At the Olympic Games, everything is a performance issue (Sean McCann)

Welcome and thank you for visiting my site! Whether you're here by accident or by choice, let me introduce myself.

I'm a sport psychology consultant based in Vilnius, Lithuania. Most of my clients are adult athletes of different levels, from amateurs to professionals. Most of my clients come from individual sports. Having said that, I admit that occassionally I've worked with teenagers and team sport athletes, and it hasn't always been terrible!

I encourage athletes and coaches to get in touch with me when they feel stuck or overwhelmed in their sport situation. My work is based on Acceptance and Commitment approach (ACT), so we do a lot of mindfulness based practices and explore values to find core motivation. ACT approach also provides some great insights how to deal with emotionally difficult situations, based on acceptance and re-focus on what really matters (athlete's task at hand, be it a training session or competition!).

I've missed one-on-one sessions with my clients, but during COVID-19 pandemic most of my counselling in done online to ensure that we are all safe, and that my sessions do not become a virus transmitter.

Career

I've been working as a sport psychology consultant since 2004. Some of the highlights in my career include:

  • 2013-2017 freelancing for Vilnius Tennis Academy, providing sport psychology counselling for young tennis players, including psychological skills training programme (parts of which were executed together with my colleagues Rita Deksnyte or Andrius Liachovicius).

  • 2013-2016 lecturing at Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences (health psychology and sport psychology for coaches).

  • 2007-2014 employed as a sport psychologist at Lithuanian Olympic Sport Center.

  • 2004-2007 employed as a sport psychologist at Vilnius Olympic Sport Center.

Education

I value continuous learning and I try to update my knowledge and skills every now and then by attending a workshop, a conference, a webinar or simply reading a book. Yet, these are few of my formal qualifications:

  • 2017-2018 - Fundamentals of mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapy (Lithuanian University of Health Sciences).

  • 2005-2006 - Working with individuals programme (Kaunas gestalt study center).

  • 2003-2005 - Master of Clinical psychology (Vilnius University).

  • 1999-2003 - Bachelor of psychology (Vilnius University).