what can i expect from my first sport psychology session?
Updated: 2 days ago
I remember the first time I realized I needed to talk about my own performance struggles in figure skating. Even though I knew speaking to a professional was meant to help, it felt incredibly vulnerable to speak out loud about the fears, the pressure, and the doubts I usually kept hidden. I was used to training my physical body, but acknowledging my mental roadblocks felt entirely different.
Many athletes are nervous to start sport psychology services, and understandably so. It is a completely new experience, and it takes courage to discuss things you may have never told anyone else before. At Inside Edge Counseling and Consulting, we want to make getting started as streamlined and stress-free as possible. Here is exactly what you can expect when you walk through our doors or log onto our secure telehealth platform.
laying the groundwork
Through our onboarding process, you have already been matched with a counselor that our intake coordinator deems a great fit. These matches are made based on personality, availability, and therapeutic expertise, so you know you are in the right hands before we even say hello. You will get several reminders leading up to your first appointment with details on how to arrive or connect virtually, plus all the necessary paperwork.
Our initial appointments are seventy-five minutes long. This is longer than a lot of standard mental health providers, but we want to ensure we gather enough information to truly understand you and start this work from a solid foundation.
To begin, your therapist will greet you and orient you to our policies. For example, what you talk about in therapy is confidential - your counselor will not share your information without written permission. However, there are specific safety exceptions to this, and your therapist will facilitate an honest conversation about them to ensure you feel secure.
exploring your sport and your struggles
Next, we dive into your sport history. We want to know when you got started, what you genuinely love about your sport, and what your long-term goals are. We want to explore all of the great things athletics has brought into your life before we look at any current roadblocks.
From there, you will discuss with your counselor what is not going the way you would like it to. Your therapist will ask follow-up questions to truly understand your struggles. We look at this information as valuable data (not a sign of weakness!) for ultimately helping you get where you want to go.
Whether you are dealing with performance anxiety, a loss of confidence, frustration after an injury, or any other struggle impacting your performance, we hold space for those experiences and start untangling them together.
looking at the human behind the athlete
After thoroughly understanding your athletic context, your therapist will ask about the human side of your life. None of us walks into therapy in a vacuum. Our backgrounds, racial identities, gender, financial realities, and the environments we train in deeply shape how we show up to perform. These systemic factors can impact and be affected by your sport career.
Your therapist will ask about your sleep routines, eating habits, school or work contexts, and who makes up your biggest support system. Being a resilient athlete requires having strong overall well-being. If the grind culture of your sport is negatively impacting your mental health, we assess for those needs and determine a collaborative plan to address them.
establishing a plan and next steps
At the end of the session, your counselor will discuss their initial assessment of your difficulties and share a tentative plan to address them. This includes a recommendation on how often you should attend sessions to meet your goals, as well as which specific tools we might test together in the future.
For minors, we value a collaborative process with parents or guardians as needed. We typically invite them to join for the first and last fifteen minutes. The first segment ensures the athlete, family, and counselor are all aligned on the goals of our services.
Following this, the athlete meets with the counselor alone to dig into their unique context. The session wraps up by inviting the parents back in to summarize initial impressions and solidify a plan, including how involved the athlete would like their family to be moving forward.
We have found that this longer format creates an incredibly strong foundation to begin the real work in your next session.
takeaways
Your first sport psychology session is a big step in taking care of your mental strength the same way you invest in your physical strength. Getting ready for your first session may feel nerve-wracking, which is totally normal. But your sport psychology team at Inside Edge Counseling and Consulting is here to walk alongside you and make the process as stress-free as possible. You’ll spend the first session exploring what you’re struggling with, and building a plan for how to get you where you want to go. Then, you’re well on your way!
reflection question:
If you were to walk into a sport psychology session tomorrow, what is the one part of your athletic experience you would want to talk about first?
ready to take the first step for your mental game?
If the weight of expectations feels heavy or you want to unlock more of what is already inside you, you do not have to figure it out alone. Reach out to the sport psychology team at Inside Edge Counseling and Consulting to build a collaborative plan that works for you. Book a free call to get started today.
legal disclaimer
This blog post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for mental health treatment, psychological services, or medical advice. Reading this post does not create a therapist-client relationship. If you are seeking support for your mental health or well-being, consider reaching out to a licensed mental health professional in your area.
