Why this page exists
Skills: attention, pre-performance routines, recovery after a bad outing without a character assassination.
The difference between good and great often lives between the ears. Mental performance coaching gives Quincy athletes the tools to stay composed, motivated, and resilient.
Performance is as much mental as physical. Sports performance therapy helps Quincy athletes master focus, manage pressure, and compete with confidence.
The hardest part is often just deciding to start. If you are ready, a licensed Illinois clinician is ready too — offering athlete/sports performance by secure video to Quincy locals who want real change without the logistics of an in-office visit.
Here is the local load, named without a brochure: A Mississippi River micropolitan hub where in-person specialists often mean a long drive. The old in-office version meant drive across town or out of town for weekly care. Athlete/Sports Performance does not erase that — it gives Quincy 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 Quincy, you are in the right place — it is all part of the athlete/sports performance care we provide to Illinois residents.
That brings us to the part most people wonder about.
You're Not Alone in Quincy
Before anything changes, it helps to name what you are carrying. For many Quincy 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's what that looks like in practice.
A Simple Path to Starting Athlete/Sports Performance
Performance work blends sport psychology with practical mental skills — visualization, focus, pressure management, and recovery from setbacks — tailored to your sport and your goals.
It starts with a free consultation — a no-pressure conversation to understand what you are facing and whether we are the right fit. From there, you are matched with a clinician licensed in Illinois who specializes in athlete/sports performance.
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 Quincy locals notice meaningful change within the first few weeks.
There is no one-size-fits-all here. Your clinician draws on proven, evidence-based methods and tailors them to you, checking in regularly to make sure the approach is working and adjusting when it needs to.
But understanding the problem is only half of it.
Why This Approach Works for Quincy
Here is what Quincy locals gain when they start athlete/sports performance with us:
What happens in therapy stays in therapy
HIPAA-compliant, encrypted, and completely confidential. Your private life stays private.
Therapy from your couch, car, or closet
No commute. No waiting room. No judgmental receptionist. Log in from wherever you feel safe and comfortable.
Your schedule, respected
Early morning. Lunch break. After the kids are asleep. We offer flexible hours because life doesn't pause for therapy.
Zero judgment, 100% acceptance
Bring your mess. Your secrets. Your shame. This is a space where you can be fully human without fear of rejection.
And it is more accessible than most Quincy locals expect.
The Standard of Care You Deserve
There is no substitute for experience. The therapists behind Empower You Experts have spent years helping people through exactly what you are facing, and they bring that depth to every athlete/sports performance session.
Decades of research back what we do. Modalities like CBT, mindfulness-based approaches, and other evidence-based methods are not buzzwords for us — they are the backbone of how we help Quincy locals get better.
Whether you came looking for athlete therapy or the most experienced sports performance coaching near Quincy, you will find clinicians who bring genuine depth and Illinois licensure to the work.
And this is where the difference really shows.
Your Quincy Connection to Athlete/Sports Performance
With roughly 40,000 people calling Quincy home, the need for accessible mental health care has never been greater. Empower You Experts helps meet it, one session at a time.
Empower You Experts serves all of Quincy and the wider Illinois area. A Mississippi River micropolitan hub. In-person specialists often mean Springfield, St. Louis, or a long wait.
No matter which part of Quincy you call home, the same standard of care follows you. We proudly serve Quincy locals across Downtown Quincy, East End Historic District, South Side, North 12th, and beyond.
And this is where the difference really shows.
Online Athlete/Sports Performance vs. Traditional In-Office Visits
Think about the Adams County commute, the parking, the time carved out of an already-full day. Online athlete/sports performance gives all of that time back to you while delivering the same evidence-based care.
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 Quincy schedule.
Traditional therapy means traffic, parking, time off work, and a waiting room. Online athlete/sports performance removes every one of those barriers while keeping the quality of care identical. For busy Quincy locals, that difference is what makes therapy sustainable.
So what does getting help actually involve?
How We Actually Practice Athlete/Sports Performance
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.
Methods are not a menu of buzzwords. For athlete/sports performance, we pick tools that match the problem — cognitive work, skills you can use the same day, and a relationship honest enough to tell you when something is not working.
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 Quincy locals, we change it.
Who this is for
Quincy athletes from high-school to adult-league who are choking, spiraling, or losing the love of the game.
The good news is that none of this is permanent.
Credentials That Actually Matter
Illinois-licensed clinicians may provide telehealth to clients who are physically located in Illinois 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 Illinois 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.
There is a clear path forward from here.
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 Quincy 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 Quincy?
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 Quincy residents is licensed Illinois telehealth — you meet by secure video while you are physically in Illinois. 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 Quincy 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 Illinois?
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 Quincy, you simply need to be physically in Illinois 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 Quincy 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 Quincy 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 Illinois?
We are primarily a cash-pay practice and currently accept some insurance plans. Many clients in Quincy 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 Quincy — 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 Quincy 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 Quincy 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.