Why this page exists
Mental performance work is not only for elite athletes. High-school, college, adult-league, and professional athletes in Tempe all choke, spiral, or lose the love of the game.
Performance is as much mental as physical. Sports performance therapy helps Tempe athletes master focus, manage pressure, and compete with confidence.
The difference between good and great often lives between the ears. Mental performance coaching gives Tempe athletes the tools to stay composed, motivated, and resilient.
There is strength in asking for help, and Tempe locals are discovering that online athlete/sports performance removes the barriers that used to get in the way. Private, professional, and built around your schedule — that is care that lasts.
Here is the local load, named without a brochure: Long, triple-digit summers, sprawling freeway commutes, and a metro that grew faster than its mental-health workforce. The old in-office version meant circling for parking near Mill Avenue. Athlete/Sports Performance does not erase that — it gives Tempe 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 Tempe, you are in the right place — it is all part of the athlete/sports performance care we provide to Arizona residents.
So what does getting help actually involve?
How Online Athlete/Sports Performance Actually Works
Performance work blends sport psychology with practical mental skills — visualization, focus, pressure management, and recovery from setbacks — tailored to your sport and your goals.
After the free consultation, most clients begin weekly sessions. As you build momentum and skills, you and your clinician may space sessions out — the goal is always lasting change, not endless appointments.
The process is collaborative, not clinical-feeling. Your therapist asks, listens, reflects, and offers practical tools you can use between sessions — so the work continues even after you log off.
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 Tempe locals notice meaningful change within a handful of sessions.
But understanding the problem is only half of it.
Why Tempe locals Reach Out for Athlete/Sports Performance
Before anything changes, it helps to name what you are carrying. For many Tempe 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.
So what does getting help actually involve?
Your Tempe Connection to Athlete/Sports Performance
Because care is delivered online, your location in Tempe is never a barrier. ASU students and staff, young professionals, and South Tempe families.
With roughly 185,000 people calling Tempe home, the need for accessible mental health care has never been greater. Empower You Experts helps meet it, one session at a time.
Living near Arizona State University or out toward the edges of Maricopa County makes no difference to the quality of your sessions — online athlete/sports performance reaches every corner equally.
That is exactly where athlete/sports performance comes in.
Evidence-Based Athlete/Sports Performance You Can Rely On
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.
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.
Consistency is where progress lives. Because online athlete/sports performance is so much easier to attend, Maricopa County locals are far more likely to stick with it — and sticking with it is what produces lasting change.
And it is more accessible than most Tempe locals expect.
In-Office or Online: What Fits Your Life
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 Tempe locals, that difference is what makes therapy sustainable.
Think about the Maricopa 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 Tempe schedule.
The good news is that none of this is permanent.
What Happens in a Athlete/Sports Performance Session
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.
Tempe locals do not need another article about self-care. They need a plan they can explain to themselves on a Tuesday: what we are targeting, why, and how we will know it moved.
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
Tempe athletes from high-school to adult-league who are choking, spiraling, or losing the love of the game.
And it is more accessible than most Tempe locals expect.
Benefits Maricopa County locals Notice
Here is what Tempe locals gain when they start athlete/sports performance with us:
Train your brain like you train your body
Mental performance coaching gives you the psychological edge. Visualization, focus, pressure management—the mental game makes champions.
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.
Therapy from your couch, car, or closet
No commute. No waiting room. No judgmental receptionist. Log in from wherever you feel safe and comfortable.
What happens in therapy stays in therapy
HIPAA-compliant, encrypted, and completely confidential. Your private life stays private.
Results only matter if they last — which is why the next part matters.
What Tempe locals Ask Most
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 Tempe 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 Tempe?
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 Tempe residents is licensed Arizona telehealth — you meet by secure video while you are physically in Arizona. 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 Tempe 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 Arizona?
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 Tempe, you simply need to be physically in Arizona 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 Tempe 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 Tempe 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 Arizona?
We are primarily a cash-pay practice and currently accept some insurance plans. Many clients in Tempe 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 Tempe — 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 Tempe 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 Tempe 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.