CBT Approaches to Team Cohesion and Sport Performance: Insights from a New Textbook Chapter

Photo credit: Me

When I was a student-athlete at Citrus College, I remember learning that one of my professors had a long list of academic publications. He had written about 20 books on various topics in his field. This left an impression on me as an 18 year old trying to find my way.

About 10 years later, I was a graduate student reading various articles, chapters, and books on clinical and sport psychology. As overwhelming as graduate school, and life in general, can get, I never lost my interest in writing. As a graduate student, I had co-authored a case study in a peer reviewed journal and authored a couple articles in the newsletters of professional associations. However, something about writing a chapter in a text book seemed very appealing to me. If someone writes a chapter in a text book they must be respected as an expert, right? That means “they’ve made it,” right?

Well, yes and no. Life is complicated.

Writing a chapter about team cohesion and optimal performance

I still have a lot to learn as a clinical and sport psychology professional. However, I have also developed a certain level of expertise and I have achieved my share of accomplishments.

I have now published a chapter entitled Building Team Cohesion and Optimal Performance in the second edition of the textbook Handbook of Cognitive-Behavior Group Therapy with Children and Adolescents. I consider this a huge milestone in my career!

I was invited by Dr. Ray Christner to contribute my knowledge and expertise to the textbook after appearing on the Psyched to Practice Podcast to discuss the use of pop culture metaphors in therapy. The Psyched to Practice Podcast, hosted by Dr. Christner and Paul Wagner, LPC, aims to help mental health professionals energize their practice and life by sharing important lessons learned by the hosts and their guests.

What will you learn from my clinical sport psychology chapter?

In this chapter, I drew from the latest research, landmark studies, and my decade of experience working with athletes and performers. I covered the following topics:

• how to understand and help “Gen Z” athletes

• the Athlete Minority Stress Model

• addressing minority stress with cultural awareness

• assessment in clinical sport psychology

• group cohesion

• team building

• sport performance

• possible cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches

• psychological skills training in sport psychology

  • relaxation

  • self-talk

  • imagery

  • Goal setting

  • concentration

• a case study of a semi professional women’s soccer team

  • introduction to the team

  • how I assessed their their mental performance needs

  • team demographics

  • details about the sport psychology program developed including vignettes

  • evaluation and concluding thoughts

I’m incredibly proud of this achievement, and I hope that my shared insights will be helpful to students, educators, and professionals in mental health, sport psychology, and sport science alike. As an author of a chapter in an edited book, I do not receive payment for my work or for any sales. However, it is a huge honor to be a contributor and I encourage anyone to to read the full chapter in the Handbook of Cognitive-Behavior Group Therapy with Children and Adolescents. For a personalized discussion or to explore how these strategies can apply to your team, I invite you to schedule a free consultation with me. I am available to work with athletes via telehealth all over California and I can meet with teams in-person in Los Angeles, Long Beach, the South Bay, and the Southern California area. Let's work together to enhance your team's performance and mental well-being.

Contact me to schedule a free consultation.