Team
We are an international group of passionate psychologists working in climbing, striving to uphold the highest standards in sport psychology.
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is a sport psychologist (M.Sc.), systemic coach and climbing instructor located in Austria. She’s founded Climbing Psychology. Madeleine is a member of the Austrian psychology federation (BÖP), the Austrian Network of Psychologists (ÖSB) and cooperates with the local Olympic Center, Olympiazentrum Vorarlberg. Her vision with Climbing Psychology is to normalise and destigmatise psychology in climbing around the world. Over the past years, she has worked with climbers regardless of their professional level from all around the world to leverage their mindset. Her motto: the biggest wall we have to climb is the one we build in our mind.
Madeleine has been climbing, learning and exploring for as long as she can remember. Throughout the past decade, she travelled the world representing Austria at youth climbing competitions and later on in some Bouldering World Cup. Nowadays you still find her climbing in the gym or outdoors as often as possible. She has done lead climbs and boulders in the 8th grade outside (Font & French grades).
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is a certified sports psychologist and clinical psychologist i.e. based in the climbing mecca of Innsbruck, Austria. She is working as part of team Climbing Psychology. Specializing in developmental psychology, her focus lies on working with youth climbers. Having grown up in a nearby mountainous region, Carina feels deeply connected to the landscape—mountains truly feel like home to her. Passionate about outdoor sports, especially climbing, she cherishes the exhilarating sense of freedom it brings. Carina thrives on pushing her limits and exploring her mental edge.
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(she/her) is a Licensed Psychologist with over 20 years of experience as a trauma specialist, clinical instructor, and supervisor across the US. She is a certified EMDR provider, couples therapist, and has held leadership roles in major healthcare organizations and residential treatment facilities. A passionate climber and Certified Single Pitch Instructor with the American Mountain Guides Association, she is also a provider for the American Alpine Club’s Climbing Grief Fund, supporting climbers navigating trauma and loss.
Dr. Jen leads workshops and trainings on mental strength, performance mindset, and resilience for climbers of all levels. She is the Mental Strength Training Coach for Session Climbing in Santa Rosa, CA, where she works with competitive teams and recreational climbers alike. She contributes to media and podcasts on mental health and sport psychology, and is dedicated to reducing stigma around emotional wellbeing. She lives in Sonoma County, CA, with her husband and two sons.
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is a clinical and sport psychologist. She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Babes-Bolyai University, where she researched "Personality, Mental Health and Performance Anxiety in Outdoor Sports: The Case of Rock-Climbing", and has authored articles published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals such as Psychology of Sport and Exercise (PSE) and the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (JSEP). Her primary interests include exceptional sport performance and clinical sport psychology, currently investigating mental health in sport climbers and boulderers.
Maria is also a passionate rock-climber herself and the founder of the Sport & Exercise Psychology (SEP) Group at RIDDLE Lab, Babes-Bolyai University. She has climbed French 8b (5.13d).
Maria has worked in her private practice since 2016, addressing a variety of needs, from personality disorders, to sport psychology counselling and adventure therapy. She is trained in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), and psychodynamic psychotherapy (International Masterson Institute Australia). Over the years, she has collaborated with various mental health organizations, including Climbing Psychology in Austria, Experentia – Adventure Therapy in Spain, Venture Trust – Outdoor Therapy in the UK, and Minte Forte – Development through Climbing programme in Romania. She is currently involved in projects with the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) and the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR).
Maria values human relationships, the mind, the imagination, and scientific knowledge, being interested in literature and culture in general. She believes that daily sustained effort accumulates, blossoming into unexpected results. In her free time, you can probably find her immersed in a book or, even better, amongst the rocks.
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is a Mental Performance Consultant, who holds a Bachelors of Science in Sport Science, and a Masters of Science in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology. After close to a decade of experience providing sport psychology support to elite athletes, Andrei founded Mzk Performance in 2017 to address outdoor athlete’s need for high quality, evidence based, mental performance training. He is a Sport Science Faculty Member at Douglas College, and a Professional Member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association.
He has a passion for education, and believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue their potential. Andrei takes a collaborative approach to mental performance, delivering complex topics with simple messages, and creating climates of mastery. Andrei hosts the Mountain Mindset podcast, where he facilitates learning from elite adventure sport athletes and coaches.
In addition to his work supporting individual athletes through Mzk Performance, Andrei has also been honored to facilitate workshops on behalf of specialist outdoor organizations such as Arc’teryx, Team BC, Team Canada, Capra Running, Ground Up Climbing, Hive Climbing, and The Richmond Oval. He is an Assistant Coach for both Hive Climbing, and Team BC, and is a member of the National Practitioner Network for Climbing Escalade Canada.
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is a Sports and Exercise Psychologist based in Helsinki, Finland. She has worked with recreational and competitive climbers and specialised in stress management and commitment via deepening self-knowledge.
Kaisa discovered climbing when her son took her to the neighbouring bouldering gym - it was love at first sight! No other sport had felt so mentally and physically challenging and immensely rewarding. Having started climbing in her 40s, she trains fairly systematically but competes only with herself. Her ultimate goal is to climb still in the 70s!
Today's way of living and our ambitions often pushes us to neglect our basic needs of purpose, rest, physical activity, healthy eating and social connections. Kaisa wants to inspire people to respect these needs and recognise those as the basis of high performance - and fulfilling life. She is curious by nature and always interested to learn more, whether related to how our minds work or mobility training. Outside of working or climbing, you'll find her on football fields or biathlon stadiums supporting her sons or reading a good sci-fi book.
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Miguel is a sports psychologist and psycho-oncologist specialised in working with high performance athletes in climbing. He is a researcher at Sputnik Climbing and at the Research Group in Psychology and Sport Sciences at the Autonomous University (UAM) in Spain, where he is Associate Professor in the Dept. Educative and Evolutive Psychology. He is also professor of the Master in Psychology of Physical Activity and Sport (UAM), of the Master in Sport Psychology, European University-Real Madrid School (UE-Real Madrid) and of the Master in Sport Coaching in La Rioja University (UNIR). He is also a teacher of Sport Technicians in Climbing Grade 3. Passionate about sport performance and mental health.
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is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist (DClinPsy). She started climbing at University, and qualified as a clinical psychologist for 23yrs ago, and as a climbing instructor (RCI) not long after that. Since then, she’s been coaching climbers on the mental skills aspect of climbing, working with hundreds of climbers every year on all aspects of their headgame, to develop their confidence and improve their climbing psyche. She is also the author of Climb Smarter: Mental Skills and Techniques for Climbers and the Fear of Falling workbook.
She’s first and foremost a psychologist, so all her coaching and workshops are based on a thorough assessment, a psychological formulation, and evidence based techniques and tools to improve one’s performance. She loves making psychological theory practical, keeping up with the latest sports and clinical psychology research, and adapting and applying it specifically to climbing.
She’s trained in a number of different therapies and techniques, including cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and behavioural techniques such as exposure and systematic desensitisation, commonly used to help people with fears and phobias (eg fear of falling). She also has a certificate in coaching and mentoring, she’s DBS checked, and keeps up to date with safeguarding training.
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is a trainee sport psychologist (MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University 2020), due to finish training in December 2024. She is currently working on the first study of her PhD, investigating the impact of fear on performance in a range of risk based sports.
Emma has been working with climbers for the past 7 years of all ages and experience levels. She has worked with the national federation in the UK, helping climbers and coaches develop an optimal performance mindset. Her main interests in both research and practice involves the management and understanding of fear and the coach-climber relationship.
The International Association of Psychologists in Climbing (IAPSYC) was founded in October, 2020. Our endeavors encompass monthly intervisions and collaborative initiatives, including the 'Consensus Statement on Eating Disorder in Climbing', aimed at advancing research-driven and applied sport psychology within climbing. Our primary objectives are to contribute to the destigmatization of psychology and mental health in climbing, as well as to offer education to climbers, coaches, federations, and various professionals in climbing.
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(she/her) is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant ® and founder of Elite Edge (M.Sc. Performance Psychology, B.Sc. Psychology, B.Ed. Education). She is a professional member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association (CSPA), the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and is the Canadian Representative for the European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology (ENYSSP). Alayne is on the High-Performance Advisory Council (HPAC) for Sport Scientist Canada as the Lead in Culture, Ethics & Inclusion. She also chairs the Women in Sport Science Mentorship Program across Canada, and is Chair of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility committee for the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta.
For the past 18 years, she has worked with Olympians, coaches, professional, and amateur athletes to help them reach their peak performance with confidence. Alayne has been working with high-performance climbers and their integrated support staff since 2012. Her focus is on diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility through sport.
The most important muscle in climbing is our mind.
Wolfgang Güllich