Communication Skills Podcast

Ep027: Natalie Henderson – How to Develop Mental Toughness with Young Footballers

To Listen to Relevant Podcast Episodes

Ep064: Edu Rubio – How to Support Young Footballers

Ep 084: Dr Jim Afremow and Phil White – Mental Toughness and The Leaders Mind

Ep092: Dr James Hegarty – ACT in Sport, Improving Performance through Mindfulness

Ep111: Michael Caulfield – How to be an Effective Sports Psychologist in Elite Professional Football

Other Helpful Resources

Psychology in Football or Soccer Library

Blog: How Mentally Healthy is Your Clubs Sporting Environment

Blog: Does Your Warm Up Influence How You Perform?

Blog: 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog: 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Vlog: How Mental Toughness Helps us Understand Psychological Safety with Doug Strycharczyk

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Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and we read every single one of them!

Best Wishes

David Charlton

Global Sports Psychologist who is located near Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK and willing to travel Internationally. David also uses online video conferencing software (Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp) on a regular basis and has clients who he has supported in USA, Canada, South America, UAE, Australian and New Zealand.

Managing Director – Inspiring Sporting Excellence and Founder of The Sports Psychology Hub. With over 10 years experience supporting athletes, coaches, parents and teams to achieve their goals, quickly.

T: +44 7734 697769

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Help An Athlete Who Is Afraid To Win

David Charlton

How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How to Help Young Players Stop Enjoying Their Football

David Charlton

How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear

David Charlton

Search Our Sports Psychology Website

Popular Categories

Join Our Online Community Now!

Learn how Sports Psychology Coaching can take Your Performances to the next level

Overcoming Tough Times in Professional Women’s Football and Bouncing Back Stronger

by David Charlton

Overcoming Tough Times in Professional Women's Football and Bouncing Back Stronger

Charlotte Potts is a professional footballer who has played for Hibernian Football Club, Sunderland AFC and FC Lugano. She is also an ambassador for Gateshead FC and can be heard on local radio stations on a regular basis. Charlotte has an interest in mental health and discrimination and works closely with well recognised charity Show Racism the Red Card too.

In this episode I was joined by professional footballer Charlotte Potts where we had a deep and fascinating conversation about different challenges that she has faced so far in her life and when playing Professional Women’s Football. We went on to discuss Discrimination, Mental Health and Mindfulness too as well as a whole lot more. It’s well worth a listen!

Key Learning Points:

Charlotte’s mental health has suffered from time to time therefore she has looked to develop a high degree of self-awareness to help herself.
Her family was pulled apart when she was young which was difficult for everyone concerned.
Discrimination exists in football and in life, however progress is being made.
Mental Toughness in football is about coping with pain and being able to push through barriers.
Charlotte has an interest in Mindfulness and regularly practices the approach.
Being able to take a step back has helped her with anger issues.
Mindfulness has also helped Charlotte see things from a fresh perspective.

Connect with Charlotte Potts

Instagram

Connect with David Charlton

Ep038: Taz Bricknell – Playing Professional Women’s Rugby

To Listen to Football or Soccer Podcast Episodes

Ep092: Dr James Hegarty – ACT in Sport, Improving Performance through Mindfulness

Ep105: Hannah Bromley – Overcoming Psychological Challenges in Elite Professional Women’s Football

Ep111: Michael Caulfield – How to be an Effective Sports Psychologist in Elite Professional Football

Other Helpful Resources

Psychology in Football or Soccer Library

Blog: How Mentally Healthy is Your Clubs Sporting Environment

Blog: Does Your Warm Up Influence How You Perform?

Blog: 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog: Supporting a Professional Footballer during Challenging Times

Blog: 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Vlog: How Mental Toughness Helps us Understand Psychological Safety with Doug Strycharczyk

Guided Mindfulness Meditation Practices with Jon Kabat-Zinn

IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE

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Best Wishes

David Charlton

T: +44 7734 697769

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Help An Athlete Who Is Afraid To Win

David Charlton

How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How to Help Young Players Stop Enjoying Their Football

David Charlton

How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear

David Charlton

Search Our Sports Psychology Website

Popular Categories

Join Our Online Community Now!

Learn how Sports Psychology Coaching can take Your Performances to the next level

David Charlton Gets Grilled By Grant Henderson

by David Charlton

EP 135 Episode Cover David Charlton Grant Henderson

David Charlton Gets Grilled By Grant Henderson

After growing up in South Africa, Grant set out to pursue a professional rugby career which took him back and forth from SA to the UK with the culmination of one too many head injuries, leading to him hanging up his boots in just his mid 20’s.

On retiring from rugby and ending up in the North East of England an opportunity in the recruitment world opened up and for the next 5 years Grant worked as a recruitment consultant, regional trainer and branch manager.

In 2009, with the grip of the global financial crisis being felt, he opened his own consultancy business and stated to advise on coach business owners on how to re-focus their sales teams to navigate the changing market. In 2010, Grant partnered with his parents who are still resident in SA, to take the personality assessment they had developed for marriage guidance counselling and create an online application with some contextualisation for the British market.

The i3 profiling platform and associated tools have all followed since and today the online assessment has been carried out by over 25000 people all over the world. The i3 tool is all about identifying individuality and increasing self awareness to support each of us in reaching our full potential.

Since 2017 Grant has worked directly with an international recruitment company, The MCG Group, and in his capacity as COO gets to apply what he has learned through sport, team building and leadership development in a fast paced and high growth environment.

At home he is husband to Erin and father to 3 young children aged 5-12, always trying to stay fit and healthy in order to be as active a dad as possible.

In today’s episode, I chat with Grant Henderson a former professional rugby player, Chief Operations Officer at The MCG Group and Co-Founder of i3profiling. Grant goes on to ask me many questions about the Demystifying Mental Toughness podcast, mental toughness, personality and environment. By listening to the episode you’ll learn more about how I work as a Sports Psychologist, about the complexities that surround sport performance, reaching your potential and a whole lot more.

Key Learning Points:

Podcasting is a big commitment and has been challenging at times however I really enjoy recording the episodes and the feedback that we get highlights that it makes a positive difference to people’s lives, which is my objective.
As a Mental Toughness license holder, where I qualified through AQR International’s training. I sometimes use the MTQ Plus psychometric to measure clients Mental Toughness at the start and end of programs.
Incorporated into some programs are personality assessments too, where I find i3Profiling compliments the MTQ Plus.
An i3 profile presented in the right way can be a big confidence booster, I particularly like the environmental analysis which looks at task and social leadership styles. This can tell me a lot about how a person should train and mentally prepare themselves.
Both psychometric and profiling tools aid self-awareness and can be a quick way of finding out about a person’s complexities and save an enormous amount of time in the consultancy process.
Without self-awareness you’ll continue to make poor decisions and not be as successful and happy as you could be.
Mental toughness can be a good thing, however even the mentally tough fall into traps, again highlighting the need for self-awareness.

Connect with Grant Henderson

i3 Profiling Website

The MCG Group Website

Connect with David Charlton

Ep034 – David Charlton Gets Grilled By Nathan Sherratt

Other Useful Podcast Episodes

Ep050: Doug Strycharczyk, Peter Clough MBE & Dr John Perry – Mental Strength Does Not Guarantee Success

Ep084: Jim Afremow and Phil White – Mental Toughness and The Leaders Mind

Ep121: Doug Strycharczyk and Dr John Perry – What Is New? Developments in Mental Toughness Research and Practice

Ep133: Christina Flach – Why Mental Toughness is Important: Lessons from Sport, Business and Loss

Other Useful Resources

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – Mental Health Guidance for Coaches When Supporting Athletes

Blog – Mental Toughness is a Hugely Valuable Trait

Blog – Make Better Decisions to Help Your Sport Performance

Sport Psychology for Children and Parents

IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE

SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON YOUR FAVOURITE AUDIO PLATFORM

Best Wishes

David Charlton

T: +44 7734 697769

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Help An Athlete Who Is Afraid To Win

David Charlton

How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How to Help Young Players Stop Enjoying Their Football

David Charlton

How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear

David Charlton

Search Our Sports Psychology Website

Popular Categories

Join Our Online Community Now!

Learn how Sports Psychology Coaching can take Your Performances to the next level

How to Deal with Self-Criticism using Self Compassion – Part 1

by David Charlton

How to Deal with Self-Criticism using Self Compassion – Part 1

By working with David Charlton, you and your organisation will be better equipped to rise to modern day challenges and better informed to thrive on and off the pitch, course or court. Where he inspires individuals and teams to:

Cope with pressure and challenges more effectively
Maintain positive mental health
Compete with confidence more often
Manage your emotions better
Improve your commitments levels

David is a Mental Toughness Practitioner, as well as a Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC) Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. He has successfully supported athletes, teams and organisations for over 10 years in order to ensure that they perform at their maximum more often.

He has a comprehensive knowledge around the development of Mental Toughness, a plastic personality trait, which determines or limits people to deal effectively with change, challenges and stressors. In today’s climate, during the Coronavirus pandemic this quality is becoming more and more valuable to individuals, teams and organisations.

This is a short solo episode and the first of 3 episodes where I share 2 reminders of what Mental Toughness is and apply it to different domains. The first clip is from Mental Toughness pioneer, Doug Strycharczyk which was recorded in our very first episode and the second clip comes from Sebastian De Chavez an elite professional rugby player for Newcastle Falcons who appeared in episode 104.

I then go on to share a case study and one helpful exercise taken from compassionate focused therapy to help people who experience self-criticism and are very hard on themselves off the back of failing or making mistakes in sport or life.

Key Learning Points

Doug states that Mental Toughness is about “how we respond mentally to things that happen to us.”
Seb confirms this in a professional rugby setting and considers mental toughness as “being able to get your job done, when things aren’t going your way.”
In sport when someone makes a mistake, often as an onlooker or spectator we are better placed to say “they’re only human” and display compassion.
Yet, when we are the culprit making the mistake, we often find displaying self-compassion very tough. For many it is virtually impossible, especially in sport when you and your performances are being judged or at least you think they are. And your emotions are so up and down because you are striving for competence.
A common thing people get wrong when thinking of being self-compassionate or being kind to yourself is that it equals self-pity or that you are being “soft”.
Self-compassion doesn’t mean that you are lacking in motivation either.
Understanding the pain that you are put yourself through by being self-critical is vital and by trying to feel compassionate you can empower yourself to make better decisions.
Encouraging, loving and supportive language is a much more powerful motivator than negativity and fear which is often a habit a lot of people can slip into, especially in a sporting environment.

Connect with David Charlton

Ep001: Doug Strycharczyk – The Importance of Mental Toughness

Relevant Podcast Episodes

Ep104: Seb De Chaves – The Psychological Demands of Elite Professional Rugby

Ep065: Dr Amy Izycky – Encouraging Mentally Healthy Cultures in Sport

Ep128: Paula Eddy-Wilcox – Can You Show Vulnerability and Be Mentally Tough? Yes!

Ep105: Hannah Bromley – Overcoming Psychological Challenges in Professional Women’s Football

Other Relevant Blogs and Resources

Blog – 5 Coaching Tips To Develop Mentally Tough Footballers

Blog – Coach Development Helping Athletes Overcome Fear Of Failure

Blog – Mental Health Guidance For Coaches When Supporting Athletes

Blog – 5 Ways To Create A Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – 3 Tips To Deal With Bullying In Sport

Kristin Neff Website on Self-Compassion

IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE

SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON YOUR FAVOURITE AUDIO PLATFORM

Best Wishes

David Charlton

T: +44 7734 697769

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Help An Athlete Who Is Afraid To Win

David Charlton

How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How to Help Young Players Stop Enjoying Their Football

David Charlton

How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear

David Charlton

Search Our Sports Psychology Website

Popular Categories

Join Our Online Community Now!

Learn how Sports Psychology Coaching can take Your Performances to the next level

Can You Show Vulnerability and Be Mentally Tough? Yes!

by David Charlton

Can You Show Vulnerability and Be Mentally Tough? Yes!

Paula Eddy-Wilcox is a well respected Leadership Coach, The Natural Leadership Coach and Founder of Game of Leadership, The Podcast for Curious Leaders. When supporting her clients, business leaders and executives, she looks to empower you to achieve the things that you want in life. Paula helps her clients to go about reaching their goals in a way that really resonates with them. By pinpointing your purpose and transforming your mindset, you can then go on to unlock a deep reserve of energy, drive, and natural aptitude that feels authentic to you.

She is not just here to encourage you to imagine what’s possible. She is very tenacious and calm and enjoys working together with her clients to hammer out actionable, step-by-step plans for achieving your goals.

In today’s episode #128, I speak to a well respected leadership coach, The Natural Leadership Coach and host for The Game of Leadership Podcast, Paula Eddy Wilcox. Paula and I discuss how you can regain clarity on your purpose and passion when you’ve lost your way, we chat about vulnerability and how being true to yourself can be frightening, we also touch on links between mental toughness, vulnerability and psychological safety too. It’s a great listen for those interested in leadership, and the business world though it does roll over to life in general and sport too.

Key Learning Points:

When you face challenges and you come out the other side it’s important to recognise what strengths you used.
Being around people who are aligned with your values aids your sense of well-being.
Having the guts to show up as your true self can be daunting.
Putting yourself out there, showing your true self makes you vulnerable.
As you get older, a lot of people seem to care less what others think.
Some elements of Mental Toughness, eg, risk orientation and interpersonal confidence will explain whether you make yourself vulnerable in different situations.
A fixed mindset can prevent you from showing vulnerability.
There are links with showing vulnerability and psychological safety.

Connect with Paula Eddy-Wilcox

Website

Connect with David Charlton

Ep065: Dr Amy Izycky – Encouraging Mentally Healthy Cultures in Sport

Other Useful Podcast Episodes

Ep075: Grant Phyphers – How to Rebuild Your Identity

Ep113: Polly Brennan – The Relationship Between Mental Fitness, Mental Health and Mental Toughness

Ep114: Tim Bradshaw – Because I Can – How To Get Out Of Your Own Way

Ep123: Richard Dorney – What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military

Other Useful Resources linked to Mental Health

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Blog – How to Find Your Why

Blog – Mental Health Guidance for Coaches When Supporting Athletes

IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE

SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON YOUR FAVOURITE AUDIO PLATFORM

Best Wishes

David Charlton

T: +44 7734 697769

How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Help An Athlete Who Is Afraid To Win

David Charlton

How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE

David Charlton

How to Help Young Players Stop Enjoying Their Football

David Charlton

How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear

David Charlton

Search Our Sports Psychology Website

Popular Categories

Join Our Online Community Now!

Learn how Sports Psychology Coaching can take Your Performances to the next level

What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military

by David Charlton

Supporting People: What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military

Richard Dorney served in the British Army as an infantry soldier and as an officer for almost 39 years. He served in Northern Ireland (6 tours) the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was responsible for establishing the British Army Trauma Risk Management programme which he rolled out across the Army. He was the Chief of Staff in the Army Recovery Capability, the organisation responsible for managing the recovery of wounded injured and sick personnel.

Richard is a graduate of the UK Intermediate Command and Staff College. He is the Director of Strongmind Resiliency Training, a company that works to improve mental health support trauma management and resilience mainly in public sector organisations exposed to stress and trauma. Richard and his team worked to train and support UK healthcare professionals during the pandemic and many other first response organisations. He holds an MSc in War and Psychiatry from Kings College London, was made MBE in 2008 and was admitted to the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

In today’s episode I speak to Richard Dorney MBE. Richard served in the military for almost 39 years and has a wealth of experience in dealing with high stress situations. He’s now the Director of Strongmind Resiliency Training, a company that works to improve mental health support, trauma management and resilience mainly in public sector organisations exposed to stress and trauma. Richard goes on to share his background and lessons that he’s learned. We discuss resilience development and leadership in the military, Trauma risk management (TRIM) in the military and in healthcare and corporate settings.

Key Learning Points:

Resilience is not innate, it isn’t just something you have, you can develop it.
The mission comes first in the military.
There is a focus on the preservation of quality, power and capability. The military does very well in understanding it’s people and their capabilities.
Leadership in the military is very good, they invest a great deal of time and effort training leaders at every stage of their leadership development.
Peer support is a vital component when dealing with Trauma.
A strong mind is about mental resilience, robustness, thinking, attitude and behaviour.
A fundamental key of a strong mind is self-awareness.
Psychologically informed, empathetic and compassionate leadership is vital when managing people.

Connect with Richard Dorney MBE

Website

Connect with David Charlton

Ep065: Dr Amy Izycky – Encouraging Mentally Healthy Cultures in Sport

Other Useful Podcast Episodes

Ep066: Marilyn Okoro – Mental Health and Resilience: Lessons from an Olympic Medalist

Ep075: Grant Phyphers – How to Rebuild Your Identity

Ep113: Polly Brennan – The Relationship Between Mental Fitness, Mental Health and Mental Toughness

Ep114: Tim Bradshaw – Because I Can – How To Get Out Of Your Own Way

Other Useful Resources linked to Mental Health

Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment

Blog – 3 Tips to Deal with Bullying in Sport

Blog – How to Find Your Why

Blog – Mental Health Guidance for Coaches When Supporting Athletes

IF YOU ENJOYED TODAY'S SHOW PLEASE SHARE

SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN ON YOUR FAVOURITE AUDIO PLATFORM

Best Wishes

David Charlton

T: +44 7734 697769