Ever thought of how therapy is designed and looks like? Surely it can't be a one-fits-all type of thing where you just sit in a room and tell your shrink what's been bothering you, like we see on TV. That is correct because therapy can actually be interesting, and that is why this podcast episode is about all 8  common types of therapy we use here at Mindbuffs.

On today’s unconventional podcast episode, our favorite nerdy duo talks about the 8 types of therapy and everything you need to know about them. They describe each type and how it can be effectively used to support clients. Kayla expresses that the main goal they agreed on upon making this episode was to encourage people to informatively advocate for themselves. Mat adds that it is also to provide listeners with the general knowledge that will not only enable them to follow on the conversations but also should have them access which ones they have used in therapy before.

 This makes perfect sense because clients know the depth of their struggles. Knowing the help and support available to them would be the next best thing to getting them to see improvement in therapy.

Starting off with the therapy types that are medical-based, they will eventually move on to others that are evidence-based. These types are;

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
3. Solution Focused therapy
4. Sports Psychology
5. Internal Family Systems
6. Narrative Therapy
7. EMDR
8. Existential Therapy

Jumping in towards the end will be Minah, offering a client’s perspective and asking questions every regular person could be pondering. This Q and A will be composed of general questions listeners may have and will have answers right on the spot. If you have any questions we haven't covered, please reach out and we'll be happy to answer them.  

The weight of performance: How Athletes View Their Bodies

Lindsay is taking the lead on this series debut of the Body image issues in athletes podcast. Having written her thesis on this topic, Lindsay accounts her passion for it on being an athlete herself. Her experience as a competitive basketball player combined with the accumulated knowledge from research and client experience makes her the perfect source to address these issues.

This episode introduces the upcoming conversations that will support athletes in having healthy relationships with their bodies. The conversations will be based on the previously covered premises of dismantling the toxicity in sports and building a fresh and motivating culture. As a sports therapist who noticed the recurring themes of body images in sports, Lindsay felt a moral obligation to shield athletes from these issues. She also plans to educate coaches, caregivers, and sports supporters on communicating effectively with athletes.

The talk evolves to cover the implications of the language of the body in performance settings. This includes how coaches try to motivate players with fear-inducing comments and the long-term impacts it has on them. Mat and Lindsay open up about their own experiences in competitive sports and share how that impacted their relationships with their bodies. The two provide varying perspectives as they experienced opposites on the body shape spectrum. This made for an interesting discussion that you will be glad to have been a part of.

Mat and Lindsay are back with their series the Power of Control Wheel in Sports, where they discuss the sports culture and how it can be improved. Both are very passionate athletes enthusiastic about building an athletic community/society that is not detrimental to either the athletes, coaches, or parents’ mental health. In this episode, they discuss ways to create a high-performance sports culture that still allows everyone to enjoy a good game and have fun. 

This conversation is a much-needed talk that should happen within teams for all parties involved to excel at what they do. Addressing coaches guides them on improving team communication while avoiding tactics that may hurt their players. To parents, it brings awareness of what might be happening behind the locker rooms and how it might harm their children. This community discussion sets the foundation of transparency between all those in sports to continue and build a powerful team that gets along and leaves no one behind.

They break down the scary and intimidating word “grooming”, in sports and what it means. As scary as the word is, they explain that some actions are so normalized that grooming could remain hidden in plain sight. Taking off the ignorance goggles, this conversation is one that these two sports psychologists personally know needs to happen. Growing up as competitive athletes themselves, they bring lived experiences and as psychologists, they explain the truth behind some human behaviors. 

Unveiling the truth behind grooming and manipulation in sports, Mat explains that grooming is usually an insecure attempt for coaches to control their athletes. Although sometimes it can be unintentional, Mat explains that this could also be an intentional attempt at manipulating athletes to play according to the coach's expectations. He further elaborates that putting players in a limited box could prevent them from having fun and playing expressively.

Lindsay speaks on gaining the trust of athletes and that sometimes coaches may try to take advantage of a player’s family situation to get them to trust them. She shares the common issues some of her clients who are athletes deal with and the way to comprehend them effectively. While encouraging athletes to not limit themselves by their coach's perceptions, she also urges them to take charge of their athletic experiences and advocate for themselves.

This episode is one eye-opener that aims to bring back the fun in sports for all those participating. Come tune in and see how you identify in the sports community and how to address some issues limiting your, your players or your child’s abilities. 

In continuation of the Confidence series by Mat and Kayla, this episode highlights the importance of managing our inner critic to maintain confidence. They break down practical ways to increase confidence, highlighting the importance of self-compassion.

Taking us on an emotional journey most of us are familiar with, they address how our inner voices play a role in confidence and what our inner critic and self-analyzation do to our confidence. They discuss why self-compassion is important and why being over-critical isn't serving us. They explain our inner critical side where we make a mistake, and it is a direct threat against us and why a lot of the time we respond  critically. 

They discuss how people respond with fight, freeze, flight, fawn, feign and flop. Kayla talks about the importance of feeling our feelings but not identifying ourselves with them. That is the ability to feel sad but not say “I am sad’, because often enough that is what keeps us stuck in a cycle with no change at all. Mat talks about the trauma response that keeps us stuck on a toxic cycle and how our brains keep us from making that needed change. This episode is overall a self-awareness lesson with two confidence coaches helping you navigate your emotions with grace and compassion. 

Fit at any cost: Eating Disorders in Sport

For the upcoming Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which runs from February 1 to 7, these three athletes and Mindbuffs psychologists, Alex, Ana, and Lindsay, address the stigma and taboo surrounding eating disorders. All three, former or current competitors in different sports, share their experiences with specific sports cultures and the impact on athletes' health and performance.

Acting as the host is Alex who brings to light the silence around eating disorders and body image issues in sports. She leads the discussion down a path of vulnerability and empathy that many athletes will resonate with. Previously a competing figure skater herself, she unravels the toxic culture within the industry by unpacking her experiences.

Lindsay talks about aesthetic and non-aesthetic sports and the mind-blowing evidence that contrary to popular belief, athletes in aesthetic sports struggle less with body image issues than those in non-aesthetic sports. As a basketball player herself, she recalls when unsolicited backhanded compliments were harmful and why it is important for society to not project into athletes. 

Ana chimes in that it’s hard when athletes are healthy but society does not idealize their bodies as normal. She later elaborates that as an Olympic-style weightlifter, she knows that her body is healthy but she often struggles with how people can perceive her body as different depending on the social context. She mentions perfectionism as a cause of body issues in athletes and explains how perfectionism can serve a good purpose and when it can be detrimental.

Through research-backed evidence, lived experiences, and the well-informed minds of sports psychologists, this conversation needed to be had and all athletes should hear it. Listeners will see eating disorders and body-image issues through a compassionate lens to have a healthier year.

Friendship and Loneliness: Why your New Year's Resolution should be a time to adapt and change your social networks!

With New Year’s resolutions in mind, this episode features insights from Mindbuffs’ psychologists Mat de Moissac and Kayla Unrau to address the loneliness epidemic. They shed light on the complexities of friendships and western society’s symptoms of loneliness through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory. Recalling lessons learned from last year’s experiences, they express why this topic is especially important to them.

This nerdy pair unpacks the many impacts that loneliness has and its unfashionable detriment on its victims. Referencing research and personal discoveries, they bring forth critical evidence on the benefits of friendship and just how many friends it takes to stop this known health issue recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO)..

As they proceed to break down the different types of relationships, they also debunk some toxic and popular myths about which relationships are worth investing in. Both echo similar sentiments that the goal is not just investing in good people but people who are also willing to invest in you. They offer specialized words of wisdom on the internal family systems and how to avoid the greatest risk of them being polarised.

Using vivid imagery of the developer's model,  they take listeners on a ride on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems’ microsystems, mesosystems, and ecosystems. Poignantly explaining how these different layers of our social environments impact our experiences of connection and isolation. 

In this episode, listeners will enjoy learning a lot on topics varying from ways to strengthen social ties to how to gain a deeper understanding of human connection. Through this compassionate, research-backed conversation, we hope you get a great start to your year.

This Week on The Mindbuffs Podcast:

Join Mat and special guest Kayla, a sports psychologist, as they explore the theory of confidence and offer practical strategies to improve it. Building on the foundation of their previous episode, Mat and Kayla dive deeper into how athletes and individuals can enhance their confidence through a mix of internal and external approaches.

In this episode, they break down key concepts like verbal persuasion, self-talk, and the importance of prioritizing what matters most to you. Mat and Kayla discuss how athletes can recognize that their needs are valid, and how learning to understand and meet those needs is crucial to boosting confidence.

They also explore the role of relationships in building confidence—who we choose to surround ourselves with, and who we listen to, has a significant impact on our self-belief. The discussion includes a fun exercise with Venn Diagrams, where Mat and Kayla illustrate how different areas of life intersect with confidence, offering listeners a visual tool to assess their own experiences.

Throughout the episode, they provide actionable strategies for increasing confidence, including how to challenge your inner critic and focus on the positive influences around you. Mat and Kayla emphasize the importance of learning who you are and accepting where you're at in your journey, because true confidence comes from self-awareness and self-compassion. They also touch on the importance of emotional states, encouraging listeners to recognize and accept their emotions rather than push them aside. 

One key insight that is discussed: reframing anxiety as excitement and preparation can transform how we approach challenges, making it less about fight-or-flight and more about growth and readiness.

Whether you're an athlete, coach, or someone interested in improving confidence in yourself or others, this episode is packed with practical advice and powerful insights. Tune in to The Mindbuffs Podcast for an enlightening discussion on the theory of confidence, and learn how to take actionable steps toward building it in your life.

This Week on The Mindbuffs Podcast:

Join Mat and special guest Kayla, a sports psychologist, as they dive into the multifaceted nature of confidence in sports. Building on their previous episode that laid the groundwork for understanding confidence, Mat and Kayla take a deeper look into what confidence really means for athletes and how they can harness it for optimal performance.

In this episode, they break down the various types of confidence, exploring how each plays a role in an athlete's journey. Mat and Kayla also discuss the significant impacts of lived experiences on confidence levels, emphasizing that the road to becoming confident is often nonlinear and may require resilience.

Listeners will learn about the essential concepts of self-efficacy and mastery experiences. Kayla highlights the importance of the zone of proximal development and how being aware of who you are can make a profound difference. They also discuss how overcoming adversity can serve as a powerful catalyst for building confidence.

Mat and Kayla delve into the role of external influences on confidence, illustrating how the responses of coaches, teammates, and peers can impact confidence. Additionally, they emphasize that confidence is complex and influenced by both internal and external factors, exploring the necessity of a supportive environment. As they wrap up, Mat and Kayla provide practical tips for navigating the confidence journey, encouraging listeners to grab their notebooks. 

Whether you’re an athlete, coach, or someone who wants to learn more about confidence, this episode will equip you with valuable strategies to enhance confidence in yourself and those around you. Tune in to this enlightening episode of The Mindbuffs Podcast to unravel the intricacies of confidence in sports.

This Week on The Mindbuffs Podcast:

Join Mat and special guest Lindsay Piper, a sports psychologist and performance dynamics expert, for Part 2 of their in-depth exploration into the complex world of coercion in sports. Building on their previous discussion, Mat and Lindsay dive deeper into real-world examples of coercion and how it manifests in athletic environments.

In this episode, they unravel how coercion can impact athletes' performance and mental health, especially through methods like isolation and manipulative tactics. Lindsay brings her extensive knowledge to the table, discussing the subtle yet significant ways in which power imbalances influence athletes' experiences and outcomes.

Mat and Lindsay tackle questions about how ignoring athletes' needs and implementing consequences that revolve around isolation can detract from their performance and overall well-being. They emphasize the crucial role of mutual respect and care between coaches and athletes, exploring how understanding an athlete's unique personality, mind, and body is essential for fostering a supportive environment.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into how respecting athletes' autonomy, body, and nutritional choices contributes to their personal athletic journey. Mat and Lindsay also offer practical advice for coaches and sports professionals on how to create a culture that supports and enhances athletes' experiences and performance.

Tune in to this thought-provoking episode of The Mindbuffs Podcast to gain a deeper understanding of how coercion impacts the world of sports and learn strategies for promoting a healthier, more respectful athletic culture.

This Week on The Mindbuffs Podcast:

In Part 2 of our series on Business Appreciation, Mat is once again joined by Shawna Shuster, a mental performance consultant at Mindbuffs. This episode dives deeper into how businesses can create and sustain environments where employees truly feel seen and heard, even during challenging times.

Shawna brings her expertise to the table as we discuss the pivotal role of appreciation in fostering a positive workplace culture. We explore how genuine acknowledgment and consistent appreciation can transform your work environment, enhance employee engagement, and build a resilient team. Shawna and Mat highlight the importance of maintaining a culture of appreciation, especially during the toughest periods, and why this aspect is crucial to keep thriving.

We delve into the significance of open communication, both in times of personal struggle and workplace challenges. Normalizing these conversations and addressing them with empathy and support can make a substantial difference in how employees feel and perform.

The discussion also takes a fascinating turn as we incorporate findings from the Gottman Institute. Mat explains how their research on relationship dynamics and emotional intelligence can be applied to business settings to create appreciative and supportive environments. We discuss practical strategies for effective communication, including regular check-ins and the power of one-on-one meetings where vulnerability can be shared safely and constructively.

Mat and Shawna also talk about the importance of recognizing and supporting employees through their personal hardships. They provide actionable tips on how to show meaningful appreciation and provide support, ensuring that your team feels valued and understood even when facing tough times.

Tune in to discover how fostering an environment of appreciation can not only improve workplace morale but also drive overall success. Join us as we continue to explore how to make appreciation an integral part of your business culture, with insights and advice you can apply right away.