schools, sport organizations, teams, and high performers using an approach that integrates evidence-based practice, mindfulness, and trauma-informed coaching. Her work focuses on helping individuals and systems better understand the relationship between stress, identity, performance, and wellbeing.
In addition to her work at Livingstone High Performance, Samantha serves as Chief Wellness Officer at 5in5 Inc., where she helps lead strategic partnerships and the implementation of STARR coaching across organizations. She holds a master’s degree in science education and is a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor, facilitator of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement, and STARR (Stress & Trauma Active Release + Rewire) Certified.
She resides in New England with her husband and four daughters. Learn more at samanthalivingstone.com.
Wendy Sterling, MS, RD, CSSD, CEDS-C
Sterling Nutrition
Hidden
About Wendy
Wendy Sterling, MS, RD, CSSD, CEDS-C (she/her), is a nationally recognized eating disorder dietitian and board-certified sports dietitian. She co-founded the Plate-by-Plate Approach®, a revolutionary tool that simplifies eating disorder recovery without calorie counting or measuring. The method is now used in over 40 countries and has been widely adopted by treatment centers and hospitals. Wendy is the co-author of How to Nourish Your Child Through an Eating Disorder: A Simple, Plate-by-Plate Approach to Reestablishing a Healthy Relationship with Food and How to Nourish Yourself Through an Eating Disorder: Recovery for Adults Using the Plate-by-Plate Approach®.
Wendy collaborates with schools and sports teams on eating disorder prevention, a focus reflected in her books for teens and parents: No Weigh! A Teen’s Guide to Body Image, Food, and Emotional Wisdom and Raising Body Positive Teens: A Parent’s Guide to Diet-Free Living, Exercise and Body Image.
Wendy has worked in intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization eating disorder programs providing care to adolescents, including at The Healthy Teen Project and the Eating Disorders Center at Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in the Division of Adolescent Medicine. Her research on amenorrhea, osteoporosis, and metabolism in adolescents has been published in leading journals.
Wendy has consulted for elite sports organizations, including the Oakland Athletics, Golden State Warriors, New York Jets, New York Islanders, and Hofstra University’s Women’s Lacrosse and Volleyball teams. She works with athletes to enhance endurance, speed, and explosiveness and works with schools, sports clubs, and elite teams nationwide. Wendy also advises sports agencies on performance nutrition for the NBA Draft and NFL Combine and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee Sports Dietitian Registry.
She is a sought-after national and international lecturer and has been featured in the MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series and the Common Ground Speaker Series, both of which highlight nationally recognized experts on education, parenting, and health.
Wendy is the 2026 recipient of the Helen Bull Vandervort Alumni Achievement Award from Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology — the college’s highest alumni honor, recognizing outstanding leadership, innovation, and lasting impact in one’s profession and community.
Wendy earned her B.S. in Dietetics/Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and her M.S. in Nutrition Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she also completed her dietetic internship. Wendy is a former competitive dancer and All-American Cheerleader. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two teenagers, and her puppy Charlie—who is highly distracting and loves sitting in on virtual sessions.
Riley Nickols, PhD, CEDS-C and Becca McConville MS, RD, LDN, CSSD, CEDRD-C are excited to facilitate a full day of learning to advance the understanding and effectiveness of providers to assess and treat athletes with eating disorders.
The theme for the 2026 Eating Disorders in Sport: A Treatment Playbook for Providers is Treating the Adolescent and Young Adult Athlete. Renowned experts, Kara Bazzi, LMFT, CEDS, Katherine Bell Hill, MD, FAAP, Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, OLY, M.Ed. , and Wendy Sterling, MS, RD, CSSD, CEDS-C will share valuable knowledge, recommendations, and lived experiences to enhance the treatment of athletes.
This full day virtual workshop is designed to advance the understanding and effectiveness of providers and sport personnel in identifying, assessing, and supporting adolescent and young adult athletes experiencing eating disorders and related concerns within sport environments.
The theme for the 2026 Eating Disorders in Sport: A Treatment Playbook for Providers is Treating the Adolescent and Young Adult Athlete. This training will focus on the unique developmental, medical, psychological, nutritional, and environmental factors that place adolescent athletes at increased risk while highlighting opportunities for early identification, prevention, and effective intervention.
This workshop is intended to inform, empower, and equip sport personnel and eating disorder providers with evidence-based best practices to support adolescent athletes with confidence, competence, and ethical care.
Participants will learn how to optimally support adolescent athletes navigating eating disorder treatment by applying developmentally appropriate best practices, engaging families and caregivers when appropriate, and leveraging available resources across school, club, collegiate pipeline, and healthcare systems. Emphasis will be placed on the complex and multifaceted nature of eating disorders during adolescence, including identity development, maturation, injury risk, and performance pressures.
This training will provide education, skill-building, and practical interventions specific to:
- Understanding eating disorders and disordered eating in adolescent athletes
- Medical, nutritional, and psychological concerns unique to this population
- Navigating crucial and sensitive conversations with athletes, parents/caregivers, and sport personnel
- Modifying training, competition, and expectations during treatment and recovery
- Supporting safe reintegration into sport
- Addressing challenges and ethical considerations within multidisciplinary and collaborative care models
Case study demonstrations will include developmentally appropriate assessment tools, decision-making frameworks, and return-to-sport considerations for adolescent athletes. Recommendations will be provided for athletic departments, schools, clubs, and sport organizations on how to implement effective education, policies, and supervision structures to support early identification and intervention.
2026 Eating Disorders in Sport: A Treatment Playbook for Providers Agenda (all times CST)
Treating the Adolescent and Young Adult Athlete
9:00am – 9:15am – Introduction and considerations for treating the adolescent and young adult athlete
9:15am – 10:40am – Finding Common Ground: Aligning Sports Performance and Eating Disorder Recovery in Young Athletes – Katherine Bell Hill, MD, FAAP
Learning Objectives
- Identify and discuss three key medical complications of REDs and eating disorders in athletes, with focus on unique considerations for bradycardia, orthostasis, hormone suppression, and bone health in athletes.
- Evaluate evidence-based guidelines for return-to-activity in athletes with eating disorders, highlighting the importance of individualized progression supervised by a multi-disciplinary care team.
- Discuss the role of growth charts and weight restoration in the medical and functional recovery of young athletes with eating disorders and/or REDs.
10:40am – 11am – Break/Networking
11am – 12:25pm – Weight of Gold: When Achievement Hides Suffering – Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, OLY, M.Ed.
Learning Objectives
- Illustrate how high-performance sport environments can contribute to the development and maintenance of eating disorders in young athletes.
- Explore the long-term physical, psychological, and identity impacts of an eating disorder beyond an athlete’s competitive career.
- Demonstrate how lived experience can inform safer, more compassionate approaches to supporting young athletes today.
12:25pm – 12:40pm – Break and message from Athlete EDGE at EDCare
12:40pm – 2:05pm – Untapped Power of Families in Eating Disorder Recovery in the Young Adult Athlete – Kara Bazzi, LMFT, CEDS
Learning Objectives
- Describe the research (and research gaps) related to treatment approach and efficacy of family therapy for adolescents and young adults receiving eating disorder treatment.
- Explain how the eating disorder disrupts the developmental tasks of “the emerging adult” athlete and examine the resulting patterns in familial dynamics.
- Describe ways that families can support their young adult athlete.
2:05pm – 2:25pm – Break/Networking
2:25pm – 3:50pm – The Essential Ingredients for Fueling Teen Athletes in Eating Disorder Recovery – Wendy Sterling, MS, RD, CSSD, CEDS-C
Learning Objectives
- Participants will learn what is involved in outpatient nutritional rehabilitation for an athlete, including the use of the no-numbers approach to treatment, called the Plate-by-Plate Approach®.
- Participants will understand what is Family Based Treatment, why and how it is applied for adolescents and young adults for the treatment of eating disorders.
- Participants will learn how to guide patients through food exposures to expand variety and reduce food fears.
3:50pm – 4:00pm – How MBE can help with referrals, consultation, treatment, review/creation of policies, and education. Discussion and wrap-up.
Please email Riley (Riley.Nickols@mindbodyendurance.com) and Becca (Becca@mindbodyendurance.com) for questions about this event.
Access Previous Eating Disorders in Sport Conferences
For information regarding the purchase of recordings of previous workshops contact us.