What is Sport and Performance Psychology?
Sport and Performance Psychology involves the application of mental skills training and team-building to optimize performance for individuals and groups. Sport and performance psychology is performed by licensed psychologists who have additional training in psychology, human development, psychological wellness, brain health, assessment, and mental health. Where mental performance coaching is ethically limited to issues of performance enhancement, sport and performance psychologists can help you work through the life, relationship, career, grief and loss, and mental health concerns that may be affecting both your performance and your personal well-being. ​​
​​
Who is sport and performance psychology for? ​
Sport and performance psychology is for anyone who wants to perform at their best-- it's not just for elite athletes, performers and CEOs. In fact, many of the skills learned through mental skills training are transferable to other areas of life, including academics and career. Research on sport and performance psychology has shown that it can help people develop mental toughness, experience better performance, have more "flow-state" or peak performance experiences, decrease performance jitters or freezing, improve injury recovery, and experience more enjoyment. Sport and performance psychology is for athletes, performers, musicians, dancers, actors, leaders, coaches, and other high-achievers.
​​
Effective Goal Setting
Effective Communication
Mental Skills Training
Resilience Training
Burnout mitigation and prevention
Relaxation Skills
Imagery for Performance Enhancement
Character Building
Modifying behavior
Creating a new team culture
Coaching Behaviors and Philosophies
Values Based Coaching
Enhancing Motivation
Confidence Building
Team-building and Cohesion
Conflict Management
Focus/ Concentration Skills
Achieving Balance between life and sport/ performance/ leadership
Mental Skills for Injury Recovery
Transferable Skills: Applying an Athletic Mindset to Academics and Career
Spectator and Parent Concerns
Developmental Issues in Sport (for Coaches and Parents-- tailored to the age of the athletes)
Keeping athletes safe (trauma-informed coaching practices)
What kinds of topics are included in a Sport and Performance Psychology consultation?
Topics are focused on the needs of the individual or group. Below, you will find a list of more common topics, but this is not a comprehensive list.​​
What services are available? ​​
Individual Mental Skills Training
Mental skills training involves learning psychological skills to enhance your performance, including develop focus, sustain attention, think flexibly, manage performance anxiety, rework behaviors, and help you execute intended action.
Team/ Group Intervention
Team/ group interventions often focus on enhancing communication, identifying shared values, enhancing efficiency, setting goals and improving cohesion. Team/ group interventions are tailored to the unique needs of the team/ group. This can be an effective way to introduce sport and performance psychology.
Parent Consultation
As the primary support figure for a high-achieving child, you face pressures and have concerns about how to best help your child. Your role can be especially impactful when you are also coach, director, or leader of your child's high-achieving activity. Sometimes, the stress of competition can strain this vital relationship and you need to hone your communication and relationship skills.
Individual Therapy
Athletes, performers, high-achievers, and leaders are people too. Nearly 40% of elite-level coaches face burnout that is so significant their symptoms mirror mental health conditions. When life hits hard, it can be helpful to have an unbiased, expert in psychological wellness at your side. Whether you're seeking personal insight, processing grief and loss, managing stress, developing your interpersonal skills, or learning new skills for responding to your own emotions, therapy with a psychologist can help. If you are struggling with life outside of your sport or performance context, therapy can help you get back to your best.
Career Exploration
High-achievers are often encouraged to focus all of their time and identity development on their special abilities, leaving them with less direction and confidence in whatever comes after they have reached the peak of their sport or performance participation. All athletes eventually retire and remarkably few performers make it to the big stage. Being unprepared for the next steps can leave high-achievers feeling lost and even hopeless. Exploring career and/or college/ trade school directions in advance can help high-achievers make plans and reduce the risk of a full-blown existential crisis.
