Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH SARAH?
Schedule your appointment Quick Questions: Phone (text is best or please leave a detailed voicemail with the best time to call back or let me know if I can/should text). (630) 219-0339
WHERE DO SESSIONS TAKE PLACE?
Sessions are all Remote (telehealth), and approximately 50 minutes in length. You can be anywhere in the world that you feel comfortable and safe to talk confidentially. Feel free to be walking or exercising too if that’s something we discussed. I always recommend earbuds or headphones.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT EACH INDIVIDUAL SESSION?
As a licensed counselor, it’s my job to do my best to put myself in your shoes and understand from your perspective. It’s your job to teach me about yourself and educate me about your life and goals. Each session I will ask about your week and to catch me up on anything new. I’d like to hear about your thoughts and feelings about practicing your skills and walk me through them. We will discuss various situations and talk about how to best apply skills to them. We will practice in session and you’ll practice outside of session. This is a partnership; A team effort. I invite you to speak up about barriers and you will receive my honest input.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FOR EACH GROUP SESSION?
If you will be attending a group, they are typically 6 weeks in length with no more than 7 other people. There will be an initial free individual session to make sure the group is a good fit and learn about what’s bringing you in at this time. Each week the group will watch a module from Peak Performance Course and then talk about it with the group, led by Sarah. In the last session we will have the opportunity to run through everyone’s mental training program and support each other in fine-tuning.
DO YOU TAKE INSURANCE?
No. Coaching is not able to be covered by insurance.
WHO IS PSYCHEDGE COACHING FOR?
My clients include athletes of all ages and levels of competition, performers, and professionals. Basically, those looking to grow, increase performance, make healthy lifestyle changes, and feel better. ATHLETES: • Professional Athletes • High school, College-age athletes, and Adult athletes • Weekend warriors/Triathletes • High-level athletes looking for an edge to compete professionally • Amateur athletes to those trying to be recruited or aiming for the Olympics • Athletes getting back into shape OR recovering and coping with injuries • Coaches PERFORMERS: • Musicians • Entertainers (Actors, Comedians, Magicians, etc.) • Stunt Professionals PROFESSIONALS: • C-level Executives/Managers • Doctors/Health Professionals • Law Professionals
IS PERFORMANCE COACHING RIGHT FOR YOU?
- Do you perform better in practice than in competition/performance? - When emotion (stress, anxiety, anger, etc.) is high, do you struggle to be aware of it? Do you struggle to manage it and even try to ignore it? - Do you struggle to read a room, to respond accordingly, to achieve your goal/get what you want? *** If you answered YES to any of the above questions, Coaching with PsychEdge is right for you! This is an investment in yourself, your future, your health, and your happiness.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN PERFORMANCE COACHING?
At our initial session, we will evaluate how you’re feeling about your recent performances and determine your primary challenges. Learning the skills and mindsets will help you take back control of your emotions to channel them in a positive way and even fuel enhanced performance and mental health. In our initial coaching session, I will learn about your background and do my best to put myself in your shoes to understand your perspective. I want to provide you with a safe space to talk about your frustrations, challenges, and fears without shame or judgment. If burnout is a concern, we’ll talk about what initially inspired you to start on your passion journey. Taking a step back to recall the child-like excitement can be a jumpstart for rediscovering your motivation and better defining our goals. Another way we can foster renewed enthusiasm for your passion is to identify your values and priorities and create goals derived from them. Finding ways to improve your self-care regime will help you establish a healthier work-life balance. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, I will teach you coping skills that you can apply in various situations to decrease the intensity and duration of your symptoms over time, while also channeling them into fuel for your performance and mental health. Addressing underlying anxiety or depression will increase your sense of control, which, in turn, will increase your confidence and consistent peak performance.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN COACHING FOR ATHLETES?
Mental coaching for athletes offers skills that will enhance performance and help you take back control of your emotions. In our initial coaching session, I will learn about your background and do my best to put myself in your shoes to understand your perspective. I want to provide you with a safe space to talk about your frustrations, challenges, and fears without shame or judgment. In ongoing sessions, you will increase your self-awareness by identifying unhelpful thought patterns and triggers that underlie what is holding you back from peak performance. By taking inventory of your self-talk, I’ll get a glimpse into your inner-critic and establish a baseline so we can replace negativity with self-affirming language. Teaching mindfulness and breathing exercises will help you take back control of counterproductive thought patterns and give you the skills to improve athletic performance right away. Next, I will help you create goals that can accommodate changes and meet you where you are. By learning how to set realistic and flexible goals, I will help you avoid the discouragement that comes with setting unrealistic goals. You’ll also discover how emotional intelligence enables you to learn from your defeats and how growth mindset develops your mental resilience. These skills will teach you how to come back and do it better next time and no longer dwell on setbacks. Lastly, you’ll learn visualization, or what’s known as mental imagery. The skills you will learn beforehand will create a stable foundation to overlay this beneficial technique. Science has shown that when we visualize something vividly—such as swimming a lap or throwing a pitch—our brain’s response is the same as when we perform the physical action. Visualization is a powerful tool that can unlock your full potential as an athlete. Together, we will use my scientifically proven mental skills process to develop ‘mental game plans’ to enhance athletic performance. Utilizing mental game plans will increase your confidence, emotional regulation, resilience, and, most importantly, performance. Consistently putting together all of the skills you will learn in coaching sessions with me will ultimately lead to what all successful athletes have already attained—flow. I believe you are reading this because you are ready to do what it takes to enhance athletic performance and feel better. Congratulations! You are taking the first step to a brighter future.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN COACHING PROFESSIONALS?
At our initial session, we will evaluate how you’re feeling about work and determine your primary challenges. If burnout is a concern, I may ask you what initially inspired you to start on your career path. Taking a step back to recall the passion you initially had for your profession can be a jumpstart for rediscovering your motivation. Another way we can foster renewed enthusiasm for your profession is to identify your values and priorities and create goals derived from them. Finding ways to improve your self-care regime will help you establish a healthier work-life balance. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, I will teach you coping skills that you can apply in various work situations to decrease the intensity and duration of your symptoms over time. Addressing underlying anxiety or depression will increase your sense of control, which, in turn, will increase your confidence and consistent peak performance.
Common Concerns
ISN’T A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF PERFORMANCE ANXIETY MOTIVATING?
Although you need a certain level of anxiety to perform, if you are overly anxious, your emotions can become overwhelming, challenging to regulate, and debilitating, causing you to freeze, flee, or fight. Understanding the skills to effectively self-regulate your emotions in times of stress can make a difference in how you accomplish the task at hand, whether it’s a surgical procedure or a corporate presentation.
CAN’T I OVERCOME ANXIETY ON MY OWN?
Change can be hard, and it's not always easy to know where to turn for support. Online resources are great starting points but they don’t guarantee a tailored approach that focuses on what you need. Working with an experienced professional who will give you the personal attention you deserve could help make sure your needs are addressed and goals attained in less time than going at it alone. Investing in yourself is worth considering—once you experience a safe, non-judgmental space for yourself to explore your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or criticism, there's no telling how far you might go!
CAN PARENTS GET THEIR STUDENT-ATHLETE HELP WITH PERFORMANCE ANXIETY VIA PSYCHEDGE?
Yes! If your child is an athlete in high school or college, you may have noticed they have lost their self-confidence and can be irrationally hard on themselves. They might second guess themselves, have trouble speaking up, or lose focus easily. Perhaps they have a short fuse and are prone to fits of anger when they don’t perform to their expectations. Their self-criticism and irritation only make the situation worse. If your child has told you they’re considering quitting sports, you probably feel helpless. Although they possess so much athletic promise, performance anxiety is threatening to put an end to their dreams.
I HEAR PERFORMANCE COACHING IS EXPENSIVE—WHAT IF IT DOESN’T WORK?
Coaching is an investment in yourself. The skills and mindsets you will learn are based on decades of combined research that have identified the skills needed for enhanced performance. If you’re ready to be vulnerable and real with yourself—and with me—I can know this investment can not only improve your performance but all aspects of your life. I believe you possess an untapped potential to improve your performance.
WHAT IF I DON’T WANT OTHER PEOPLE TO KNOW I’M SEEING A PERFORMANCE COACH FOR MY SPORT?
The telehealth platform I use for counseling and coaching is HIPPA-compliant and completely confidential. Everything we discuss stays between us. If you only require mental training skills and want to learn on your own, you can purchase my videos. However, if you want coaching tailored to your needs to address athletic performance, I recommend personalized coaching sessions. To be productive you will need to share information about yourself with me, but rest assured it will remain confidential. You get the benefit of a confidential space to discuss difficult topics that might not feel appropriate around friends or family. Through this process, you will gain valuable skills and perspectives specifically tailored to equip you with useful strategies for coping and managing stress throughout your lifetime.
IF GRIEF IS A NORMAL PROCESS, WHY DO I NEED HELP?
By normalizing grief for you, counseling and coaching can help you better understand its stages and identify when you might be stuck in an emotion that’s causing you avoidable distress. And if you have to address important life matters while experiencing grief—like legal or financial issues—you could benefit from the objective perspective of a counselor who doesn’t have a stake in what happens except to support and help you.
WHAT SITUATIONS MIGHT I EXPERIENCE GRIEF?
Loss of a loved one, Changes, Injuries (temporary & permanent), Identity, Life Transitions (College, Graduation, Retirement, Having a baby, etc)
TALKING ABOUT MY GRIEF WILL BE PAINFUL?
Although experiencing grief is an inevitable part of life, it can be painful to talk about. However, the more you avoid expressing it, the more it festers. Unprocessed grief can manifest into anger, bitterness, depression, isolation, and anxiety, adversely affecting your outlook on life. Festering long enough can lead to physical problems, especially cardiac concerns. The purpose is to prevent you from getting stuck in extreme emotions and figure out how to self-regulate so you can see clearly and behave differently. Working with me means you won’t face your grief alone and will find healthier ways to process it.
WHAT IS CONSIDERED A ‘LIFE TRANSITION’?
Life transitions are naturally occurring in all of our lives and they can look very different. Examples include going away to college, temporary injury putting you out of your sport/performance season or permanently crushing your hopes of continuing, retirement in sport, retirement in life, and relationship changes, romantic or otherwise. Life transitions change our day-to-day and can affect our identity and how we view ourselves and our lives. In order to accept the new reality, we learn how to find comfort in the uncomfortable. Life transitions are easier when we find our roots on the other side of the change. What CAN we look forward to? Create the reality on the other side and the safety nets to know what you’re going to. Perhaps the changes you’re experiencing were unexpected and caught you off guard, and now you’re reeling from how quickly your daily life has changed. Or if your life transition is seemingly positive—like getting married or having a baby—you may be wondering why you feel so stressed out. Because you were looking forward to this milestone, you probably weren’t expecting to feel overwhelmed or unsettled by it.
HOW CAN A POSITIVE LIFE TRANSITION CAUSE GRIEF?
Even when we’re looking forward to a life-changing event, such as getting married, having a child, or planning retirement, it still causes us stress. All milestones are bittersweet because they represent the end of one chapter of our lives and the beginning of another. Although milestones such as these are perceived positively, they still present a period of adjustment that can throw us off balance. When we encounter challenging life events, such as divorce, injury, or chronic illness, our initial reaction is often denial. Rather than accept what is happening to us, we resist the unwelcome change and crave the impossible—for our lives to go back to the way they were before. Life Transitions are changes. Changes are something we can always count on in life. Changes and Life Transitions are opportunities.