What is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)?

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As athletes start performing at higher levels and making bigger teams, the number of people involved grows. You go from one coach to three, you have a physio, a nutritionist, and suddenly someone is suggesting mental performance consulting. Mental performance consulting…?

There’s a particular kind of confusion that comes from trying to choose a service you know is important… but likely know nothing about. If you’re a coach or parent, you might be wondering things like:

• Is this therapy, or something different?
• How do I know if someone is legit?
• What actually happens in a session? Is it safe?
• Will this actually help?

It’s that same feeling you get when buying insurance, setting up a mortgage, or choosing a phone plan. You hear names, you see prices, and get “recommended” something (or someone, in this case). At some point, you say yes… while wondering if you made the right choice.

Mental performance consulting often creates that same feeling for parents and coaches. Which is no surprise, because as a field new to the mainstream, the titles aren’t yet clear.

This article is here to clear things up. (yay!) So, before saying yes to mental performance support, it helps to know what this field actually is… and who’s actually qualified (and who just sounds like they are).

I’m not here to bore you with buzzwords or academic definitions. I want to clearly explain what Certified Mental Performance Consultants (CMPCs) do, what working with one entails, and what they don’t do, so you can make a decision that actually feels right.

Why does mental performance consulting feel so confusing?

Most people don’t encounter mental performance consulting until something feels off.

An athlete might say:

• “Why can’t I play as well in a game?”
• “I lose my confidence in games.”
• “I feel so much pressure that sometimes I freeze.”

Parents and coaches often recognize that these struggles matter, but they’re not always sure who should help address them. Our field’s confusing language doesn’t help: 

• Sport psychology 
• Mental skills coach
• Mindset coaching 
• Mental performance support

We’ve got more confusing language than the ingredient list of a can of Coke (and yes, people also claim secret ingredients).

Industry terms explained

Sport psychology is what most people have heard of. It’s the psychological theories and ideas used in sport to help performance, often termed mental tools and skills. 

However, you’ll notice that most people who work with high-level teams aren’t called sport psychologists. The explanation is simple: a “psychologist” is a protected term. This means that you can only use a variation of the word “psychology” in a title if you have a clinical psychology degree. 

This created a bit of a challenge in the field because not everyone who wants to support athletic performance wants to also diagnose and treat mental illness. The solution to that challenge was to coin the term Certified Mental Performance Consultant. We’ll dive into the deep end of everything CMPC throughout the rest of this post. 

Thankfully, mental tools and skills are much easier to explain. Mental tools are strategies like visualization and self-talk, while mental skills are qualities like confidence and emotional regulation. They’re what athletes are developing through mental performance consulting to use in their performances. 

The more confusing part comes when the word “coach” gets used. The use of these “titles” does not require a certain level of education, adherence to an ethical code, or even experience supporting athletes under any supervision or mentorship. (There’s your easter egg for that deep dive into what CMPC does!)

So, terms like “mental skills coach” or “mindset coach” set off alarm bells. It’s a little like that one cousin who makes their money in the stock market, telling the whole family they can invest too. Sure, they might have some knowledge and a good idea or two, but you’re greatly increasing the risk of things going poorly compared to going to someone with formal education, training, certification, and an ethical code to follow.

Moreover, consider that mental performance consulting is something most coaches or parents missed when they were athletes themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the exact words, “Wow, I wish I had this back when I was competing.” With no personal experiences to draw on, it’s hard for you to know what the process should look like as it’s evolved.

Wow, I wish I had this back when I was competing.

Without clarity on what these words mean, hesitation makes sense.

What is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant?

A CMPC specializes in helping athletes and performers build the mental tools and skills needed to handle all that training throws at them, perform well, and grow through sport.

CMPCs are certified through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and the Canadian Sport Psychology Association here in Canada. The credential through AASP requires:

1. Graduate-level education: CMPCs need to have completed either a Master’s or a Doctoral degree in applied sport psychology. CMPCs need foundational knowledge across plenty of topics, from communication to confidence, awareness to activation, and all the way to what you should focus on to serve better or make more free throws. Fun fact: if you’re in Canada, many of us went through the same program in Ottawa!
2. Mentored applied experience: CMPCs in training need to gain 400 hours of experience in mental performance consulting, with 50 hours under a mentor (a Mentor CMPC) to support their development. I cannot understate how important this is. This requirement makes sure that when you work with a Mentor CMPC, they can show you the ropes. It makes sure they’ve done the reps and that those reps have been reviewed and improved upon by their mentors. 
3. An exam: The last step to being certified is passing a comprehensive exam that makes sure CMPCs can actually apply what they’ve learned, not just talk about it.
4. Adherence to a clear ethical code: This code makes sure that, as a CMPC, we respect confidentiality, stay within our areas of expertise, acknowledge cultural differences, and more. This one’s pretty simple: It means you’re not going to work with a CMPC who will be telling their book club about what you talked about in a session. Not only that, but since they have to stay within our expertise, it also means they aren’t going to start telling you what to eat or how to invest. Pretty sweet, if you ask me. 
5. Ongoing professional development: A CMPC needs to recertify every 5 years. To do so, they need to complete a certain amount of professional development through courses, workshops, and conferences. This makes sure that CMPCs continue learning and stay up to date with the science of mental performance. 

Like every field, we aim to continually evolve and improve. The last thing we want is to end up as the mental performance equivalent of using sports equipment from 50 years ago. The old is good, but recent science (or mental performance research, in our case) keeps getting better.

What does a Certified Mental Performance Consultant do?

The credential matters, but the title alone doesn’t say what the work looks like. So, let’s talk about that, too. At its core, mental performance work is about building tools and skills athletes can use when it matters most. A certified mental performance consultant helps athletes learn, practice, and apply mental tools and skills so they can:

• Build confidence through repeatable habits
• Regulate emotions in high-pressure moments
• Refocus quickly after mistakes
• Communicate clearly with teammates and coaches
• Stay present instead of overthinking performance

This isn’t about fixing athletes. It’s about giving them tools to handle what sport already asks of them.

For example, let’s look at confidence. Instead of confidence feeling like something that disappears without warning, like a kid lost in a grocery store, a CMPC helps athletes understand:

• What confidence feels like for them
• What disrupts it
• How to rebuild it on demand

Let’s look at another example. Let’s take an athlete who’s feeling very nervous. Instead of an athlete being told to “stay calm,” they learn to recognize stress early, talk to themselves in stressful moments, and reset in the moment.

These are skills. And like any skill, they improve with practice. 

What does working with a Certified Mental Performance Consultant look like?

Mental performance isn’t one-size-fits-all, but most work follows a similar structure.

One-on-one sessions

Athletes meet regularly with a certified mental performance consultant to:

• Identify and build strengths 
• Set goals and understand challenges
• Learn specific tools and skills
• Plan and practice applying skills to real situations
• Debrief performances

These sessions should be athlete-led and practical. The goal is for the athlete to use the skills in training, competition, and everyday life.

Team sessions

CMPCs will also work with entire teams in a group setting that helps them:

• Build a space for discussion and shared language
• Set collective goals and improve communication
• Normalize common challenges
• Learn topics together and support culture and consistency

These sessions focus on tools and skills athletes can practice together.

Integration into the training environment

Sometimes, a CMPC doesn’t just meet with athletes in independent sessions. They can also be part of the daily training environment (DTE). This might look like:

• Being integrated into practice
• Being on the bench in competitions 
• Travelling with the team

This helps keep the work real and practical. Instead of only talking about what happened, the CMPC can see it firsthand.

Asynchronous work

Not all mental performance work happens live. CMPCs can also support athletes and teams through content they’ve created. This can include:

• Journals or workbooks
• Season-long programs or curriculum
• Online courses

This makes the work easier to follow and repeat. Athletes and teams can learn at their own pace and revisit key ideas when needed.

The ongoing nature of consulting

I like to think that mental performance consulting is a lot like making and drinking coffee. 

You might want to learn how to do it on your own or learn from other experts. Someone isn’t going to be a rock star at making coffee right away. You’ll make a couple that taste good but not quite barista-level. Then, if you care about becoming a coffee snob, you’ll take the time to reflect, learn some new techniques, and probably learn that things like coffee grind size matter (seriously, how is this so complicated). But even those who get great at making it at home appreciate going out and getting a cut made somewhere else. 

Same with mental performance consulting. You won’t suddenly have an all-star mental game overnight, even though you understand the ideas. But with the right guidance, you’ll learn faster, adjust sooner, and build something that actually lasts. And, sometimes, it’s nice to treat yourself to a professionally made cup.

What don’t Certified Mental Performance Consultants do?

Although I like to think we’re pretty darn good at what we do, there are certainly some things that aren’t within our training.

A certified mental performance consultant doesn’t:

• Provide therapy or clinical treatment
• Diagnose mental health conditions or illnesses
• “Fix” athletes (since no service provider does this)
• Replace the responsibility of coaches or parents

Moreover, mental performance consulting isn’t about hype or band-aid solutions. It’s about helping athletes understand themselves better and respond more effectively when things don’t go quite as planned.

A note on mental health

If you’re looking for mental health information and resources, check out our directory here. Or, if you have more questions about what these ideas all mean, check out this FAQ page.

How to know if mental performance consulting is any good

If you’re considering hiring a CMPC, it’s reasonable to want more than just a title and a price. You should have a clear sense of what the process will look like and how it should feel.

Here are a few things to look for.

They have a system

A good CMPC should be able to explain:

• What the first few sessions will focus on
• How the athlete will plan and practice the tools
• How progress is measured
• How skills will transfer to practice and competition

If everything feels like modern art (you know the type… vague and abstract), ask for more detail. Mental performance work should feel structured, practical, and repeatable, not like a mystery board game.

They tee up reflection and give space to explore

Good mental performance consulting doesn’t just give answers. More often, it helps ask better questions and gives space for thinking. Athletes might leave a session thinking about:

• Why certain moments affect them more than others
• How their reactions to mistakes influence the rest of their performance
• What they can do to communicate better according to different teammates’ preferences

That reflection is intentional. Mental skills develop when athletes become more aware of their patterns and begin trying new responses to them. 

If every session feels like someone telling the athlete what to do, something may be missing. The goal is for the athlete to drive the decision-making car because the CMPC will not be there in their head when they are truly under pressure during performances.

It feels supportive, not evaluative

Athletes shouldn’t feel like they’re being “sent” to get fixed. 

The process works best when the athlete feels they’re developing new tools and skills (or improving the ones they already use), exploring areas they may not have considered, and experiencing personal growth.

If it starts to feel more like being judged than being supported, that’s worth addressing early. Athletes should feel like they’ve got another person in their corner helping them, not telling them everything that they’re doing wrong. 

The work connects directly to sport and then to life

Sessions should consistently link back to real-world sport experiences. 

Athletes should hear things like:

• “How did this show up at practice?”
• “What did you notice in that game?”
• “Where can we apply this next week?”

The goal is transfer, not conversations that never leave the room. And more than that, these skills don’t just apply to sport. They carry into school, relationships, and life, long after competition ends.

It feels challenging… but safe

Athletes may be asked to reflect honestly or try something new. That can feel uncomfortable. But it shouldn’t feel unsafe, pressured, or forced. The best mental performance environments balance accountability, autonomy, and respect.

If at any point that balance feels off, it’s okay to pause and ask questions! If you’re unsure what to ask, here are some options:

• What do you do if an athlete feels uncomfortable with part of the process?
• How do you make sure athletes feel respected while pushing them to grow?
• How can we make these sessions feel less like I’m not doing anything right?

Athletes leave with something to practice

Imagine attending a sports practice and spending the entire session discussing the skills, but never actually getting a chance to try them. Ridiculous, right?

Sometimes that’s what poor support from a certified mental performance consultant can feel like. A whole lot of talking, not much applying.

On average, a good session with a CMPC should end with (one or all of these):

• Concrete takeaways (like learnings or realizations)
• Specific homework (like a tool to try)
• A sense of feeling heard and being seen

Mental performance improves through application, not only insight.

How do Certified Mental Performance Consultants work alongside coaches and parents?

Good mental performance consulting doesn’t operate in isolation. CMPCs must work with the athlete’s environment, not against it.

That means:

• Aligning with the age and stage of athletes
• Understanding the coach’s values, vision, and goals.
• Teaching the athlete to communicate with coaches and parents
• Helping parents understand how to support without overstepping and respecting confidentiality

The goal is to align with, not undermine, coaching or parenting. What that might look like is a coach noticing that an athlete shuts down after making mistakes in games. Instead of telling them to “keep their head up,” a certified mental performance consultant might help the athlete build a short reset routine they can use between plays. Then the CMPC can teach the athlete how to communicate this to the coach. This gives the coach the chance to cue the athlete about it in practices/games and reinforce it when they notice it works.

How do Certified Mental Performance Consultants support coaches directly?

Mental performance consulting isn’t only for athletes. Coaches also operate under pressure.

If you think juggling three balls is impressive (I’m here to say it is, don’t let anyone take that away from you), imagine juggling four, five, or even six. That’s what coaches are doing. They manage expectations from athletes, parents, the clubs, and themselves. They navigate difficult conversations, team dynamics, selection decisions, and performance slumps. And, amazingly, they’re often doing all of this without much support of their own.

Although impressive, it doesn’t always have to be this way. CMPCs can work directly with coaches to help them:

• Clarify their coaching philosophy and values
• Build consistent coaching and communication habits
• Create a team culture and navigate conflict
• Respond effectively during high-pressure moments
• Avoid burnout over the course of a long season

But let’s get this straight: this isn’t about telling coaches how to coach. It’s about giving them tools to stay aligned when the season gets chaotic.

Just as athletes do, coaches benefit from having a space to reflect on their behaviour under pressure. And just like athletes, they improve through structure and repetition, not perfection.

Let Build Better Humans make things clearer

If parts of this article resonated, what you’re probably looking for is structure. At Build Better Humans, we offer a few ways to support athletes and coaches.

For organizations and teams, we provide curriculum-based mental performance sessions designed to make this work clear, practical, and consistent across a season. Coaches receive guided tools, structured activities, and repeatable systems that reduce guesswork and increase impact.

For athletes and families looking for individualized support, we also offer one-on-one mental performance sessions. These sessions focus on developing specific skills, like confidence, focus, communication, and handling pressure, in a structured, practical way that transfers directly into sport.

Whether you’re looking for a system for your organization or tailored support for your athlete, the goal is the same: clear tools, consistent practice, and long-term growth. Explore all of our services here..