My front-line practice consists of two distinct, but mutually beneficial streams of work, a “general mental health” stream and a “sport performance” stream. The information below outlines some important information about each of these streams and how they are distinct.
Mental Health Stream: Mental Health Assessment and Psychotherapy for Children & Adolescents
I am a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist that provides mental health assessment and treatment to children and adolescents. This part-time clinical work complements my research program. I have sought advanced training in Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI). My work with children, adolescents, and their families is provided out of Locke Psychotherapy Group, which is a fee-for-service mental health assessment, counselling, treatment, and psychotherapy service located in Hamilton, Ontario. I generally work with children and teens between the ages 7 to 17 years who are experiencing significant stress or distress related to conflict (e.g., with parents or peers), perfectionism, and worry (e.g., about social situations, being away from parents/caregivers, etc.,). I have special interest and experience with working with high-performance child and adolescent athletes, in particular, hockey and soccer players.
Sport Performance Stream: Mental Performance and Sport Psychological Skills Training
Elite and high-performance athletes can experience unique vulnerability to mental health challenges given the need to manage academics, their social lives, and their performance expectations (as well as the performance expectations of others). Given this information, as a sport social worker and mental performance coach, I offer support to athletes who want to get a competitive edge via understanding and improving their mental performance (also called ‘sport psychology’) skills. It’s important to remember that as athletes get older, they become more and more similar in their level of physical and technical skills. What sets elite athletes apart from the rest is their ability to maintain focus, motivation, and technical excellence in high pressure situations, when things don’t go according to plan, or when many are happening and are outside of their control! I believe in the importance of Mental Performance Skills so much so, that I founded the Mental Performance Office at the Stoney Creek Girls Hockey Association (SCGHA) and am currently serving as its Inaugural Director. For that role, I want to give a shout out to one of the ‘best in biz’ (Annie Bankes), who is the founder of Mindset Mental Performance Coaching (MindsetMPC) and who I work with closely to offer the team-based programming.
Individual athletes (7 to 17 years of age) who want the competitive advantage of Mental Performance training or who feel that they would benefit from sport-specific mental health support, reach out to me at Locke Psychotherapy Group to see if I am taking new referrals!