“It’s About Going From Good to Great”: Expert Approaches to Conducting a First Sport Psychology Session

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate expert practitioners’ approaches to conducting a first sport psychology session with individual clients as there is sparse empirical literature on this topic. Nine expert Certified Mental Performance Consultants completed a semistructured interview where they discussed experiences conducting a first meeting with an athlete. Primary objectives included establishing the relationship, setting guidelines and expectations, understanding the client’s background, identifying presenting concerns, and formulating the treatment plan and building skills. Building rapport was an aspect used to establish the relationship while discussing confidentiality was utilized to set guidelines. Important strategies employed to increase the perceived benefits to services included conveying the consulting approach and philosophy. Lessons learned centered around doing too much and not appreciating individual differences of clients. Findings show expert consultants aim to achieve similar broad objectives in the first session and provide a basis for best practices in this area.

Case-Conceptualization Practices in Sport and Performance Psychology

“…By continually revisiting a case conceptualization and re-engaging in this process, this could provide numerous benefits to SPP consultants; for instance, it could allow them to continually revise their intervention plans to meet their client's needs more closely. Previously, researchers have written about how expert consultants (i.e., those with 10 or more years of sport psychology consulting experience) aim to identify a client's presenting concern and formulate a treatment plan (e.g., engage in case conceptualization) within the first sport psychology session (Chow et al, 2022). Findings from the current study could extend past work by suggesting that case conceptualization might be involved in this early stage but could also start before the first meeting, as well as being an ongoing process throughout the consultation relationship.…”