ABSTRACT
In the year 2015, a press release announced that a mental health clinic for elite sports started in Stockholm, Sweden. This was a collaboration with the public health care system and the Swedish sport confederation. Later during the fall of 2016 a sister clinic opened up in Malmö based on the same concept and premises. These two clinics are the first of their kind in Sweden to focus on psychiatric assessment and treatment for elite athletes and coaches, and possibly the first in the world organized as a collaboration between a governing body of sports and the public health care system. Sports medicine has a long history in theory and practice and is a strong and established discipline. In contrast, mental health in elite sports have been neglected for a long time not only in Sweden. Looking back in time, it is hard to understand why it took so many years to put mental health high on the agenda. This chapter will focus on the Swedish context and landscape of elite sports and how it was possible to set up and establish the mental health clinic for elite sports. Finally, reflections and lessons learned will be described.
