Happy November, Coaches and Professionals! This month, we have a very special feature with Lacey Henderson. Lacey is a talented para-athlete and Paralympian who also works as a professional in the sports psychology field. We want to thank Lacey for all her continued disability and mental health advocacy, taking time out of her very busy schedule to support The Hidden Opponent, and to congratulate her on her recent signing with an MLS team!
Please introduce yourself to our THO community!
My name is Lacey Jai Henderson, CMPC, PLY. I am a Mental Performance and Sport Psychology Professional. (I just actually signed on with an MLS team for the 2025 season!)
Walk us through your journey as an athlete. What was your first exposure to sports? What was the first sport you played?
I grew up in an athletic family. My dad went to Olympic Trials for pole vaulting out of college and did decathlon (2x National Champ) well into his Masters age. He coached high school through elite levels, so sport was always in the periphery of our lives growing up. After losing my leg to cancer at 9, the activities and sports I tried growing up changed as I didn’t know about adaptive sport or running prosthetics until I was an adult. I was a competitive cheerleader in high school and had a D1 athletic scholarship for it at the University of Denver. I didn’t find paralympic track and field until after undergrad, but as a graduate in the FIRST “worst recession of all time,” sport came in as a viable career when there weren’t other opportunities for me as a young adult. The start aligned just on time!
Tell us a bit more about your journey with your disability. How have your experiences impacted you and your journey to becoming a Paralympian?
I think everyone goes through journeys of acceptance through their disability – and I was no different. I was always open about my prosthetic and limb loss but didn’t want that to be a big part of my life growing up. I called it “disability denial” and didn’t have much community in the adaptive sport or disability space until I started with para sport. The ironic lessons I learned was when I joined disabled sport, I was challenged more than I ever had been with other disabled folks and realized the dichotomies that disability can offer. There are social experiences and real consequences to being physically disabled, but that doesn’t sacrifice the ability of high performance in specific sport contexts.
What do the words “para-athlete” and “Paralympian” mean to you?
A para-athlete is an elite or developing athlete that qualifies for a specific paralympic classification but has not competed in a Paralympic Games yet. A Paralympian is a para-athlete who has competed at a Games. Once a Paralympian, always a Paralympian – never former.
What inspired you to become a CMPC? What was that process like for you?
I benefited greatly from working with a Sport Psychologist (and CMPC) when I was an athlete. When a friend of a friend in the sport psych industry created a master’s program that was essentially a pipeline to a CMPC as an opportunity for me, I jumped on it! I knew the window of competing for me was closing and as I matured a little later in life I was more clear on what I wanted to do after competing. The process is getting a Sport Psychology Master’s degree, filling the required mentored hours (about 400 currently) and sitting for a pretty intense exam in order to receive the CMPC certification.
Tell us a bit more about your current work as a CMPC.
Currently, I have been running a private practice out of Denver, CO. I have about 50% local clients, and 50% remote. I work with elite athletes of all abilities, and occasionally some collegiate athletes. I also host workshops, and can pick up other contracts that supplement income while facilitating mental skills and performance psychology concepts in other industries. Most recently I just agreed to an embedded position within an MLS team to work regularly with their first team players through the 2025 season.
Any other information you would like readers to know about you!
I also recently was the first ever in-country Paralympian host for the Paris Paralympics. I don’t know if I see myself doing broadcast regularly but am excited about that being a new avenue of career opportunities for para-athletes to aim for. I do a lot of disability advocacy outside of my practice, helping pass legislation on recreational prosthetics, and am just overall excited at the possibilities of seeing my cohort of Paralympians enter leadership roles to continue to evolve the world of sport and create better ecosystems for athletes to come.
Where can readers contact you?
IG and threads: @laceyisyourfriend
Website: laceyjhenderson.com
Email: laceyjhenderson@gmail.com
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