Mental performance coaching is centered around the idea of helping an athlete reach their full potential.

How exactly is this done?

To help an athlete reach their full potential, a mental performance coach will first work on optimizing their mental performance. From there, a stronger mindset will allow them to reach higher levels of physical performance on the field or court.

How Mental Performance Coaching Increases Performance

Number one, before we go any further, is that to optimize an athlete’s mental performance requires work.

It’s not something that occurs overnight, or through one conversation.

Just like improving their physical skills, mental skill development takes time and effort.

Luckily, mental performance coaching works to facilitate that effort and guide the athlete along; showing them exactly what must be done to increase their mental toughness.

What I’m going to do is break down the basic structure of mental performance coaching, to show you how it works so effectively as increasing an athlete’s mental performance.

Step #1: Identifying Strengths & Challenges

Awareness is the first step towards growth.

A mental performance coach will work to gain a better understanding of where the athlete’s current strengths are and what challenges they present.

This is typically done through a combination of an assessment and coaching sessions.

At Success Starts Within, our mental performance coaching program always begins with an initial assessment. Once the assessment is taken, the coach will create additional questions to truly dive deeply into the mind of the athlete.

Once these strengths and challenges have been identified, it’s time to move on to step two.

Step #2: Creating a Custom Plan

The assessment and initial sessions provide key information as to what the athlete needs to work on the most. That insight is used to craft a custom mental game plan.

This plan will include the main mental game areas that will be worked on.

However, it will not only be reserved for the areas that are current challenges to the athlete. Strengths will also be worked on, to improve them and make them even more of an asset to their game.

Step #3: Coaching Sessions

With the use of the mental game plan, along with the information gathered through the assessment and initial calls, coaching sessions will begin.

These provide an opportunity for the athlete to discuss with their mental performance coach recent games. Going over what happened, and digging into situations where they both excelled and struggled.

In addition, these coaching sessions are where the key mental game areas outlined in the coaching plan will be taught.

Through this form of coaching, the athlete’s mental performance truly begins to be optimized.

Step #4: Action Steps

Only so much change can occur during weekly coaching sessions. Yes, a lot will happen, and a good coach will be able to work on altering an athlete’s mindset. However, for lasting change to occur within the mind, additional effort must be put forth.

This effort comes from the athlete.

To facilitate this effort, mental performance coaching provides athletes with action steps to be completed during the week.

These action steps come in a variety of ways.

Some will be workbook exercises and handouts. Requiring the athlete to think and work through their doubts and current beliefs.

Other types of exercises involve more actionable things such as visualization, or performing a daily self-talk routine.

But it is these action steps, combined with coaching sessions, that truly works to optimize an athlete’s mental performance.

Final Thoughts

High level mental skills will take an athlete’s game to the next level.

When you reach a certain point, everyone is talented. It’s the mind that truly separates the good from the great.

A mental performance coach works to optimize an athlete’s mental performance by first working to understand their mindset, then putting a plan in place to improve it moving forward.

Nowadays, medical services are experiencing different ranges of innovations. It is nothing uncommon in the domain of psychosocial services. The right mix of support and treatment is crucial for recovery. Especially for patients having mental health conditions, the treatment choice can vary from one person to another.

Here you will know about some of the approaches to mental health treatment.

Types Of Mental Health Treatments

● Psychiatric Hospitalization

Psychiatric hospitalization consists of stabilizing the patients. Once it is done, the hospitalized patient undergoes close monitoring, administration of fluids and nutrients, medication, and various other necessary emergency care. The patient may be involuntary or voluntarily hospitalized. The person suffering from a severe mental health condition needs to go for a psychiatrist’s hospitalization.

Apart from that, psychiatric hospitalization would be the best option for those who experienced delusions or hallucinations, homicidal or suicidal ideation. Even people who lost the ability to take care of themselves or have not eaten or slept for days should undergo the treatment of psychiatric hospitalization

● Residential Treatment

The residential mental health treatment requires the patient to stay under constant medical supervision on a 24 x 7 basis. People suffering from long-term and severe symptoms should undergo this kind of treatment. Under the residential treatment, one can experience group therapy, individual psychotherapy or counseling, medical supervision, recreational therapy, medication, and complementary therapies like meditation or yoga.

Some treatment centers offer executive and luxury options like gourmet meals, fitness centers, private rooms, spa and massage treatment, swimming pools, and many more.

● Outpatient

In the case of outpatient mental health treatment, the participant need not have to live at the treatment center. Instead, they can visit the therapist’s office or the treatment center on certain days. This treatment is suitable for those patients who experience mild to moderate centers. As you look for the best mental health therapy near me, you will come across diverse outpatient treatment options like group therapy, individual therapy, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient care, or even support groups.

● Dual Diagnosis Treatment

The dual diagnosis treatment provides comprehensive mental health services for those patients who are struggling with both addiction and mental health conditions or substance use disorder. The dual diagnosis treatment helps to address and treat both conditions simultaneously. It is crucial to treat both disorders simultaneously as it maximizes the chances of full recovery.

● Psychotherapy

The psychotherapy treatment method treats a variety of mental health conditions. Both the outpatient and inpatient settings can take the help of psychotherapy. Especially during talk therapy, the person or the group can discuss the issues with a therapist who helps the patient process their feelings. The therapist also helps the patients to learn new coping skills.

Some of the psychotherapy treatment methods include individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy, dielectric behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, and interpersonal therapy.

● Medication

As you look for mental health therapy near me, you can come across the medication treatment process. It often combines psychotherapy with treatment. The treatment includes antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anxiety medication, and antipsychotics. All these methods of treatment help to treat various mental disorders including depression, mood swings, bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety, and many more.

Complementary Treatments

The alternative treatment option can also help to treat certain mental health conditions. Some of these treatments include:

● Yoga

The practice of yoga helps a person focus on connecting the body with the mind through breathing and movement exercises. Yoga offers mental health benefits and improves flexibility and physical strength.

● Meditation

Meditation helps relieve anxiety, depression, stress, and various other mental health symptoms.

● Nutrition

Diet affects mental health in diverse waves. You can improve your overall mental health condition while improving your nutrition intake.

● Exercise

People who suffer from mental health conditions must exercise for at least 30 minutes to decrease their stress.

● Equine Therapy

It is a therapeutic form that takes the help of horses to cure certain mental health conditions like anxiety, ADHD, and even autism.

These are some of the options that you can look forward to if you are coping with any mental health problems.