Sport Psychology in Baltimore
Are You Struggling To Elevate Your Performance To The Next Level?
Is self-doubt or a pervasive fear of failure preventing you from performing at your best? Do you have so much trouble believing in yourself or your capacity to succeed that it’s affecting your motivation, your focus, or how you show up at games and practice?
Perhaps you’re looking into sports psychology as a way to help you become as successful in the workplace, at home, or in your relationships as you are on the field.
Or maybe you’re seeking support as the parent of a child who argues with teammates, doesn’t give their best at practice, or has a funeral for all of their mistakes.
The Life Of An Athlete Isn’t Always Fun And Games
After all, the expectation to perform is constantly there. It doesn’t care if you lack confidence, have anxiety, or don’t feel like the sport reflects your values as a person. You just have to grin and bear it, desperately hoping your emotions don’t bleed out onto the field and disrupt team dynamics or hamper performance. At times, it can feel like you’re living the lives of two completely different people.
Kids have it rough too, oftentimes beating themselves up or worrying about making mistakes so much that it affects their sleep, eating habits, and overall self-care. They might show up late to practice, fall behind in their grades, or struggle with relationships both on and off the field.
At BrykMinds, we understand the unique pressures and challenges athletes face, whether at a high school, collegiate, professional, or even Olympic level. Combining Sport Psychology with the healing power of Clinical Psychotherapy, our therapists can help you improve confidence, reduce anxiety, overcome the fear of failure, and elevate your athletic performance to the next level.
Send Us A Message!
Elite Athletes Bear An Enormous Weight
We live in a society that implicitly expects us to be perfect in all that we do. For many people—dancers, actors, performers, doctors, C-suite individuals, attorneys, military folks, and government officials—there’s no room for failure. Athletes and the sports world epitomize this culture.
That’s why getting yelled at by a coach, being criticized by a teammate, or making a mistake at practice can wreak havoc not only on your performance but also your mental well-being. Plus, hidden stressors at home, relationship problems, and personal mental health concerns can quietly work their way onto the field because you’ve prioritized everything but your own self-care.
Why Sport And Performance Psychology Matter
When you’re an elite athlete or held to high expectations for your performance, the pursuit of perfection and excellence can be exhausting. Each mistake can deliver a devastating blow to the ego and threaten you with dire, untold consequences.
At the same time, you may be dealing with evolving family dynamics at home or even navigating environments where substance use is more prevalent. If you’re a student-athlete, you have the added pressure of academics, planning a career, or perhaps managing newfound wealth as a paid athlete.
Working with a sports psychologist helps you tackle those stressors both on and off the field. It gives you a chance to step back and treat yourself with the same attention and care that you have for your team, your coach, and the sport itself. That, in turn, can make all the difference in how you show up in life as both an athlete and a human being.
How Sport Psychology And Psychotherapy Can Elevate Your Game
One of the biggest parts of playing sports is the willingness to fail. Unfortunately, most of us have been socialized to hate failure, to be terrified of it, to do anything in our power not to fail. That fear, as an athlete, can actually drive us toward failure because we begin to question our abilities. We stop taking calculated risks and start to define ourselves by failures rather than our accomplishments.
Therapy for athletes provides you with a lens of self-compassion through which to better understand yourself—who you are, what feeds your fears, and what you’re actually capable of accomplishing. It makes you more aware of your strengths and empowers you to grow, create change, and live your life in a way that more closely aligns your goals and values as an individual.
How Do We Approach Therapy In Sport Psychology?
At BrykMinds, we take a holistic, humanistic approach to therapy. That means we’ll meet you with unconditional positive regard, respecting the intrinsic value, resilience, and strengths you possess. First and foremost, our sport psychologists want to help you gain a deeper awareness of the emotions, thoughts, and bodily sensations you experience within the various contexts of your life.
That insight will give us a better understanding of your relationship with those dynamics (e.g., where anxiety stems from, how negative thoughts affect performance, etc.). At the same time, that awareness helps you meet those thoughts, feelings, sensations, and behaviors with greater acceptance and compassion while revealing where we might best approach creating change.
Some Of The Counseling Methods We Use In Sport Psychology
Our sports psychologists incorporate a mix of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness skills, Relational-Cultural Therapy, and Humanistic Therapy into sessions.
Some of the goals we often work on include:
Embracing self-compassion, engaging in nonjudgmental introspection, and tracking thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations both in and outside of sessions
Acknowledging that no one is perfect and reframing mistakes as opportunities to learn, grow, and create positive and meaningful change
Honoring the visible and often hidden identities of athletes while exploring how those personas—combined with environmental and cultural factors—impact performance and life off the field.
Using “Value Cards” to do a deep values exploration, looking at how clients can enjoy a life of greater meaning and purpose that aligns with those ideals.
Building confidence, reinforcing skills, and enhancing performance on the field using visualization, imagery, positive self-talk, and other reinforcement strategies
Finding Success Both On And Off The Field Is Possible
By working with an athletic psychologist, you’re equipping yourself with tools and self-awareness that can help you regulate powerful thoughts and emotions—and actually empower you to thrive in what you do.
You’ll be able to navigate conflict and adversity on and off the field. Your confidence will multiply, and your sense of worth and appreciation for who you are as a person will skyrocket. You’ll learn how to care for yourself, meet your own needs, and live the life you want, knowing you have the capacity to weather any dark clouds that threaten to overshadow what you’ve achieved.
Still Have Questions/Concerns About Sport Psychology?
It seems like whenever I talk about things, I just feel worse.
Healing and confronting fears isn’t always easy work. However, understanding the intrinsic links and differences between our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and bodily sensations gives us agency in how we relate and respond to those internal experiences. Therapy for athletes offers you this awareness as well as powerful tools, skills, and support for ensuring that you feel comfortable and in control as we do the important work of exploration and healing.
How involved will I be in my child/teen athlete’s therapy process?
In Sport Psychology for Young Athletes, we’re very intentional about including parents/guardians in the therapy process for children and teens. During the initial consultation and sessions, we provide clear and transparent communication to parents to determine exactly what their involvement will look like.
In some instances, parents are present for portions of sessions, while in others, we bring in caregivers every few weeks for guidance in supporting the client outside of sessions. Sometimes, parents are minimally involved—it all depends on the client’s preferences and needs for therapy. Learn more about our approach to treating children and teens.
How long will I need Sport Psychology?
Each client's therapeutic experience depends on their circumstances, identity factors, and challenges. If you’re seeking to change one or two things about your experiences, therapy might last a few weeks to a few months. Whereas, if you need support navigating more deep-seated struggles and concerns, those issues may take a little longer to resolve completely.
The truth is: Therapy for athletes is like going to the gym for your brain where your therapist is your personal trainer, ensuring you are maximizing your gains while obtaining the knowledge for maintaining those gains on your own.
Let Us Help You Take Your Game To The Next Level
If you’re ready to cast off self-doubt, free yourself from the fear of failure, and find balance in your identity as both an elite athlete and a private individual, BrykMinds wants to help. Please call 240-222-5293 or use the contact button to schedule your free, 15-minute consultation and see how Sport Psychology can help you elevate your athletic performance.
BrykMinds offers online Sport and Performance Psychology services in Baltimore, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Howard County, MD, Washington, DC, and throughout the state of Maryland.
Related Posts
Sport Psychology in Baltimore
106 Old Court Rd UNIT 202,
Baltimore, MD 21208