Dear Iron Dungeon Community
Hopefully my input in this sub-forum, will be beneficial for some members.
Who am I?
I am a registered psychologist with the QLD Psychology Board. I have specialised my training within the domain of applied performance psychology (i.e., sport and exercise psychology) however this has included work within corporate/organisational environments and clinical psychology.
Why Performance Psychology?
First, consider your performance endeavour... how much of your activity is physical and how much of your activity may be non-physical (i.e., mental, tactical etc)? How much time/effort do you spend developing the non-physical factors? Some athletes that I have worked with state that 40-90% of their sport is mental... yet more often than not, a high percentage of their training is spent engaging in physical training.
Second, how many of you have performed at your absolute best consistently? What factors may have influenced the likelihood of performing well? Quite possibly, some of these factors may have been linked with mental/emotional stress, inadequate recovery, conflict with a partner/close friend, communication breakdowns, anxiety, depression, injury rehabilitation, mental toughness etc?
Third, it is often easy to conceptualise health as being directed at physical health. However, emotional, social, and mental health are often factors that may contribute to healthy living. What steps are you taking to look after the other factors of health?
Hopefully I can add another string to ID's bow, and provide a few tips/strategies to support optimal health and performance.
What I can do?
I aim to check in here at least once per week to act as a sounding board for queries.
The process we use in psychology is similar to medicine. We spend as much time as necessary conducting an assessment to ensure we are able to accurately identify the core issue/underlying problem before we implement any form of treatment. Hence, my role on this board is not to provide treatment, but to provide a degree of support and guidance.
I will discuss with the moderators re: ensuring PM's remain confidential, however if there is risk to harm to self or others, than I will need to take appropriate action and in doing so, will break confidentiallity.
Although the above seems very formal, I do want to first protect the safety of users, the ID community, and myself from any potential harm or conflict. Nevertheless, I would encourage open discussion about challenges that you may face that have led to sub-optimal performance. Hopefully I can provide a few general tips/guidelines that will point you in the right direction of how you wish to manage your situation.
