Sports Counselling

This module focuses on the attainment of skills necessary for successful counselling interventions to match the needs of performers.

Participants will have the opportunity to practice contingency planning, imagery techniques, concentration skills and numerous other methods to enhance their effectiveness in assessing, intervening and evaluating performers and athletes. In addition special issues in counselling athletes are explored and clarified.

Learning outcomes

• Clarify psychological interventions for performance enhancement
• Identify and develop techniques for working with specific types of performers and athletes
• Investigate potential intervention issues
• Explore a family systems approach to counselling the performer and athlete
• Identify the skills necessary to work with teams of performers and athletes
• Investigate gender issues related to performing
• Explore the complexities of working with alcohol and drug abuse performers and athletes
• Identify and clarify issues of the retiring performers and athletes

Content areas

• Introduction to sports counselling
• Issues in the family of performers and athletes
• Working with performance and athletic teams
• Gender issues in sport
• Counselling specific types of athletes and performers
• Counselling performers and athletes with drug & alcohol issues
• Counselling performers and athletes with eating disorders
• Counselling performers and athletes with overtraining or burnout issues
• Counselling performers and athletes with retirement issues
• Counselling performers and athletes with injuries or disabilities
• Counselling performers and athletes with emotional issues
• Case studies and counselling interventions