Psychological Flexibility and a Healthy Body Image with Keagan Hadley

With me today is Keagan Hadley, Doctor of Occupational Therapy, a psychiatric and neurological clinical researcher, and an Amazon Bestselling author, who specializes in using psychological treatments such as ACT with clients.

He is passionate about joint health, the psychology of injury, and entrepreneurship.

In this episode Keagan and I will visit about the psychology of injury, particularly in athletes. Keagan himself used to be a football player, until he tore his ACL. Like many athletes, his life changed completely. He used what he learned to help other injured athletes heal, both mentally and physically, and get their lives back.

Connect with Keagan at theacltherapist.com and learn more.

DoTERRA Wellness Advocate
At Wholistic Natural Health Australia, we often recommend the use of high quality essential oils.

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Transcript

Magic Barclay: 1:00

Welcome back to a Magical Life. I'm your host, magic Barclay, and today Keegan Hadley joins us. Keegan is a doctor of occupational therapy specializing in using psychological treatments. Such as acceptance and commitment therapy or a c t with his patients. As a patient and a therapist, he has a deep understanding of the interventions and knows how emotional stress can interfere with rehabilitation daily activities and overall quality of life. As an athlete, he taught both acls playing college and semi-professional football. This experience made him acutely aware of the struggles associated with psychologically post a c l injury and how to overcome them with positive results. Welcome.

Keagan Haedley: 1:53

Thank you so much magic. very, very happy to be here

Magic Barclay: 1:56

and I'm happy to have you here. This is a very different episode. Mm-hmm. Because you work mainly with athletes or postle life. Mm-hmm. Now, obviously with your own a c l struggles, you saw that there was a place in the market there for you. Maybe some of our listeners are athletes or former athletes, maybe some of them are just carrying injuries, so I'm sure this will be able to be applied to many people listening out there.

Keagan Haedley: 2:29

Yeah, I book torn, the full title is Torn Overcoming the Psychological Challenges Post a c l Injury. So it's obviously, unfortunately, uh, very targeted to a c l patients. But that being said, a lot, a lot of the stuff that I work on for athletes is very applicable. You know, a after they're done, being an athlete, you know, whether they. Enter, you know, the workforce or just from a day-to-day life. A regular person has, various stresses that can be helped through, acceptance and commitment therapy or act whi, which I also term, uh, psychological flexibility.

Magic Barclay: 2:59

Fantastic. Now I ask all of my guests the same three questions and everyone gives me such different answers, and yours are gonna be interesting. I know this. So here comes your first question. can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just the physical, but also the emotional and spiritual health?

Keagan Haedley: 3:21

Yes. So what, what I mainly work on and what, what I specialize in just due to my, schooling and just my, lived experience is I help individuals get through, difficult times. I walk through them when, you know, no one else really is. so, there's not a lot of people who are treating, athletic injuries psychologically with the use of act. And then that's what I, pride myself in because it, it's my, thought essentially that act is much more conducive to athletes and overall, success because it, it's just more conducive to the athlete's mind, in my

Magic Barclay: 3:56

opinion. Great. Now look, Keegan, we talk about wealth here as well. People think that's just financial, but it can also be emotional wealth. Mm-hmm. So post-injury, obviously your emotional wealth can take a bit of a hit. What are your top three tips to creating any wealth?

Keagan Haedley: 4:13

I, I would say one thing that, has made me a lot more wealthy, just emotionally as you kind of spoke to, is being in the present moment. nowadays, uh, e everyone's dragged into a million different, things kind of grabbing at their attention. You know, whether that's social media, your work, The, to-do list of 47 different things. I, I think really living in the moment and getting what you can done now and, you know, enjoying, the 15 minutes with your significant other, you know, having coffee in the morning or, whatever that may be. We're, we're losing out on a lot of the things that, should give life meaning by being sucked into, useless. Kind of garbage on our phone. So that, that's kind of one thing that has really made my life a lot better. I caught myself a couple times just, you know, wasting 20, 25 minutes or whatever the case may be, and barely even realizing it. I mean, the algorithms are solid, I'll give them that. But, uh, definitely something that living in the moment, that's one of the six, skills of acceptance and commitment therapy, and I think it is one of the most crucial.

Magic Barclay: 5:10

So living in a moment, accepting your body. Is there another one there that we can, uh, share with the listeners?

Keagan Haedley: 5:16

Yes, of course. So one that was very difficult for me. I, I've always had, some body image issues and that only compounded when I had, knee injuries because one of the main sources of, my confidence, self-esteem, I, you know, my self-identity was being a football player. So when that was taken away, I was you know, in a, really bad place that made me start. know, abusing substances and making poor decisions, you know, relationally and this, that and the other thing. But one, one of the skills that has been most difficult for me to grasp within psychological flexibility has been the self as a context, skill. Uh, essentially that posits that there's two versions of self, that we. come into contact with every day. That is the persona that we're trying to put out. Um, it's like a, essentially a mask that we wear. So say for example, um, I was a football player for a long time, and, you know, they're, tough quote, unquote cool, not a lot of feelings, those kinds of things. And then there's your true self. You know, the, the one behind all of those layers. and, and that's your true self. And I can give you an example of how you can come into contact with those two different, versions of yourself. One would be, uh, just. Now that, now that I'm telling you about it, you're probably gonna notice it more often and the listeners will a a as well. So if you just spend a week, being mindful of the little tiny lies that you make just throughout the day. So say for example, you show up to. Class, you look a little tired and your friend says, you know, why, why are you so tired? You know what's going on? And you know, maybe you are playing video games or studying, or in my case, writing late at night. and you say, oh, well I was up until 3, 3 30 and, and all actuality, you're only up until 2, 2 30. And you have no idea. And, now that I told you that, you'll have no idea why you said that. And it is very interesting because we're all trying to, we're yearning for, you know, acceptance and we all wanna be special. And, oh look, I was up so late and I'm still here at class. Um, and it's also very applicable for, people with, body issues or, self-confidence, people coming back from injury. It's, it comes into play a lot, a lot more than people would think.

Magic Barclay: 7:15

Definitely, I think we kind of pride ourselves, and I'm generalizing here, but we do kind of pride ourselves on how much we can take on before we break. Mm-hmm. Rather than priding ourselves on. You know, I can pace myself and I can listen to my body. And I think that's kind of where a lot of us go wrong. We don't listen to that, that internal conversation. We just keep heaping more and more on the pile. And, uh, that's not a healthy way to live.

Keagan Haedley: 7:45

No, no, not, not at all. And, and especially if you're, you're, staying true, to yourself. You'll know that, you know, deep down either you're doing too much or you're being, unreasonable with your, expectations physically or what, what, whatever the case may be.

Magic Barclay: 8:00

Very much so. Now look, we do talk about weight here. Many people battle their weight needlessly. I know mine has gone up and down pretty much all my life, but certainly I. In the last five years post a couple of very serious injuries, it's kind of gone up again. Mm-hmm. So what are some top tips you have for people who may be battling their weight post-injury? This is very different to how we normally ask this question, but I know from experience post-injury, you kind of have to look at things in a completely different light.

Keagan Haedley: 8:36

Yep. So athletes, just due to their daily output are, are used to eating more. Um, it's just we need that food to function at a high level, you know, whether that's running, playing football, weightlifting, or, you know, a little bit of all of it. so once that goes away, um, it, it can become very, for, and for you not have to eat all that much, and then maybe that's a habit. you'll gain weight and, and I'm on the view that I, I've always struggled with. Again, like I said, my, my body, that's one of the books I'm working on now. Um, I'm in the middle of a kind of a experience for that, but, essentially, what I go off of is the basal metabolic rate. And we play with it from there. I, I like macros and those kinds of things. A lot of people, don't love it initially, but once you get good at it and quick at it, it's, it's very scientific and objective. A lot of people have the tendency to. say, you know, quote unquote, I'm eating healthy, or those kinds of things. And, and that's great and all, there's nothing wrong with, striving to eat, you know, more healthy foods and those kinds of things. But you, you run into issues when you can't, just like a goal. If you, if you can't measure it, you're, you're gonna have some issues. So I like to strategically have, you know, my clients, um, especially if they're agreeable to it and having this particular issue, we. Play with, their macros. And the cool thing is once we get them to where we want, I'm act actually to the point of, reverse dieting, some of my clients as they're, making their way through the rehab process to where they're actually able to eat more and more. it's, it's a really cool process if you can get it down, obviously, initially. Um, it can be a little tedious with all the measuring and those kinds of things, but I, I, I promise it does get quick, rather fast.

Magic Barclay: 10:12

So for one of the listeners who might not know what macros is, can you just explain that?

Keagan Haedley: 10:19

So macronutrients are, proteins, fats, and carbs. and essentially there's, there's tons of, formulas out there to run. the amount of each that you need to run optimally, based on your output. So that's why you can play with that a little bit to make sure that you're still getting enough. protein while not eating too much, you know, carbs, for example. A lot of athletes eat a lot of carbs, which is a great thing when they're having a lot of output. But maybe if they're, you know, more sedentary right after surgery or those kinds of things, they're, they're not eating as much carbs. And, and what I found with working with a lot of my clients is myself included, I, I've only been on my, experience for. Eight months. And what I noticed the first couple months is I was eating not even close to enough protein. So there where is, is a whole population, I think, where our protein consumption is way, way down. and then how to deal with that essentially is the, the cool thing is, for it to be objective, you're having to weigh everything. So that might sound, very, uh, not fun at first and it's not overly fun. but that being said now, it doesn't really change my life anymore because I know exactly. Say for example, I love cereal. I don't know why I love cereal and I eat cereal all the time. I know exactly how much. Cereal I can have in a sitting, as part of my regular day, I just, I pour it out normal, but it's on the scale. So it's 111 grams is three servings of, cereal. And then milk is 240 grams of, uh, that's one cup, 240 grams of milk. And you just pour all that while it's on the scale. And, that gives you your output in carbs, fats, and, protein, if you plug it into like a minus bowel and those kinds of things. And if you hit your goals within a, you know, a reasonable range, you don't have to hit them. Exactly. I would never say that for sure. But within 10 grams each way, it's, it's very, very, um, You know, over the long period of time, like most people try to have like magic diets at work in 30 days. This is more of a long-term, play just like most things in life, you can't get successful right away. So that's how you track it anyway. The same thing goes for meat. it's rather easy with meat. You just weigh it on the scale before you cook it and you know exactly what you get. times when you run into issues, or actually when you're cooking with, you know, a significant other, or maybe you go out to eat, you have to do it enough to where you can actually, guesstimate. It's not gonna be exact, but the more you weigh eight ounces of meat or whatever the case may be, the more you know exactly, you know, roughly how big that is. And then you can, you know, still log it in the app. If you go to. A restaurant and get an eight ounce steak. It's an eight ounce steak, it's an eight ounce steak. So, that's kind of how it goes. And again, it's, it's very slow going at the beginning, but it picks up, uh, rather quickly.

Magic Barclay: 13:08

Great. So tell us about things that you do with people with injuries. Like what are some key things that you need to address?

Keagan Haedley: 13:17

So I go through, I bring'em in, I take kind of an outtake, form that gets, a base reading on whether at, with the six different, skills associated with acceptance and commitment therapy, those are acceptance, diffusion, which is essentially the difference between I am a. And I'm having thoughts and feelings of being said. Uh, so depending on how, you know, locked, they are into cognitive fusion. mindfulness, self is a context which we spoke about briefly. their values and purposeful action. So I, I go through and, you know, have a discussion with them based on that. And, uh, see where they are. And then I just start to, you know, have a conversation with them because a lot of people come in expecting essentially that therapies. like I've said, kinda like a, like a magic bullet. I'm just able to help them do whatever they're doing a little bit harder to get them where they want. And, the unfortunate, conversation I'm having to have with a lot of them, but it, it, it helps them grow quite a bit, is to realize that, you know, if you do what you've done, You're gonna get what you got. And I, I think that's something that everyone needs to know when they're going into therapy or, seeing, someone for their health and wellness or nutrition or any of those kinds of things. There's no way to continue to do whatever you've been doing. even if you do it harder or better and get a different result, you, you a lot of times have to change your framework and the way you're doing things to see, um, measurable change.

Magic Barclay: 14:39

You mentioned you're writing a book about body image. I know that's something I've struggled with pretty much all my life. How do you help people see that they're not what they used to be? They're not capable of what they used to be capable of, but that their body image, I guess, doesn't need to suffer or doesn't need to, display. That kind of disconnection that they might be feeling.

Keagan Haedley: 15:05

So, my book's gonna be centered towards more athletes and how, you know, negative, sports in general, without any applicable, help from, a mental health professional. I can be very detrimental to a lot of athletes. Emotional wellbeing because they're tying, their attractiveness or whatever based on, the scale or, there's plenty of sports where you're based solely off of, you know, body composition and those kinds of things as well. and I would say, especially when you're getting out of being an athlete, it's very difficult to realize. And, accept all the different things that you went through. and be grateful that your body was able to take you through all those things. So it's more of a switch from, noticing all the things. It's not to noticing the things it is

Magic Barclay: 15:48

yeah's really key there. You know, notice what things actually are. Don't be living in your head the whole time. I know for myself having injuries, okay. I'm not as capable as I used to be of doing certain things. But it doesn't lessen me as a person and as long as I work around that and understand my physical capabilities, yes. What I've found is trying not to get bogged down in, but I can't do that anymore. Mm-hmm. That was a really big thing and, and quite a battle for quite a while. Mm-hmm. So what coaching tips do you have for people that may, you know, their brain still may think that they're the capable uninjured body? How do they kind of adapt to what's going on now?

Keagan Haedley: 16:40

So I have the. Unique experience, not only with my own, situations, but through with my clients as well as I've been able to take a lot of them from, you know, being, broken both, you know, emotionally and physically, and help them get back to wherever they want and farther. just because I, I too was in a situation much like yourself where I, I never thought, you know, I was gonna be able to do anything besides just work out to try to get my knees better again and, now I'm doing things that, I, I couldn't do prior to any of my four knee surgeries. So, I think it's all about, mental health and physical health are very similar in that everything is done incrementally. So yes, you know, magic, you, you might have some injuries. I had a ton of injuries where I'm not able to do exactly what I want this moment. The, the secret to that is moving slowly, incrementally, strategically towards what you want to do in a scaled way. that's kind of the key. That's what I've done emotionally and that's what I've done. Physically to help rebuild not only myself, but a lot of my clients.

Magic Barclay: 17:42

So listeners, this episode has been all about body image And recovering from injury, and we've kind of touched on a lot of subjects. So if you wanna get hold of Keegan, you can find him at www.theacltherapist.com. Now listen, we do love freebies here. Before we go, have you got a freebie for the listeners?

Keagan Haedley: 18:06

I don't at the moment, I haven't had time with my blog and stuff, but I, I definitely have some stuff coming, down the pipe that I think they'd be very interested in.

Magic Barclay: 18:15

Fantastic. So that blog, there you go. That's right there. Some freebies coming down the line. Visit Keegan at www.theacltherapist.com. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you sharing your experience with the listeners.

Keagan Haedley: 18:33

My pleasure. Thank you so much, Magic

Magic Barclay: 18:34

and listeners, thank you so much for your time. As always, I appreciate it. Please go ahead and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and for now go forth and create your magical life.