MUSTANG SOCCER MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL PERFORMANCE

Hi I’m Noah, and I’m a therapist and mental skills coach for athletes. Having grown up in Walnut Creek and playing soccer all my life I understand the unique challenges and opportunities a student athlete faces in the Bay Area. My playing career started in East Bay youth soccer and eventually took me to Cal-Berkeley where I played four years, captained the team for two years, and made the NCAA tournament in all four seasons. After a devastating knee injury and recovery in my final collegiate game, I was drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes and played four seasons of professional soccer, mostly with the Seattle Sounders. 

In 2008 I decided to start driving in a different direction and began to pursue a career in mental health. I spent the next 13 years away from the sports world, training in my new craft by engaging in education and experience through the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins, SF General Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente. I gained incredible experience and knowledge working with clients across the spectrum of mental health and addiction issues, eventually landing in Addiction Medicine at Kaiser Walnut Creek for 7 years before realizing that I am an athlete at my core, and deciding that I needed to blend my two life passions in 2021. 

At that time I started my own private practice, which is continuing to thrive by serving athletes across the spectrum of mental illness, mental health, mental wellness, and mental performance. I greatly enjoy helping people raise their floor and raise their ceiling. From injury recovery and coping with life stress, to elite mental performance skills for the highest competitive moments. In January 2024 I began working with the San Jose Earthquakes as a mental skills coach, helping players from the first team, second team, and academy mentally perform at their best when the moment matters most. I am happy to have this connection with Mustang soccer, and I am here to help in whatever ways I can. 

For more information about me and my work, see my business website: Athletic Acumen

Hi I’m Amy, a proud former Mustang soccer athlete and therapist from Alamo, CA. Mustang Soccer paved the way for my successful Division 1 soccer career at USC and cultivated my abilities on and off the field as a child. Mustang has created a beautiful culture which values their athletes and recognizes the ongoing need for supplemental therapeutic and emotional support at times, to help support their players on and off the field and in their everyday lives. 

I’m a therapist specializing in child and adolescent resiliency, stress reduction, mood disorders, and athletic and emotional performance. I consult for Mustang, while owning my own therapy private practice and working as a therapist for Stanford Health.  I work with both girls and boys to help them thrive.

How I Help. My practice sees kids, teens, and young adults working through anxiety, athletic and team resiliency and emotional regulation issues, depression, panic attacks, coping with change, self-esteem, confidence, focus, school related stressors impacting life and personality, and chronic illness. Our treatment can be focused on whatever personalized goals you may have in life or sport or both.  I will help identify thoughts and behaviors that are interfering with your happiness, quality of life, and performance.  (I have been there, and know the feeling of success, disappointment, and the noise outside life can bring.) My practice also welcomes adults and parents seeking support with the challenges in their lives.  

I’m a Stanford Health and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center trained therapist, with 16 years of behavioral health experience and a published author in the field of wellness and resiliency.  Reach out for a complimentary consultation.