Sport psychologist · São Paulo
You do not have to explain why before you arrive
Registered psychologist, nine years with players, coaches and referees. Booking takes one line and you do not have to explain why first.
One line is enough. You do not have to explain why first.
Confidentiality
What your club is told, what it is never told, and the three real limits.
What your club is told
- That you attended
- Dates only, and only if they are paying for them. An invoice needs a date on it.
- Whether you are engaging
- A yes or a no, if they ask. Not why, not how it is going, not what we are working on.
- Themes, only if you authorise them
- In writing, specifically, each time, and you can decline without giving a reason or facing a consequence. Most people decline.
What your club is never told
- Anything you said
- Why you came
- Any diagnosis, or whether there is one
- Anything about a teammate, a coach, an agent or your family
- Whether you were upset
- Whether you are considering leaving the club
What people arrive with
Published for one reason: almost everybody who books believes their reason is unusual and slightly embarrassing. It is the fourth most common thing I see, and seventeen people out of a hundred could not name it at all when they arrived.
What I work with
Three lists. The first is what most people arrive with, the second is work I do alongside a doctor rather than instead of one, and the third is the list almost nobody publishes.
- Competition anxietyAble to do it in training, unable to do it on Sunday. The most common presentation there is, and usually the most tractable.
- Attention and refocusingWhat happens in the ninety seconds after a mistake, which is where most matches are actually lost.
- Coming back after an injuryThe body is cleared and the player is not. Reinjury fear predicts return better than most physical tests and almost nobody treats it.
- Confidence that will not survive a bad gameUsually built on outcomes, which is why it collapses. We rebuild it on something that survives losing.
- Deselection, transfers, retirementThe transitions. They are grief, they are treated as sulking, and they are the reason a lot of careers end early.
- Coaches and refereesBoth under the same pressure and neither offered this. Referees in particular are handling abuse as a normal condition of work.
This is the list nobody publishes, and it is the reason some people leave a first session without booking a second one — which is the correct outcome.
How it usually goes
There is no package and nothing to buy in advance. You book one session at a time and you can stop after any of them without a conversation about it.
Sessions
Booked one at a time. No packages and nothing to commit to in advance.
First session
Sixty minutes, mostly you talking, and me working out what is actually going on — which is often not what you booked about.
Ongoing sessions
The work. Fortnightly suits most people because the gap is where it actually happens — you need matches in between.
Coaches and referees
The same work, for the two groups nobody offers it to. Referees in particular are managing sustained public abuse as a normal condition of employment.
Team workshop
Half a day with a squad, and the only format where I am working for the club rather than for an individual — which changes what I can and cannot do, so it is said out loud at the start.
Questions
Will my club find out?
Not from me. There is a whole page on this — what a club is told, what it is never told, and the three real limits — published so you can read it before you have to ask anybody about it.
Is this therapy?
It is performance psychology, delivered by a registered psychologist. The distinction matters mostly in one direction: if what you bring is better served by clinical treatment, I am qualified to notice and I will say so rather than working around it for six months.
How do I know you are actually registered?
My number is on this site and you can verify it with the register in about two minutes. Do that — with me and with anybody else selling you this. A great deal of it is sold by people with a weekend certificate, and nothing legally stops them.
What do I say when I book?
One line. It can be 'I do not really know'. You do not have to justify it, name it, or be certain it is serious enough.
How many sessions will it take?
Usually six to twelve, and you book them one at a time. If we reach twelve and nothing has moved, I will raise that with you rather than letting it run.
Can I do it online?
Yes, and most people do. It works as well as in person and it is easier to keep private, which for a lot of people is the deciding factor.