You question who you are and what comes next.
This is where our work begins. Human First provides a place for athletes to discover who they are beyond sport. This is not career advice. This is not therapy. This is the bit in between that nobody talks about.
Everyone around you has advice. Get a qualification. Start networking. Use your transferable skills.
None of it touches the thing that actually keeps you awake. The feeling that something important disappeared when you stopped competing and you can't explain it to anyone who hasn't been through it.
Maybe you took the first job that came along and it doesn't feel right. Maybe you can't bring yourself to watch the sport you gave your life to. Maybe you keep telling people you're fine and you keep not being fine.
Most people don't have a system for dealing with this. Most people don't even have the words for it.
That's not a failure. That's a normal, human response to losing something that shaped who you were for many years.
Human First doesn't start with "What will you do next?" We start with "Who are you? What does it feel like to navigate this sense of loss?"
We address the being question. Career programmes answer the doing question. The sequence matters, because until you've worked out who you are without sport, every plan you make is a plan made for someone you don't yet know.
Our programmes start with understanding the psychology and neuroscience of change. This then provides the platform for real transformation. Our ecosystem uses structured group work, somatic and breathwork practices, and one-to-one support delivered by people who've lived the transition themselves. It's research-based, measured and designed specifically for the way athletes think and operate.
Six week online programme, with a small group of fellow athletes who are also making sense of sport coming to an end. You'll work through identity shift, your future mindset and the emotional reality of transition with experienced facilitators who've been where you are.
Apply for a placeFive days in a supported environment where deeper work becomes possible. The retreat creates space for the conversations, connections and breakthroughs that can't happen in a weekly session. Understand yourself better and learn from other athletes also navigating life beyond sport. A unique opportunity to pause and build your foundation for life after sport.
Apply for a placeFor athletes that want individual support, perhaps before, alongside or after a group programme. We listen and understand where you are, tailoring our support to help you navigate your transition with clarity and confidence. We combine coaching, with therapeutic and contemplative practices.
EnquireHave a conversation with one of our team. You don't need to navigate this journey alone. Speaking to someone who understands what you're going through might be all you need. We can then tell you more about how we work and what our programmes entail.
Get in touchWellbeing. Identity shift. Career clarity. Community connection. Advocacy.
Our programmes were designed with Sheffield University's psychology department. They are research-based and evidence-driven. We care, and we measure the impact we have. The team have been supporting athletes for nearly ten years, and have worked with hundreds of athletes.
First Steps and the Human First retreat deliver meaningful change. Across 31 recent First Steps participants and 12 retreat alumni, we tracked outcomes across five levels: wellbeing, identity shift, career clarity, community connection and advocacy.
Depth matters. Our work is informed by the impact we have.
Nothing prepares you as a sportsperson for the biggest contest you ever face. When the final whistle blows, the game has only just begun and I don't know the rules or even how to play.
The programme left an indelible mark on my life, helping me make informed decisions that extended far beyond the realm of sports and employment.
Rick provided a safe space within a small group setting to open up, explore our individual challenges and start a process towards self-awareness and progress.
The whole ecosystem has been built by people who have lived and experienced the challenges of transition themselves. The programmes are designed to provide the support they wish had existed when they needed it.
We work at the human level, the one career programmes or clinical interventions don't. The question we explore is "who are you now?" Not how you'll make a living or what help you need, but who you actually are now that the sport that defined you is gone. That's where we begin, and where everything else starts from.
Every cohort is measured across five levels of impact. We publish the data. Funders, system partners and athletes can see exactly what the programme produces.
Richard is often one of the first people athletes and partners connect with at Human First. A London 2012 Team GB Olympian in Men's Hockey, he understands both the strength of identity that elite sport can create and the uncertainty that can follow when considering life beyond it. After stepping away from the Olympic programme in 2015 due to a long-term knee injury, Richard moved into work focused on people development, leadership, and meaningful human connection. His approach combines empathy, collaboration, and a solutions-focused mindset, helping to create environments where athletes feel supported beyond performance. As Business and Programme Leader at Human First, he leads programme operations, partnerships, and organisational growth, helping shape the experiences and relationships that underpin the organisation's work.
Rick has spent thirty years trying to understand what happens to people when the thing that defines them disappears. As a former international athlete, he knows the disorientation, searching and frustration that can follow the end of a competitive career. His own experience informs the work he now does with athletes navigating life beyond sport. He specialises in identity-level transformation, the deep structural change required to build a meaningful and fulfilling future after elite performance. He is the founder of Human First and has worked with athletes and leaders across elite sport and business. At the heart of his work is a simple belief: the human must come first. Everything else follows from there.
Kathryn is a somatic, trauma-informed psychotherapist and facilitator whose approach is rooted in embodiment, relational depth, and non-dual inquiry. Her work is experiential, moving beyond concepts into direct experience and embodied transformation. She specialises in identity and transition, particularly when familiar roles and structures begin to fall away. With personal family insight, and experience supporting elite athletes, she understands the psychological impact of identity loss, life beyond performance, and the search for meaning outside achievement. Her work explores who we are beneath conditioning, roles, and external validation. Drawing on nearly 30 years of Eastern and Western therapeutic and contemplative practice, she creates spaces for emotional integration, authenticity, and a deeper relationship with life.
It doesn't matter if you retire in six months or retired ten years ago. It's not too late to make sense of what happened and build something that feels like yours.