Performance Consulting And Therapy
We aim to enhance performance and psychological wellness among performers and athletes during, while transitioning, and following their high-performance pursuits and careers.
We offer services virtually and in person from our Toronto and Stouffville offices.
We work with performers, athletes and their systems (i.e. coaches, and family members) who are dealing with a range of performance or mental health challenges. We work to reach the following goals:
Performance Challenges
- Enhancing performance
- Increasing motivation
- Enhancing positive training environments
- Setting goals
- Performing more mindfulness
- Managing performance anxiety
- Reducing choking
- Recovering from injuries
- Preventing burnout
- Developing effective training routines
- Avoiding overtraining
- Dealing with perfectionism
- Coping with failure and losses
- Reducing performance-related trauma
- Improving relationships and communication
- Improving team dynamics
- Accommodating and shifting during developmental transitions
- Planning for retirement
Mental Health Challenges
- Managing anxiety
- Reducing depression
- Regulating mood and emotions
- Managing anger
- Reducing perfectionism
- Improving body image
- Treating and reducing disordered eating
- Reducing substance use
- Reducing or eliminating impulsive coping behavior
- Treating trauma
- Improving interpersonal functioning
- Decreasing self-harm and suicidality
- Building a life worth living
Training and Interventions
We provide mental skills training and other psychological interventions grounded in CBT, DBT, ACT, Mindfulness, and Motivational Interviewing. We tailor these treatments to the needs of our performers and their systems within their unique contexts. We offer the following performance services at Broadview Psychology:
- Consulting with coaches or teachers
- Workshops for performers, teams, coaches, teachers, or caregivers
- Group Skills Training for performers or caregivers
- Individual counselling/therapy for performers or caregivers
Performance Psychology Team
We are a team of clinicians with expertise in both mental health treatment and performance consultation. We have received specialized training from experts in the field, and attend regular conferences and workshops related to performance psychology. We also all have history and/or current involvement in the arts.
Learn more about the team member below.
Dr. Christine Sloss, Ph.D., C.Psych
From a young age, I was passionate about music and helping people. In fact, when I was 12 years old, I completed a science fair project that merged these two interests. As a result of this early exposure to music therapy, I chose to attend Wilfrid Laurier University, where I completed a degree in music and music therapy. I worked as a music therapist until I returned to university to complete graduate and doctoral studies in clinical psychology.
Throughout my childhood, I also participated in various athletic pursuits, including Ballet, team sports (Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer), and competitive running (including competing at the provincial level). Although I continue to value being physically active, I chose to specialize in music and psychology as an adult, and so have not pursued organized athletics beyond high school.
As a parent of three children who participated in various artistic and athletic activities and then chose to study music at a high level, I have learned how to parent children and adolescents who have been high performers. My children have studied stringed instruments (and piano/voice) since a young age, have participated in various high level music programs in Toronto and around the world during summers, and have excelled at provincial and national competitions. With my oldest, I watched her make the decision not to pursue music in a serious way in university. I am grateful that she is using the skills and traits she developed in music to help her be successful in her current academic studies. With my second child, I have supported him in auditioning for competitive music programs in North America, and then attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. With my youngest, I am trying to help him to fulfil his intense musical schedule while meeting his academic, relational, emotional and physical needs.
Both through my own and my children’s musical and athletic activities, I have become familiar with various challenges related to high performance careers. I have encountered injuries and the impact of these on myself and my children. I understand the importance in preventing and managing injuries in the field of music and athletics. I have observed the pressures faced by musicians, the unrealistic demands placed on them, and the emotional and physical costs of this endeavour. I am aware of how difficult it is to pursue excellence within this field in a healthy and balanced way.
Just as I merged my interest in music and therapy as a child and young adult, I continue to integrate these passions. I believe in the value of artistic expression and physical activity in the treatment process and so often encourage clients to engage in the arts and athletics both within and outside of therapy. I also am committed to using psychology principles to promote excellence and mental health when working with musicians, athletes, coaches. teachers, and parents. I am comfortable providing consultation and workshops, as well as facilitating individual, parent, family, couple and group therapy. I am open to using my skills to enhance and optimize training and performance. I also have experiencing in addressing mental health issues faced by some high performers, including anxiety, depression, burnout, disordered eating, trauma symptoms, emotional dysregulation, addictions and suicidality. I hope that our Broadview team can be instrumental in promoting the well-being and success of high performers in Toronto and beyond.
Nicole Lancaster, MMT, RP (Qualifying)
My experience as a performer began at a young age. I was interested in both music and athletics, and have been pursuing music at a professional level for nearly a decade. In high school, I played competitive basketball, and participated in competitive cross-country skiing. Although I loved sports, I found the anxiety of high level competitive sports to be too much for me. I quit for some time, pursuing music instead. However, I found myself having to work through a lot of anxiety in the music world and sought out professional help at times as well.
After high school, I completed my bachelor’s degree in classical Harp Performance at Wilfrid Laurier University. I went on to tour Canada and Spain with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for a season, before heading back to do my master’s degree in Music Therapy. I now split my time as a therapist and professional performer through freelance work. As an adult, I have also been returning to the athletics world, mainly through long-distance running.
The performance world is a unique one. It can be the most rewarding thing you do, and also one of the most difficult things one will do. Perfectionism often underlies many performers and athletes (myself included), and I love working with clients to better understand this part of themselves. I have spent many hours as a client working through my own performance anxiety and strive to help my own clients better understand how the different parts of themselves work, especially around anxiety, perfectionism, over-regulation, and performance. Having one foot in the performance world, I also understand the unique challenges performers face when using something so closely linked to their identity as a means for a living.
As a Registered Music Therapist, I am passionate about the role art plays in healing ourselves and our communities. My goal is to empower performers to understand themselves better so they can use the beauty of art and the joy of sport to enrich their lives.
Resources
Recommended Books:
- The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Side to the Mental Side of Peak Performance, by Timothy Galloway
- Performing under Pressure: The Science of Doing your Best When it Matters Most, by Hendrie Weisinger
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, by James Clear
- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth
- The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance, by Vanessa Cornett
- Audition Success: An Olympic Sports Psychologist Teaches Performing Artists how to Win, by Don Greene
Recommended Podcasts and Websites: