Team GB athletes will be encouraged to take part in decompression programs after the Paris Olympics in a move designed to follow the example of military personnel returning home.
The initiative, which has been drawn up by the UK Sports Institute (UKSI), is intended to help competitors reacclimatise to life away from the tightly-curated environment of the Olympic village and the routines imposed by competition.
Originally conceived as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when athletes were forced to step away from full-time training and competition, there have been early signs of a keen uptake of the service, which will consist of tailored interviews between athletes and a network of mental health professionals.
"Performance decompression is designed by the UKSI performance psychology team," Dr Carrie McRea told PA.
"It is mirrored to the military process.
"Essentially it's a structured interview for about 60 to 90 minutes with somebody who's trained in decompression. So that might be somebody from performance psychology, some clinical psychologists are trained up, and performance lifestyle advisors.
"And then to start planning what we call 'time zero', so that's essentially from the point you get back off the plane or train, what are you going to do? What's going to be your plan?
"The focus is on reconnecting with normal life. Getting people to think beyond the Games. Often people haven't really thought what that looks like."
