Athlete Mental Health & Sport Performance Counselling
Dr. Lauren is an approved provider within the Mental Health Network (MHN) for High Performance Sport in Canada. The Mental Health Network (MHN) is a multi-partner initiative between Game Plan and the Canadian Centre for Mental Health and Sport that ensures practitioners meet specific qualifications to provide sport-informed mental health support to carded athletes in Canada.
Dr. Lauren is a passionate athlete advocate. Dr. Lauren goes beyond providing "sport psychology" services. She is in the business of improving athlete mental health. When we can address the psychological and emotional needs of the athlete, their mental health can improve...whereby also improving their sport performance.
Dr. Lauren views elite athletes as a unique population and demographic but one that is often overlooked when it comes to receiving specialized mental health supports. Understanding the in's and out's of elite sport is essential to serving athletes in their performance and mental health. Time and time again, Dr. Lauren's clients have communicated that only someone who has been in it can truly understand the elite sport experiences and pressures.
Talk to someone who gets it! Dr. Lauren has over a decade of experience as a professional figure skating coach. She has also spent many years of her graduate school training passionately researching the experiences of some of Alberta's most elite hockey athletes. In 2016, Dr. Lauren was recognized by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) for Academic Excellence in the area of athletic career transition research.
As a psychologist, Dr. Lauren has worked with both active and retired athletes from a variety of sports - including hockey, figure skating, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, football, golf, and track-and-field.
At this time, Dr. Lauren only works with athletes that are 18 years or older.
Current Athletes. When working with elite athletes that are currently active in their sport, Dr. Lauren takes a holistic approach to improving performance. If athletes are mentally well, they perform better. Dr. Lauren integrates sport-performance based interventions (visualization, arousal control, attention training) with interventions to improve mental health, self-esteem, and resiliency.
- Improving Confidence, Self-Esteem
- Staying in the Moment & Mindfulness
- Managing Anxiety & Worries about Performance Outcomes
- Developing Positive Self-Talk
- Managing Perfectionism
- Managing Burnout & Increasing Motivation
- Developing A Healthy Athletic Identity
- Making Meaning From Disappointing Results
- Coping with Injury
- Preparing For Athletic Retirement
Retired Athletes. Adjusting to life outside of sport can be exciting for some but also scary, anxiety-provoking, and depressing for other retiring/retired athletes. Dr. Lauren is well-versed in athletic career retirement research and uses her specialized knowledge to help retiring/retired athletes work through the thoughts and emotions associated with stepping away from sport (whether by choice or not).
- Processing the End of An Athletic Career
- Managing Anxiety and Depression Symptoms associated with Athletic Retirement
- Making Meaning from An Athletic Career that Ended Abruptly
- Adjusting to Life Without Sport
- Developing a Healthy Self-Identity
- Finding Meaning & Purpose in Life after Sport
- Preparing for New Career or Educational Pursuits
- Processing Verbal, Psychological, Emotional, Physical, Sexual Abuse sustained over the Athletic Career
Think you might benefit from these services?
Growth occurs when individuals confront problems, struggle to master them, and through that struggle develop new aspects of their skills, capacities, views about life.