Andrea Furst , Matthew Ahlberg , Tracey Veivers , Simon Woods & Trudi Bannister

Mental Notes Consulting is a dynamic consultancy that has established itself as one of the leading providers of sport & performance psychology services in South East Queensland and throughout Australia. MNC services South East Queensland's athletes and organisations with professional suites in Brisbane as well as the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. MNC has recently expanded into Asia with its headquarters in Singapore. This is wonderful for athletes located in Asia as well as Australian athletes in transit between Australia and the rest of the world. MNC has several psychologists working together to promote the inclusion of mental skills training into all levels of sporting performance. The details of each of these psychologists are outlined below.

Andrea completed a Master of Sport & Exercise Psychology in 2001 at The University of Queensland and has been in private practice since 2001. Andrea is the principal psychologist and director of MNC, and is dedicated to providing ‘solutions for optimistic thinking’, specifically focusing on the psychological needs of sports people. She consults to athletes of various ages, ability levels, and sports. Andrea is currently the sport psychologist for the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) tennis, flatwater canoeing, and golf programs, and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) flatwater canoeing program. Outside of the QAS and AIS, Andrea consults to national and state sporting organisations, schools and colleges, and private academies.
The golf clientele, in addition to the QAS golf program, includes professional tour players from each of the national and international tours, as well as consulting to Women’s Golf Queensland, Women’s Golf Central Queensland, Women’s Golf Australia, Queensland Golf Union, PGA Academy of Golf, and Queensland PGA.

The work involved with each of the various population groups includes individual consults, workshops, presentations, as well as high performance planning. In addition to private practice Andrea is completing a PhD at Griffith University on optimism training and golf performance. She also has experience in lecturing and tutoring sport and exercise psychology at Griffith University, in addition to experience tutoring at Queensland University of Technology and The University of Queensland.
The similarities between the characteristics of elite athletic performance and corporate performance have led Andrea to adapt her professional skills to the corporate sector. She has undergone training to become qualified as a corporate performance coach. Previous to her current role Andrea worked in the health & fitness industry as a personal trainer focussing on health & fitness testing in addition to stress management and lifestyle planning.

Specialties:
Andrea’s specialty sports are golf and tennis, however she has extensive working knowledge and experience with sports such as triathlon, swimming, track and field, taekwondo, karate, horse racing, motor racing, motorcycle racing, cricket, rugby union, and soccer. Her passion is being part of the team of professionals assisting elite athletes to take their sport to the highest level. In addition to sport, Andrea adapts the principles of sport psychology to the performing arts and the life of everyday people who want to make changes and improvements to themselves. The majority of Andrea’s clientele are considered to be ‘high achievers’ in a variety of performance domains and as such perfectionism is a hot topic!

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Matt completed a Master of Sport & Exercise Psychology at The University of Queensland. Matt has been with MNC since 2006 and is dedicated to providing ‘solutions for optimistic thinking’, specifically focusing on the psychological needs of people involved in sport in different capacities and at different levels. He consults to athletes of various ages, ability levels, and sports. MNC services South East Queensland’s athletes and organisations, with professional suites in Brisbane as well as the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. Matt is currently involved with the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) tennis, and golf programs. Outside of the QAS, Matt consults to national and state sporting organizations, schools and colleges, and private academies. The work involved with each of the various population groups includes individual consultations, workshops, presentations, as well as high performance planning.

Matt has lectured in sport and exercise psychology at The University of Queensland and taught sports coaching courses at Griffith University. He has presented lectures and workshops on sport and performance psychology and coaching at national and international conferences.

In addition to his work in sport and performance psychology Matt has a passion for working with people in areas of self-esteem and weight management. His specific interests involve working with people to help them achieve their weight-related goals through optimistic thought and action.

Specialties:
Matt’s specialty sports are golf, tennis and rugby, however he has experience in working with sports such as swimming, soccer, taekwondo, rowing, AFL, rugby league, track and field and motor cycling. He sees being part of the team of professionals assisting elite athletes to take their sport to the highest level as integral to a successful working relationship. In addition to working with athletes, Matt has special interests in coach development and the performance enhancement of people in work settings, and people who want to make changes and improvements to themselves and key areas of their lives.

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Tracey Veivers has worked in the sport and performance psychology profession since 1991. She works with individuals and teams from a large variety of sports from the junior development level through to the professional level. This performance enhancement and wellbeing work has now extended to the corporate environment. Tracey is a consultant to a major health organisation and is based out of two Brisbane Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Centres. She has presented at international conferences and has publications in the SportsMed News, The Modern Athlete and Coach and the Triathlon and Multi-Sport magazine, having conducted research into topics such as performing under extreme conditions, attentional and interpersonal style, and team cohesion. She has also regularly been quoted on television and in national newspapers on topical editorials. Furthermore, Tracey has been a regular guest lecturer in sport and exercise psychology and team/group processes at Queensland University of Technology since 2002 and James Cook University more recently.

Tracey has worked with the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra across all elite sports and in Brisbane with squash, diving, rugby union and canoeing. Tracey has also travelled domestically and internationally as a sport psychologist with Australian representatives to sporting events such as National Championships and World Championships and also the 1992 Olympics. She is currently a service provider as a Sport Psychologist with the Queensland Academy of Sport.

Specialties:
Tracey continues to enjoy working with mainstream sports such as swimming, water polo, cycling, golf, tennis, track and field, triathlon/ironman, cricket, and rowing. She specialises in team sports at the elite level such as AFL, basketball, softball, netball and rugby union. She also specialises in non-mainstream sports such as figure skating, gliding, equestrian and motor racing. She also has an interest in assisting performing artists.

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Simon Woods is a facilitator, lecturer and performance consultant. He has worked extensively in both the arts and sporting arenas as a trainer and High-Performance workshop leader. In addition to his work in psycho-physical training (skills acquisition and performance under pressure), Simon created a program of innovative yoga-based stretching sessions for elite performers.

Clients include Commonwealth Games Track and Field Team members, the Australian Squash Team, Burleigh Golf Club, Queensland Ballet, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre and since 2001 he has been a Stretching Coordinator at the Brisbane Lions AFL Club.

Specialties:
Simon holds a Master of Philosophy in the area of Performance Training from the University of Queensland and has lectured/tutored at QUT, USQ, UQ, JCU, and TAFE. He is currently completing a Graduate Diploma of Psychology at QUT.

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Trudi completed a Business Degree (Marketing) in 2000. From 2000, she undertook a Graduate and a Postgraduate Diplomas in Psychology, through Charles Sturt University, Australia, finalising her studies in 2006. She is also certified by the British Psychological Society in Ability and Personality Testing (Levels A & B) and has conducted numerous Psychometric Assessments with clients internationally.

With the benefit of over 12 years in business management roles, within Australia, the UK/Europe and Singapore, Trudi brings a breadth of business knowledge and experience to her role. Her passion lies in helping organisations and their people achieve business and personal success. She achieves this through activities such as facilitating strategic planning, delivering solid business strategies and providing individual staff and team coaching.

Having travelled on the European and Australian PGA Tours in a support role for four years from 2000-2003, Trudi has witnessed first hand the role of the mind in performance and its impact on performance in golf and sport overall. This knowledge and experience has been applied to developing performance coaching programs for adults and children alike, of all age ranges and abilities.

Specialties:
Trudi’s role with MNC will include investing her time in assisting children to understand the link between their mind and their performance. Mental Notes is committed to developing the talents and abilities of children and offers a number of tailored programs to facilitate the growth of their ability, knowledge and self-belief.

Trudi will work with MNC to deliver programs to corporate clients linking the philosophies and principles of sports psychology with the corporate world. Mental Notes has developed a number of highly successful programs to facilitate the development of corporate clientele.

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