Sport Psychology
The sport psychology team is a professional team of highly qualified Sport & Exercise Psychologists registered with the HCPC & the BPS/BASES respectively.
Our goal is to support athletes, coaches, and support staff to achieve their aims both in sport and as people. The ultimate focus of our team is on the wellbeing of every individual we work with. We believe if our clients have effective skills that help them to regulate their thoughts and emotions at critical moments, they have much better chances of competing at their best on the world stage.
In our day-to-day work, we meet and speak with athletes. We work to understand what their individual needs are, what the psychological demands of the sport are, and what changes they would like to be different. We use evidence-based practice to develop the most appropriate interventions for those we work with, using cutting-edge research to provide an elite service. We pride ourselves on the fact that it is important to practice what you preach – and so spend time developing our own psychological skills.
At times our help is confidential – this is very important to us, as building trusting relationships is critical to the work we do! We also work very closely with all our colleagues in other departments (e.g., sport science) to make sure athletes are supported to achieve their ambitions.
Scope of Work
Everyone is different! As sport & exercise psychologists we deal with a range of clients, who all come to us with different challenges, or, areas they would like to improve. We believe that sport psychology is not just about ‘fixing’ things and can be purely about enhancing performance. Here are some examples of the topics we might work with:
- Performance Anxiety
- Emotion Regulation (e.g., managing emotions, responding to mistakes)
- Relationships and Conflict (e.g., athlete-coach relationships, team-mates, parents)
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Performance Enhancement (e.g., performing under pressure, flow)
- Internal / External Motivation
What to Expect
As sport & exercise psychologists we follow a process of support. This involves:
- An Intake: We will often start with an introductory session, this is a bit like an interview, but not so formal! We work together to get to know you, the demands of your sport, your previous experiences and what the key topics of focus might be.
- Assessment: This involves collaborating with clients to understand the main challenges and what is going on, this can include conversations, observing training/matches, or completing some short forms!
- Intervention: Using psychological models we develop evidence-based interventions to address your needs. This could include work inside or outside your sporting environment.
- Evaluation: We work together with the client to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. With the client we will discuss things like: What went well? What could have gone better? What more work might need to be done?