Back in the 1920's and 1930's, athletes and other performers became interested in using the (then) best available scientific findings from psychology to enhance performance. The earliest sport and performance psychologists were interested in studying reaction time and information processing, as well as memory and personality traits. In the 1970's and 1980's, to be a “sport psychologist” could have meant a few things… one could be a kinesiologist by trade, a psychological researcher in the labs, or a psychologist ‘in the field’ (or, perhaps more accurately put, next to the field) actively helping performers with issues pertaining to motivation, stress management, and consistency.

High performance psychology, with its roots deep in the fields of sport & exercise psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, and multi-cultual psychology, is now considered to be the form of supporting people pursuing meaningful life experiences (which are often under the observation and scrutiny of others).

Some helpful resources to learn more about sport and high performance psychology include Division 47 of the American Psychological Association, the International Society of Sport Psychology, and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.

Our values as sport and performance psychologists align with the services we provide.

We are evidence-based practitioners by trade and training, and we actively conduct empirical research that contributes to the field of sport and performance psychology. We value data in order to reveal thought, behavioral and performance patterns, and we reference data often throughout our work with clients to help us stay on the path that actually helps client perform at their best.

We also value the science and the artistry that goes into mental training. While invisible, mental training is tangible. When we train our mind, we provide opportunities for changing behavioral and performance patterns. Raising awareness through psychological skills is vital for the continued refinement of performance skills.

Another significant value of ours is the importance of social welfare and change. Have you ever noticed that you may ‘bring your best stuff’ when you are around certain people? We aim to apply the best available structures for data + mental training → the pursuit of helping others be at their best.

A few things.

Assessment of performance from the lens of psychological health, performance psychology, and cultural sport psychology would be one of our primary specialties. Taking this approach, we use the best available tools, techniques, procedures, and practices that identify psychological disorders as well as psychological strengths, all while centering your functioning within your current social and cultural context.

We want our work together to be actually helpful for you. We want to limit the trial and error process that often coincides with trying out mental training programs. And we want to support you as you learn how to support others around you.

As recently trained psychologists graduating from APA-accredited institutions and doctoral internships, much of our training on how we learned to conceptualize our client’s cases, how to select and follow through on treatment efforts, and to how to support and consult teams and groups of clients came from the stance of multiculturalism and promoting social justice. We want to do our part to change how things are done at the larger, systemic level, whenever we can. We find this training and general approach is invaluable for performers who benefit from access to social platforms, technology, and other resources in ways that they haven’t ever before, even 10 years ago.

Tough question, and an important one.

This depends on so many factors. One factor is which services are you are interested in; another factor is age; another is what is going on for you right now in your life and in your performance environment; and more factors may include your history with mental training, working with a sport psychologist, your and your family's history of psychological disorders; medication and nutrition also play a role…

Our process is designed to make this experience evidence-based, comprehensive in nature, and customized for your current performance efforts. By getting great data up front, we can be more specific about mental training plans that have the best chance to actually work for you, which if that happens, then you are likely to be able to ‘be there’ for others, creating the conditions for sustainable, consistent performance. When the data is informative, and when the mental training plan works for you, we tend to “see” or experience positive performance benefits pretty shortly thereafter.

Mental training can be great with anyone, yet we find our sweet spot working with people ages 9+.

For those who are athletes, we find our groove particularly those at the collegiate, professional, and at the Paralympic/Olympic levels of competition.

We also have had experience working with a wide range of performance domains, as well - singers, dancers, first responders, students, folks in the tech industry, and many more!

This depends on what is happening for you.

Anyone who identifies as a ‘performer’ in life is, inherently, a human; and, is therefore just as likely to experience mental health and mental performance concerns as someone who doesn't identify with a particular performance domain. We work with performers from many backgrounds and performance domains, and we prioritize mental health en route to mental performance.

Some of our clients want comprehensive psychological assessments to aid in their pursuit towards excellence, while others ask us to support them with counseling or on-the-sideline consultation and support. Still, others may work with a high performance psychologist as a means to bring teams, groups, and larger organizations together to be more cohesive, efficient, and productive.

We provide comprehensive psychological assessment services for clients identifying as high-performers, such as athletes (professional, Olympic, Paralympic, collegiate, weekend warriors, etc.), musicians, teachers, performing artists, people in corporate and executive spaces, first responders, parents, and the like. We utilize the best available psychological tests, interview protocols, and analysis techniques from the broader scientific literature base to make meaningful, data-driven insights designed to highlight your unique psychological strengths, abilities, attributes, and characteristics.

By approaching your psychological performance from the foundation of overall psychological health, we are able to highlight your strengths, ‘catch’ potential problems, and apply clinical health science as you pursue difficult yet meaningful pursuits in life. Based on high quality, relevant data and information, we can then construct mental skills training plans that are both evidence-based and likely to actually work for you.

We operate from an evidence-based stance, which means we prioritize those mental training techniques that have been found to be effective for performance populations using empirical means. Some wonderful, free, evidence-based techniques that we love referencing can be found online (e.g., the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley; the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the Mind and Life Institute; the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education from Stanford University; the Character Lab from University of Pennsylvania, etc.).

Another major source of guidance for us is our extensive, amazing mentorship network who continue to teach us about their work and research, who we are in regular contact with. We read lots of books, articles (both scientific and practical) and listen to a few podcasts, as well. Of course, we learn most of our lessons from clients who are willing to try out mental training techniques and share with us their experiences.

Atlas Psychology is authorized to release information regarding your care to other parties including: insurance companies, claims processors, primary care physicians, and other members of a treatment team, ONLY if you provide us permission to do so.

Stay with us, here…

#passion :)

A sport psychologist is a psychologist, by trade and training. Even the word ‘psychologist’ is a legally recognized and protected term to describe to the public that the provider has met all the criteria to be a licensed psychologist in their home state or province. Here in Colorado, to become a licensed psychologist means that we have met strict criteria for general practice, which can be found here (DORA).

Not every psychologist has the exact same training, though. Their scope of practice can be very different from the next psychologist in line. The American Psychological Association recognizes three primary ‘types’ of psychologists that become licensed: school psychologists, counseling psychologists, and clinical psychologists. This is one reason why many of the doctoral programs accredited by the APA focus on school, counseling, and clinical psychology; as well as many of the doctoral internships accredited by the APA, for that matter.

School psychologists are wonderful resources for helping people with learning needs. Operating within a specific educational environment, they tend to focus on a specific age range of the population, and they tend to use the same evidence-based practices as any other psychologist but most often for the reason of assessing, providing access to mental health support, and helping students to optimize their educational pursuits.

Counseling psychologists are wonderful in the sense they work with a wide range of the population from many areas of life, they tend to focus their work on prevention and treatment efforts, and their use of the evidence-base can vary based on the immediate and long-term desires of their clients.

Clinical psychologists also work with a wide range of clientele, they tend to offer many services including psychological testing, counseling, and consultation, primarily for the purposes of providing diagnoses and treatment.

Sport and performance psychologists typically have training in one of these three types of general psychology, plus additional formal training and supervision from a program specialized in sport and performance psychology. A ‘sport psychologist’ can offer many types of psychological services to many people who identify as a performer in some way, typically during life experiences that offer both a challenge and an opportunity for deep fulfillment.

At Atlas Psychology, Brooke and Bob are counseling psychologists, and Adam is a clinical psychologist, and we all identify as ‘sport psychologists’ based on our personal interests, our formal and structured professional education and training, our mentors and supervisors with their focused work with performance-oriented clients in their own right, and our subsequent life experiences supporting people “going for it” in their own way.

This depends on the service.

The average cost for a High Performance Assessment tends to range between $3,400-$4,500. The costs are associated with administrative (e.g., use of test materials) and time costs - it typically takes us about 12 hours to conduct all of the tests, from top to bottom (to have follow ups with you, to write the report, etc.). Prices are determined, also, by the presenting concern - if you are looking for ruling in/ruling out a mental health diagnosis as well as evaluation of psychological skills and abilities, we may need more tests to get the results you are looking for.

For one-hour of counseling or consulting with one of our high performance psychologists, the hourly rate is $225. We occasionally offer lower-cost sessions ('sliding scale'), so check out this website in the “Fees” section for more information.

Come back to the website from time to time, as well - we are hoping to hire more masters-degree & doctoral-degree providers with extensive training in applied sport psychology to offer different rates!

For teams and organizations seeking workshop opportunities, brown-bag-lunch sessions, fireside chats, etc., please contact us directly and we can determine a rate for your project. We also welcome inquiries from teams and groups looking for regular consultation (not just a one-time-thing).

Prices will be determined prior to booking your engagement with us. We will adhere to the Good Faith Estimate laws, and will be sure to discuss all financial agreements and changes with you before time.

We are currently out of network with all insurance providers, but we are working on getting on some insurance panels.

To our knowledge, many insurance providers do not cover sport or performance psychological services very often, if at all.

If you would like to try to use your out-of-network insurance benefits, we are happy to help you with providing you with a superbill. You will be asked to pay the full fee at the time of service, we will then provide a superbill at the end of each month for you to file directly with your insurance company. Please know that a superbill does not guarantee insurance reimbursement; and, many superbills require a formal diagnosis to be processed.

Please contact your insurance provider to better understand your specific benefits. When contacting your insurance company the following questions may be helpful:

“Do I have out of network benefits for sport & performance psychological consultation with a licensed psychologist? What are the benefits?”

“How many sessions or hours are covered, and for what period of time?”

“What percentage of the service fee is covered?”

“Do I need to submit any forms to use my out-of-network benefits?”

“Do I need a diagnosis in order for my superbill to be accepted?”

Unfortunately, we do not offer payment plans for our services. Full payment for your quoted balance is due upon check in for your appointment; or, in the event of conducting additional tests after the initial payment has been made, full payment of balance will be due prior to feedback session.