FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
How is a mental performance coaching different from mental health counseling?
Sport psychology practitioners can have different educational backgrounds. A mental performance coach is a practitioner who is trained to help athletes develop the sport psychology knowledge, self awareness and skills to improve sport performance and enjoyment. This performance-based approach differs from professionals who are trained in clinical psychology and hold clinical licensure in diagnosing and treating mental illness (e.g., sport psychologists, mental health counselors or clinicians). While clinically-trained sport psychologist can work with athlete in ways that also help performance, mental performance coaches are not therapists.
In other words, similar to how a strength coach helps athletes build their physical capacity while an athletic trainer supports injury prevention and recovery, a mental performance coach supports athletes in building mental skills for performance while a sport psychologist supports an athlete’s mental health. As a mental performance coach, I have a PhD in sport psychology. I am not clinically trained; thus, mental illness is outside the scope of my practice.
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How many sessions do individuals use?
The length of work with each athlete client varies ranging from a month to a year or more. The duration and frequency of sessions are unique to each client and depend on various factors, such as schedule and life circumstances/changes, length or timing of the sport season, personal finances etc. I typically recommend at least 4 sessions to introduce, explore and practice science-based skills and strategies to see what works best for them. In most cases (though not all), spacing sessions out every 1-2 weeks is helpful to give clients time to explore, practice and assess what is/isn’t working for them.
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What age groups do you work with?
I work with athletes 10 years of age and older. For youth athletes, I provide monthly parent check-ins to provide general information about session topics and dialogue about how parents can support their child’s learning, performance and enjoyment in/through sport.
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What is the cost of an individual session?
$75 per session
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*Sliding scale option is available based on the needs/capacity of an individual client. Please inquire further because accessibility matters to me.
What is the cost of a team session?
$150-200 per session (60- to 90-minutes in length)
Do you take insurance?
No - given the performance-based nature of my work, I cannot bill insurance providers.
How are payments made?
Payments can be made through Zelle, Venmo, or check.