About me
I’m a HCPC registered Chartered Psychologist (Coaching and Occupational) with over 25 years’ experience of maximising performance at the highest level in elite sport and business.
You can read some of my client testimonials below.
I’ve always been passionate about helping people develop.
In 2000 I qualified as an Occupational Psychologist and psychometric tester. I worked with a variety of corporate clients through the PriceWaterhouseCoopers graduate scheme, before joining a team of Occupational Psychologists at a consultancy firm, where I ran assessment and development centres for high-potential individuals and delivered coaching for executive and C-suite members.
I love sport, so I jumped at the opportunity to join the Great Britain Taekwondo team in 2009. I was a Team GB psychologist at both the London and Rio Olympic Games, where the team exceeded its ambitious medal target.
As part of the management team, I helped create a culture for athletes and staff to perform at the highest level. This included coaching Jade Jones to gold in successive Olympic finals and designing and delivering a mental health and wellbeing programme for the team.
I have since worked with several other teams including GB Triathlon, GB Canoeing, British Swimming, UK Athletics, Motorsport UK, European Tour Golf and women’s football.
My book Perform & Thrive: A Sportsperson’s Guide to Mental Health and Wellbeing was published in 2022. You can also read my series on mental health and performance for Strava.
I was a director that created Chimp Management Ltd. with Professor Steve Peters (author of The Chimp Paradox) and helped shape the vision of the company. I led a team of psychologists working in Olympic and professional sport. I was supervised by Steve and gained an in-depth knowledge of how the mind works from a neuroscientific perspective.
Away from elite sport, I’m passionate about helping people to be the best they can be through an understanding of how the mind works. I understand the importance of wellbeing, and the impact it can have physically and mentally if it is neglected. I offer experience at helping senior leaders to manage this effectively while working under high levels of pressure.
“I started working with Sarah when I joined the Great Britain Taekwondo academy as a junior. We have worked together ever since and she has been instrumental in helping me achieve my gold medals in the most pressured environments of two Olympic Games, and all the competitions along the way.
Working with Sarah has helped me to be the best version of myself, to get the most out of training and competitions and enable me to have my mind in the right place to perform at my very best. She goes above and beyond and gets the best out of me. She has helped me understand myself better and manage the expectation that I felt after the London Olympic Games.
She holds me to account and works with my taekwondo coach to ensure we work in the best way possible.”
— Jade Jones OBE
“I have never been so open with someone about personal and work matters.
Sarah has really opened my eyes as to how the mind works and how this benefits me personally and professionally.”
“Sarah has supported me to grow both professionally and personally. She is an empathetic listener who challenges me to deeply understand my worries and the root causes and helps me to find positive ways to tackle them.
I don't know what I would do without her.”
“Sarah delivered a brilliant session on managing pressure and having difficult conversations at a recent conference we organised for University Finance Directors.
She was totally engaging and delegates really enjoyed being able to take away practical tips, as well as a better understanding of how to manage themselves.
On the back of this, we have already proposed Sarah to several other clients and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone looking for a performance management speaker.”
— Assured Events
“I initially engaged with Sarah to provide individual mentoring/coaching as I am leading a challenging, high-stakes programme. We are achieving the initial objectives around sustaining and incrementally improving my performance as the going inevitably gets tougher. As a result, we have extended Sarah’s role to wider team development and some other one-to-one mentoring.
Given the holistic approach and sports pedigree, I spend about 25% of my time with Sarah focusing on my marathon running. As a result of Sarah’s encouragement and ongoing support, I have gone from being an average club runner to representing England in my age group later this year.
I – and the wider team – are delighted with the work together. The concepts used are robust, the sports/business crossover works really well for us and, most importantly, we all think Sarah is great.
She is intelligent, perceptive and empathetic, clearly adept in applying psychological theory, balances challenge and tact very well and brings a different perspective in a way that is relevant and insightful. Everyone buys into the process (and we are a relatively sceptical bunch) and we are seeing the beneficial outcomes where, individually or collectively, we apply the methods.”
— David Shaw, IT Director, AQA
“Sarah has allowed me a space to continue to practice addressing and processing the sub-conscious thoughts, fears and beliefs that I hold for myself. She is an excellent listener and I feel that the space she provides without judgement has allowed me to explore and express my inner thoughts.
Sarah provides challenge appropriately when needed and I've been unable to see past my blind spots and encourages me to sometimes perhaps think or look at things or situations in a different way. This in turn quietens the unhelpful noise and has allowed me to thrive and be true to myself rather than what I think others want me to be.”
“Sarah allowed me to understand what was holding me back on the golf course and used skills under pressure to problem solve.
I had my best ever season and I put a lot of this down to the work we did together. As a result of the skills I learnt I was also able to add these to day-to-day life as well and this helped massively.”
“Working with Sarah has been incredibly rewarding. She has a unique ability to create a safe and supportive environment that encourages open communication.
From our first session, I felt comfortable discussing my challenges and aspirations. Sarah’s approach is both empathetic and insightful, enabling me to delve deeper into my thoughts and feelings.
One of the key aspects of our work together has been her focus on actionable strategies. Sarah helped me set clear, achievable goals and provided tools to develop a growth mindset. I’ve noticed significant improvements in my self-awareness and coping mechanisms because of her guidance.
Additionally, Sarah’s knowledge in psychology and her tailored techniques have made a positive impact on my personal and professional life. I appreciate her dedication and the progress we’ve made together.”
“Coaching with Sarah had a profound impact on me both professionally and personally. I feel much more resilient, self-aware and accepting of myself and situations.
Coaching with Sarah gave me confidence to push myself to get another job and promotion. I definitely feel I had several mindset shifts while working together and feel capable to deal with challenging situations.”
Would you like to know more?
I regularly work with individuals and teams in high-pressure environments, using the applied theory of neuroscience to optimise performance.
Feel free to reach out to discuss any current challenges or areas you are looking to improve – personally, professionally or organisationally.