ABSTRACT
Professional practice within applied sport psychology provides the sport psychology consultant (SPC) with several unique challenges in comparison to the more traditional psychological practice settings of psychotherapy and counseling. SPCs are regularly called upon to travel for periods of time with athletes and teams, attend training sessions and competitions, and understand the performance demands faced by their clients, while also demonstrating their openness to work with individual athletes and coaches. In their pioneering investigations into athletes’ evaluations of sport psychology support services, Partington and Orlick and Orlick and Partington identified a number of personal characteristics perceived to be essential for consulting effectiveness. The applied sport psychology environment provides a number of unique challenges for the practitioner. As a result of the non-traditional working conditions, and at times challenging professional working environments faced by SPCs, it is necessary for the individual practitioner to develop self-care strategies to assist their coping with these challenges.
