ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a forum to enhance practitioners’ self-awareness, and considerations for doing good work in a sometimes unforgiving environment. Professional athletes make their living through sport, some as employees and others as self-employed independent contractors. Unlike many members of the work force, professional athletes’ earning potential, public visibility, and experience of high-risk factors can provide a dangerous combination, leading to access to unlimited spending and exposure to people with ulterior and selfish motives. The psychological needs of professional athletes are as diverse as non-athletes but applying a normal model to these high-performing individuals seems naïve. Psychology is a protected and licensed profession in many places around the world; however, there are concepts that differentiate mental health and mental performance in athletes. An individual’s mental performance may not be correlated with their mental wellness or illness.
