MEMBERSHIP - Requirements
Requirements

CSPA applicants must demonstrate that they have:
  • a Master's degree in sport psychology or related field;
  • successfully completed a variety of courses relevant to applied sport psychology and foundational disciplines such as human kinetics or kinesiology, psychology, and counseling;
  • extensive applied experience; and
  • favorable supervisor and client evaluations.

A. EDUCATION

Applicants must indicate the university degrees they have obtained and arrange for their official transcripts (containing the seal of the institution and including all courses completed and degrees obtained) to be directly sent to the Review Committee at the following address:

Laura G. Farres
Mind in Motion Consulting
Suite 400 - 601 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
Canada V5Z 4K1
Tel: 604-512-3256
Fax: 604-251-3197
E-mail: drlaura@mindinmotion.ca


B. ACADEMIC COURSE WORK

Applicants must have successfully completed academic course work in the following areas:

Course Area Course Requirement
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND STANDARDS 1 course (graduate level)
SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
(e.g., sport psychology, health/exercise psychology, intervention/ performance enhancement, mental training) 		3 courses (2 at the graduate level)
SPORT SCIENCES
(e.g., kinesiology, biomechanics, exercise physiology, anatomy, motor learning/control, human movement, sociology of sport, history and philosophy of sport/physical education, health and physical activity, nutrition and physical activity, principles of coaching, prevention and care of athletic injuries, exercise and disease prevention) 		2 courses (undergraduate or graduate level)
COUNSELLING
(e.g., counselling theories and practice, theories of individual counselling, micro-counselling, communication and relationship skills, group counselling, social intervention theories and community networking, models of consultation and case management, counselling intervention strategies, narrative therapy, family systems therapy, multicultural counselling, pastoral counselling, marital / couple counselling) 		1 course (undergraduate or graduate level)
PSYCHOLOGY
(e.g., comparative psychology, psychopathology, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, experimental psychology, child development, learning and conditioning, personality, lifespan psychology, educational psychology, social psychology, psychology of adolescence, perception, cognition, philosophy of psychology, biological foundations of behaviour, developmental psychology, history and systems of psychology, psychology of death and dying, interpersonal relationships, learning and human development, psychology of women, cross-cultural psychology, human sexual behaviour, psychology of the family, organizational psychology, industrial psychology, psychology of aging, community psychology, clinical psychology) 		2 courses (undergraduate or graduate level)
MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION
(e.g., research methods, statistics, quantitative or qualitative analysis and methods, analysis of interventions, measurement and evaluation, program evaluation, tests and measurement, psychological assessment) 		1 course (undergraduate or graduate level)
PRACTICAL SKILLS OR EXPERIENCES IN SPORT OR RELATED DOMAINS
(e.g., formal coaching, athletic experiences, sport clinics, coaching certification courses, athlete or coach mentoring) 		Must document how your skills or experiences fulfill the equivalent of a 3-credit course


Note.
Each graduate or undergraduate level course fulfills only one requirement and must be the equivalent of one semester course (e.g., 3-credit, 0.5 FCE). If one course does not fulfill this equivalent, you may include several courses that you have taken that would fulfill it and justify this in the Additional Information box.

If the course title is not indicative of the content, a syllabus or letter from the course instructor detailing the course content must be provided.

If an independent study is listed, a letter from the supervising faculty member detailing the focus and content of the study must be provided.

C. SUPERVISED INTERNSHIP

CSPA applicants must demonstrate that they have completed a supervised internship involving a minimum of 400 hours of consulting experience.
  • Only those hours spent in the preparation, delivery, and evaluation of applied services are eligible for inclusion.
  • A minimum of 200 hours (50%) must be spent in direct contact with clients.
  • A maximum of 80 hours (20%) can be allocated for preparation.
  • A maximum of 120 hours (30%) can be used to incorporate sport psychology consulting in an existing practice (e.g., coaching, physiotherapy, or athletic therapy).
  • A minimum of 20 hours (5%) must be completed under direct supervision with a CSPA approved internship supervisor (recommended ratio of 1/20 - supervision hours to contact hours with clients).
  • Internship work should rarely include one-time presentations and rather focus on ongoing work with individuals or teams.
Eligible and Ineligible Internship Experiences

Eligible:
  • Working directly with an athletic team and/or the coaching staff in an applied sport setting while helping them develop life and sport skills and perspectives including goal-setting, cohesion, commitment, relaxation, activation, concentration, distraction control, self-confidence, imagery, self-talk, communication, and competition planning, etc.
  • Implementing sport psychology principles while coaching or treating (e.g., athletic therapist) individual or team sport athletes.
  • Serving as a consultant for a youth sport organization and teaching children/adolescents, parents, and/or coaches about healthy competition patterns and moral reasoning.
  • Serving as a consultant for a cardiac rehabilitation program and teaching participants ways to increase exercise adherence, stress and time management, various coping skills, and overall life management skills.
  • Working with an athlete, dancer, musician, or artist on performance-relevant issues (i.e., performance anxiety, balance, c ommunication, etc.).
  • While serving as an academic counselor, conducting formal performance enhancement work with athletes.
Ineligible:
  • Working in an alcohol rehabilitation center that happens to have athletes as clients.
  • Providing marital and family counseling to an athlete and her family.
  • Being part of a general practice or counseling center and treating an athlete for an eating disorder.
  • While serving as an academic counselor, providing only academic support services to athletes.
  • While serving as an athletic trainer, providing only physical rehabilitation services to athletes.
Logbook of Internship Work

CSPA applicants should be prepared to demonstrate a log of their internship work if additional information is required following the application submission. While completing their internship, they should:
  1. Log Activities: Document all the activities conducted with individuals or teams. Briefly describe the content of each meeting, for example, the approach or strategies used as well as client responses and feedback.
  2. Log Hours: Document internship hours for each internship context in which applied work is conducted and summarize these hours in the CSPA Supervised Internship Cumulative Hours Verification Form. When recording hours, include preparation time (i.e., developing handouts, assessment forms, and intervention activities), work with clients (i.e., on-site, via telephone or e-mail), sport psychology related presentations (i.e., to athletes, coaches, parents), applied work or observations at practices, competitions, or other venues, meetings with internship supervisor, and evaluations (i.e., giving/getting client feedback).
  3. Log Lessons Learned: Include self-evaluations, reflections, and lessons learned from each internship intervention.
  4. Log Client Feedback: In each intervention context, request ongoing verbal and written feedback from clients. Upon completion of work, use the CSPA Appraisal Form to obtain a personal evaluation of the consulting process, performance, and outcomes. Get feedback from coaches, athletes, and parents when applicable.
CSPA Supervised Internship Cumulative Hours Verification Form

Applicants must complete the CSPA Internship Verification Form and provide all requested information. The purpose of this documentation is to verify the nature, quality, and duration of supervised consulting experiences. This form includes:
  1. Name and contact information of supervisor.
  2. Context (i.e., level and type of sport or activity) in which sport psychology work was done. Example: high school women's swim team; professional male marathon runner; 12-year old figure skater; 50-year old aerobic exerciser in cardiac rehabilitation program.
  3. Total hours spent in the context - Countable hours include hours spent in the preparation, delivery, and evaluation of applied services.
  4. Hours spent preparing materials for individual clients or groups (maximum of 80 hours out of 400 hours).
  5. Hours spent working with clients on skills or issues related to sport, exercise, health, or life enhancement.
  6. Hours spent working with groups on skills or issues related to sport, exercise, health, or life enhancement.
  7. Skills employed in sport psychology work (e.g., life management, goal setting, team building, coping skills for injury, stress management, etc.).
  8. Hours of direct supervision – number of hours the supervisor spent directly observing, discussing, or evaluating consultant skills and work in the actual context or on videotape.
  9. Hours of indirect supervision – number of hours the supervisor spent observing, discussing, or evaluating onsultant skills during face-to-face meetings (not during actual consulting) and/or through audio tape review, review of materials, telephone, e-mail, or other forms of technological indirect supervision.
  10. Comments – any information to further clarify entries.

Internship Supervisor

CSPA applicants must provide the name and contact information of supervisor(s) who supervised their internship work.  All supervisors must meet the supervision requirements of the CSPA and have:

  • At a minimum, a Master's degree in sport psychology or related field
  • Extensive sport psychology consulting experience in different sport contexts spanning a minimum period of 2 years
  • A current and ongoing sport psychology consulting practice
All CSPA members are automatically qualified to supervise internship experiences after being CSPA members for 2 years.

Other supervisors who have not been a CSPA member for 2 years must be approved by the CSPA Review Committee and complete the CSPA Internship Supervisor Form. The Review Committee will evaluate the form and provide a response within one month following the submission.

All CSPA members are automatically qualified to supervise internship experiences after being CSPA members for a minimum of 2 years. Supervisors who have not been a CSPA member for 2 years must be approved by the CSPA Review Committee thus applicants must justify how these supervisors meet the CSPA supervision requirements.

Appraisal of Consulting Work

Applicants must have two clients complete the CSPA Client Appraisal Form who will evaluate their consulting work.
 
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