Why this page exists
Skills: attention, pre-performance routines, recovery after a bad outing without a character assassination.
Mental performance work is not only for elite athletes. High-school, college, adult-league, and professional athletes in Highland all choke, spiral, or lose the love of the game.
Performance is as much mental as physical. Sports performance therapy helps Highland athletes master focus, manage pressure, and compete with confidence.
Life in Highland moves fast, and the pressure adds up quietly until it starts to affect your sleep, your relationships, and your sense of self. Athlete/Sports Performance gives you a dedicated space to slow down, sort through it, and start feeling like yourself again.
Here is the local load, named without a brochure: The Region: steel-shift schedules, Chicago Skyway commutes, and fewer local therapists than the need. The old in-office version meant Ridge Road or Cline Avenue delay. Athlete/Sports Performance does not erase that — it gives Highland locals a licensed place to stop carrying it alone.
Whether you have been searching for athlete therapy, sports performance coaching, or mental coaching for athletes in Highland, you are in the right place — it is all part of the athlete/sports performance care we provide to Indiana residents.
The good news is that none of this is permanent.
The Weight Lake County locals Carry
Before anything changes, it helps to name what you are carrying. For many Highland locals, it sounds something like this:
Your mind is your biggest competitor?
You've trained your body to peak performance. But the mental game? That's where you're losing. Performance anxiety, self-doubt, and pressure are stealing your edge.
Here is why that matters for you.
From First Call to First Session
Performance work blends sport psychology with practical mental skills — visualization, focus, pressure management, and recovery from setbacks — tailored to your sport and your goals.
Your therapist builds a plan around your goals, not a generic script. Progress is reviewed together, sessions are scheduled around your week, and the work adapts as you do. Most Highland locals notice meaningful change within a few short weeks.
You stay in the driver seat the whole way. You decide the pace, you help shape the goals, and your therapist provides the structure, tools, and accountability to keep you moving forward.
Booking is simple: choose a time that works, complete a brief intake, and meet your Indiana-licensed clinician by video. No referrals to chase, no parking to find — just focused care from wherever you are in Highland.
And it is more accessible than most Highland locals expect.
What Changes When You Start Athlete/Sports Performance
Here is what Highland locals gain when they start athlete/sports performance with us:
No insurance games, no surprise bills
Straightforward self-pay pricing. You know exactly what you're paying before you book. No claims, no denials, no drama.
What happens in therapy stays in therapy
HIPAA-compliant, encrypted, and completely confidential. Your private life stays private.
Your schedule, respected
Early morning. Lunch break. After the kids are asleep. We offer flexible hours because life doesn't pause for therapy.
Licensed experts with 25+ years of experience each
Indiana-licensed therapists bringing world-class care to the Hoosier state.
And it is more accessible than most Highland locals expect.
Why Telehealth Delivers Real Results
Whether you came looking for athlete therapy or the most experienced sports performance coaching near Highland, you will find clinicians who bring genuine depth and Indiana licensure to the work.
Empower You Experts is built on experienced, licensed clinicians — not a rotating roster of the lowest bidder. Each therapist brings years of focused practice to athlete/sports performance, and every session is grounded in evidence-based methods.
We measure success the way you do: by how you feel and function in your daily life. Your clinician revisits your goals throughout care to make sure the work is genuinely moving the needle.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
Proudly Serving Lake County
Living near Wicker Memorial Park or out toward the edges of Lake County makes no difference to the quality of your sessions — online athlete/sports performance reaches every corner equally.
Our Indiana clinicians understand the rhythm of life here. Lake County families and Chicago-commuter households.
With roughly 23,000 people calling Highland home, the need for accessible mental health care has never been greater. Empower You Experts helps meet it, one session at a time.
And this is where the difference really shows.
The Case for Online Athlete/Sports Performance
Telehealth also widens your options. Instead of choosing from whoever happens to be nearby, you are matched with a clinician licensed in Indiana who genuinely specializes in what you need.
There is no waiting room and no drive home afterward. You finish a session and step right back into your day, which makes online athlete/sports performance far easier to weave into a busy Highland schedule.
For parents, caregivers, shift workers, and anyone short on time, online athlete/sports performance is often the only version of therapy that actually fits. That accessibility is exactly why so many Highland locals choose it.
There is a clear path forward from here.
Tools We Use — Not Slogans
Pre-performance routines and attention skills.
Recovery after a bad outing without a character assassination.
Clinical therapy when anxiety or depression is wearing a jersey.
We review progress in language you can feel — sleep, conflict, panic frequency, follow-through — not a vague “how was your week.” If a method is not moving the needle for Highland locals, we change it.
Named clinicians matter here: Dr. Lisa Lavella, PsyD, BC-TMH and Christina Liakopoulos, LCSW, BC-TMH are not a rotating intern pool. You keep a person, not a matching algorithm.
Who this is for
Highland athletes from high-school to adult-league who are choking, spiraling, or losing the love of the game.
But understanding the problem is only half of it.
Who Can Legally See You in Highland
Indiana-licensed clinicians may provide telehealth to clients who are physically located in Indiana during the session. That is the legal line — not a slogan. Empower You Experts will not see you for athlete/sports performance unless you are physically in Indiana during the session.
Dr. Lisa Lavella, PsyD, BC-TMH (Arizona and Illinois) and Christina Liakopoulos, LCSW, BC-TMH (Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana) are named clinicians, not a rotating intern pool. Credentials are on the about pages. We do not invent board affiliations.
Here is why that matters for you.
Common Questions About Athlete/Sports Performance
Is sports performance work only for elite athletes?
No. High-school, college, adult-league, and professional athletes all choke, spiral, or lose the love of the game. Mental performance work in Highland covers focus, pressure, injury identity, and the anxiety that shows up as a missed free throw or a tight chest before a start. It is not a pep talk. It is skills — visualization, attention, recovery after a bad outing — plus therapy when the block is bigger than sport.
Do you have a therapy office in Highland?
Our home office is real: 20715 North Pima Road, Suite 108, Scottsdale, Arizona 85255. We do not invent a storefront in every city on this site. Athlete/Sports Performance for Highland residents is licensed Indiana telehealth — you meet by secure video while you are physically in Indiana. That is a service-area practice, not a fake local clinic. If you need the address for records or a map pin, it is North Scottsdale. It is not a Highland waiting room we pretended to open so a page would rank. The clinician is named. The license is the state you sit in during the session.
Are your therapists actually licensed to treat people in Indiana?
Yes. Telehealth is licensed by the state where you are sitting during the session, not by the city on the URL. Dr. Lisa Lavella, PsyD, BC-TMH is licensed in Arizona and Illinois. Christina Liakopoulos, LCSW, BC-TMH is licensed in Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana. If you live in Highland, you simply need to be physically in Indiana when we meet. We do not “see” clients in states where we are not licensed, and we will not pretend a video call erases that rule. The free consult is also where we confirm fit, timing, and whether self-pay or an accepted plan makes sense for you.
Who would I actually work with for athlete/sports performance?
Dr. Lisa Lavella, PsyD, BC-TMH (Arizona and Illinois) and Christina Liakopoulos, LCSW, BC-TMH (Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana). They are named clinicians with decades of practice — not a matching engine and not a new intern every month. The free consult is how you meet the person, ask about athlete/sports performance, and decide if the fit is right. Credentials live on the about pages. We will not hide behind a brand voice when you deserve a human being. If the pairing is wrong, we would rather say so than keep a mismatched hour.
Is online athlete/sports performance in Highland as real as sitting in an office?
For most of the concerns we treat, the research says yes — outcomes track the relationship and the method, not the waiting room. What changes in Highland is logistics. You skip the commute, the parking, and the “who saw me walk in” problem. Sessions run on encrypted, HIPAA-compliant video. You still get a named clinician, a plan you both can explain, and homework that lives in your actual week. If video is a poor fit (safety, technology, or preference), we will say so in the consult rather than force a format that does not serve you.
Do you take insurance for athlete/sports performance in Indiana?
We are primarily a cash-pay practice and currently accept some insurance plans. Many clients in Highland choose self-pay for privacy (sessions do not automatically hit a medical record the way a fully billed insurance episode can) and for simplicity — no surprise denials mid-treatment. We will tell you, before you commit, whether your plan is one we can bill and what a self-pay session costs. We do not advertise “we take everything” because that would be untrue. Call or use the consult form and we will be specific about fee, frequency, and whether a superbill is available. If money is the only barrier, say so in the consult; we would rather have an honest conversation than a bait-and-switch about coverage.
What actually happens in the first athlete/sports performance session?
The first session is an honest conversation, not an interrogation. We cover what brought you in, what you have already tried, how athlete/sports performance has (or has not) helped before, and what “better” would look like in your life in Highland — sleep, work, relationships, the stuff you can feel. You will leave with a sense of the clinician, the pace, and whether the fit is right. There is no pressure to unload your whole history on day one. If it is not a fit, we would rather help you redirect than keep a mismatched pairing.
If I live in a smaller Highland community, is this actually private?
Your sessions are protected by law and by ethics, with the usual mandated-reporting exceptions (risk of harm, abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult). Telehealth adds a practical privacy layer a storefront office cannot: nobody in Highland watches you park at a clinic. You still need a closed door and headphones on your side. We use encrypted video. We will not discuss you in the grocery store, on a sideline, or in a Facebook group. If you share a house or a campus, we will help you plan a setting that is actually private — a parked car with a headset counts.