Our Story
Modern Outlook LLC owned by Demetrio Sanchez, LCSW, founded in 2017, has teamed up with Restore Therapy LLC to provide in-person and virtual mental health and performance coaching to local athletes in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. Driven out of their own experiences of being collegiate athletes and then later acquiring training as mental health professionals, it became obvious that there was a need for mental health support specific to athletes. The partnership aims to meet that need. Modern Outlook has developed the niche of performance-focused mental health services over the course of serving a range of competitive athletes in every sport.
Demetrio Sanchez Jr., LCSW
Duke University – Soccer
US Men’s National Team Pool
Demetrio is the founder of Modern Outlook. He is a licensed Clinical Social Worker, based in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Duke University with a degrees in marketing management and sociology. He received his masters in Social Work from Portland State University. In his career as a Clinical Social worker, Demetrio held a faculty position as Assistant Professor at OHSU and held the role of Director of Behavioral Health. Demetrio also worked as a psychotherapist and behavioral health consultant at Kaiser in Bellevue. He has been coaching highschool, college and professional athletes and high performing individuals with Modern Outlook since 2017. Demetrio was an elite soccer player and full-ride scholarship athlete. He represented and played for the US Youth National Team pool.
“My story is one of despair and success. As the oldest son of immigrant parents, I struggled with the trauma that comes with biculturalization and disparity in socioeconomic status. I was identified as a talented soccer player early in my childhood and like many underprivileged athletes before me, athletics was my gateway to a better future. My identity therefore became greatly intertwined with the success of my athletic journey, and I became very preoccupied by the external pressures of how others (my coaches and teammates) judged me. This mindset kept me in a compromised position and hindered my physical performance because I could not quiet the noise of performing under pressure.
And although I was at my peak performance as a division 1 scholarship athlete and member of the National Team Pool, I struggled to function as an integrated member of a team.
One of my goals as a therapist is to help athletes develop an intentional approach to the mind-body relationship and generate awareness as to how it impacts performance. I strive to help athletes develop the tools to manage the pitfalls of performance anxiety, criticism, isolation, and injury and enable them to approach their life and sport with a calm and focused state of mind.”
Ruth Exley, LCSW
University of Portland – Soccer
Ruth is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from University of Portland with a bachelors in Social Work and Spanish. She received her Masters of Science is Social Work from Columbia University specializing in advanced clinical practice for children and families. Through her career she has worked in hospitals, outpatient clinics and private practice providing psychotherapy and specializing in various treatment models to help her clients overcome stress, anxiety, trauma and depression. Ruth graduated from Lincoln HS in Portland, OR and went on to play soccer at University of Portland and win a NCAA Division I National championship in 2005. She is the owner of Restore Therapy (Modern Outlook’s partner company) and wholeheartedly loves her work as a business owner and therapist. Ruth specializes in working with athletes who are struggling with underlying mental health issues such as adjustment, depression, anxiety or trauma and find that this is impacting their overall health and sports performance.