Meet the Team

Practitioner Psychologists

Sports Psychology Coaches and Athlete Counsellors

David Charlton

Owner Inspiring Sporting Excellence, HCPC Sports & Exercise Psychologist

In his 20s, despite having a passion for sports and wanting to get involved in a career in sport, this didn’t materialise. Again David cites a lack of confidence, a mind full of negative thoughts and a family background who had not gone through to higher education. He ended up working in various jobs in the travel industry, always progressing, leading to his final role as a Branch Manager for a large Corporate Travel company which taught David an awful lot about managing people, controlling your own emotions, dealing with difficult situations and pressure.

In 2007 David’s life changed forever, when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. She later died in 2008 when David was 33 years old. This made David take a long hard look in the mirror and as a result, after being made redundant from his role as Branch Manager he decided to start over again embarking on a new career. Naturally, this was a very difficult time, however, David’s determination and own Mental Toughness helped him complete the following qualifications on his journey:

Supervisor Training for Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologists
Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology (Stage 2)
MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology
BSc Psychology
Certified Mindfactor and Performance Coach
NLP and Hypnotherapy Practitioner
Personal Training and Fitness Instructing Qualifications

David is a fully approved Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist with the BPS and a HCPC Practitioner Psychologist.

Gayatri Bhushan

Associate Sport & Exercise Psychologist

Gayatri Bhushan is an HCPC Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist, committed to empowering athletes to achieve peak performance through holistic development. With a Master’s degree from Loughborough University, she brings rich experience from elite sporting environments, including the Chelsea Football Club Foundation and Brentford Football Club Community Sports Trust.

As Co-Founder and CEO of Mind Matter Performance, Gayatri leads high-impact initiatives that fuse scientific rigour with compassionate practice—equipping athletes with the psychological tools to excel both on and off the field. Her expertise spans performance enhancement, youth development, and the integration of mental health into sport.

Deeply passionate about driving social change, Gayatri also contributes to a family-founded sports NGO, providing grassroots support to underserved communities across India. Her work reflects a deep commitment to mental skills training, youth mentoring, and building environments where individuals can thrive through sport.

Alessia Bruno

Associate Clinical Psychologist, EMDR Europe Consultant and Performance Coach

Alessia Bruno is a Clinical Psychologist, EMDR Europe Consultant, Brainspotting Consultant in Training, Trainer and Performance Coach. She also holds a Masters degree in Sport Psychology and has also trained as a Performance Coach.

She works in the field of sport and creative performance as well as with people with Mental Health challenges. Sports and creative culture have always been an important part of Alessia’s life. Since she was a child she played volleyball competitively in a team and played the violin and the guitar. She is a member of the Italian Red Cross and Lions Club International and carries out humanitarian work too.

Tom Short

Associate Sport & Exercise Psychologist

Tom Short is an HCPC Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. He completed a BSc Psychology at Manchester University and holds a MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology from Northumbria University.

He is an avid cricket player through summer, and a passionate football fan too. As a result, he takes a keen interest in performance within sports, especially within team sports. This has led him to take on an exciting opportunity at Loughbrough University where his is doing a PhD in Elite Performance Psychology. He enjoys supporting athletes in elite sports environments to enhance their psychological skills to improve their sporting performance and well-being.

Tom is currently providing educational group and and 1-to-1 sessions for academy football players at a high level national league football team. Helping players to play at their best more consistently, whilst encouraging them to play fearlessly.

Aditi Gandhi

Associate Sport & Exercise Psychologist

Aditi Gandhi is an HCPC Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. She is a graduate of Loughborough University with a distinction in her Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology, and has completed her undergraduate degree in India in Psychology and Anthropology.

Aditi is an elite gymnast from India and has represented her country at multiple national and international level competitions. She was a member of the elite gymnastics team at Loughborough University during her time there. She aims to help athletes and coaches build stronger relationships and help athletes maximise performance in their respective sports.

Alex Harper

Associate Sports Psychology Coach & Sports Counsellor

Over the past 17 years, Alex has studied psychology and worked in a range of psychology settings including Clinical, Sport, Exercise and Performance-psychology. She’s also studied person-centred counselling and has a passion for utilising positive psychology interventions and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques.

Alex has completed a 3 year, BPS-accredited BSc in Psychology and earned a Master’s Degree with Distinction in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Loughborough University.

Alex has a long history of working in mental health and clinical psychology settings, helping people to understand their psychological processes, as well as managing and capitalising on their emotional states. She also has a passion for learning and applying theories of peak performance and human thriving. This includes: promoting peak performance in extreme sports (such as snowboarding, surfing and climbing) and business settings, as well as utilising sports & exercise to promote psychological thriving in clinical populations (such as depression, ADHD and veterans healing from PTSD.)

Alex is currently gaining specialist accreditation via the Sport and Exercise Psychology Accreditation Route with CASES (The Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences). As an Associate Sports Psychology Coach & Sports Counsellor with Inspiring Sporting Excellence, Alex is transferring this knowledge to the sport and exercise domain, helping athletes understand their emotional experiences so that they can use them to their advantage and feel happier.

Gerard Fitzgerald

Associate Sports Psychology Coach & Sports Counsellor

Gerard Fitzgerald is a dedicated Sports Psychology Coach and Athlete Counsellor, currently completing his Sport and Exercise Accreditation (SEPAR) with the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists (CASES). With a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in the Psychology of Sports, Exercise, and Performance from the University of Limerick, Gerard combines academic expertise with extensive applied experience across elite sport, youth development, and high-performance environments.

Gerard specialises in helping athletes, teams, and performers develop the mental skills needed to thrive under pressure, build resilience, and optimise performance. His approach is individualised and evidence-based, drawing from frameworks such as Motivational Interviewing (MI), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). He emphasises a person-centered approach, ensuring that interventions align with each individual’s unique mindset, challenges, and goals.

Tiggy Teare

Associate Sports Psychology Coach & Sports Counsellor

Having played rugby throughout university, Tiggy now works in premiership rugby with Saracens RFC supporting both the players and coaches. Alongside this, Tiggy has experience supporting both youth and adult clients in football, boxing, tennis, gymnastics, lacrosse, MMA, netball and swimming . Tiggy focusses on supporting athletes to understand their own mind, whilst teaching tailored mental skills to enhance psychological factors such as confidence, resilience, focus, emotional regulation, among many more! Tiggy values building a strong working relationship with clients and working collaboratively to reach their goals.

Tiggy Teare is a Sport and Exercise Psychologist (in Training) where she is currently completing her Sport and Exercise Accreditation (SEPAR) with the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists (CASES).

She is currently working with a range of athletes and coaches to optimise their mental performance and wellbeing in sport.

Looking to chat?

Get in touch with David and the team by clicking on our CONTACT PAGE or using the form below asking any questions that you may have. We’ll respond to you within 24 hours or less on week days.