At Condor Performance, we currently use the services and expertise of several sport psychologists and performance psychologists located in various locations. To learn more about one or more of our psychologists, click their name at the bottom of their headshots. This will automatically open their profile pages on new pages/tabs.
The section below contains some basic information on performance psychologists, not only those who work for Condor Performance but also this growing profession. We will also explore the differences between performance psychologists and other similar-sounding professions.
How Do Performance Psychologists Differ From …
For example, what is the difference between performance psychologists and clinical psychologists? How about the difference between a performance psychologist and a mental skills coach? In answering the first question, it is probably most useful to look at their typical clients. A clinical psychologist is likely to work across the population but predominantly assists individuals and groups with diagnosable mental health issues.
So, the clients of a clinical psychologist would rarely have anything else in common. This is not the case for performance psychologists. Our clients are very likely to be performers of some description. They can be sporting performers or non-sporting performers, such as performing artists or exam takers. Although, as qualified psychologists, we are quite capable of helping these performers with both mental health challenges and the cognitive aspects of the sport or performance domain, we would typically do much less work (as a percentage) in the mental health space compared with a clinical psychologist.
So, Like A Mind Coach, Then?
What is the difference between performance psychologists and mental skills coaches? The most straightforward answer is “between six and eight years of formal education and training”. This is not to say that all mental skills coaches are dodgy charlatans. It means that because the term is unprotected and unregulated, there is a greater chance that you end up with a bogus, ineffective practitioner than if you choose to work with a psychologist.
Are Sport Psychologists and Performance Psychologists The Same?
Almost, but not quite. A good place to start would be to talk about why some of our psychologists are performance psychologists, whilst others refer to themselves as sport psychologists. In Australia, only those endorsed by the AHPRA regulator can use certain protected words before the term psychologist. Psychologists with general registration can be endorsed in one or more of these nine areas of practice:
- clinical neuropsychology
- clinical psychology
- community psychology
- counselling psychology
- educational and developmental psychology
- forensic psychology
- health psychology
- organisational psychology, and
- sport and exercise psychology.
Of the nine specialty areas, ours can sound somewhat deceiving. It’s deceptive, as we rarely help our clients with anything related to physical exercise. Logic would dictate that if psychologists were involved in an area such as improving exercise, this would fit more naturally into the Health Psychology endorsement area.
Furthermore, as I once explained to fellow sports psychologist Dan Abrahams in Ep.103 of his podcast The Sport Psych Show, sport is just one of many types of performance. We know quite a few “sports psychologists” here in Australia who work with no sporting clients at all—none, zero, nada, zip!
These practitioners still apply their skills in performance-oriented settings such as the performing arts or the military. The limiting factor of the sport and exercise psychology endorsement area here in Australia is that there are only two Sport and Exercise Psychology Master’s programs remaining. Therefore, many psychologists passionate about working in sport and performance choose not to get the endorsement and accept that they cannot use the word Sport in their professional title.
Due To The Above Reasons …
Due to the above reasons, if Condor Performance insisted that all of our consultants were endorsed sport and exercise psychologists, we would be a tiny team with a long waitlist. The term ‘performance psychologist’ has several benefits from our point of view. Firstly, it can be legitimately used by any registered psychologist who feels that they are adequately equipped to assist a vast range of performers. This is how it’s done in New Zealand.
The second benefit of the collective term performance psychologists is that it is more logical and effectively describes the work we do. If, on any given day, one of our psychologists does a session with an athlete, a politician, a student, a sporting coach, and a slightly anxious surgeon, then this is actual performance psychology. “Sport psychology” or “sport and exercise psychology” would poorly describe that person’s working day.
Condor Performance has been employing both performance psychologists and sport psychologists since 2005. We have a mountain of data that would allow us to see if those with one of these titles were ‘doing a better job’ than the other. Guess what? It appears to make no difference regarding important stuff like client feedback, how much they improve, etc.