Meet Adrienne Langelier | Counselor & Sport Psychology Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adrienne Langelier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adrienne, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Simplicity. Compassion. Authenticity. Bringing those values to life in a real way to help make a real impact in the lives of others. I wanted my practice to be different than the others, not better, just different and I started from the ground up serving others on the continuum of mental health through peak performance. I am still working to master this to this day.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I played a number of sports growing up and had this drive to always get better (actually that drive hasn’t changed!). I often tell the story about how intense performance anxiety and a lack of a well-developed mental game kept me from reaching my potential as a young person, in short, I needed someone like myself so badly that I kind of became that person! I did not know it at the time, but what an individual thinks, believes, and feels when all things are held constant is the key to not only athletic success but the overall quality of life. Along with being passionate about sports, I also have always been fascinated with how the mind works. As an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, I was made fully aware of the field of sports psychology and decided to work towards making it a career after meeting a handful of key individuals and opportunities. Marrying athletics and psychology started taking shape while I was studying clinical psychology in graduate school, Performance anxiety now manageable- I began running competitively-with some years at the elite level and still train several hours per week in addition to practicing full time. I find my experiences as a runner indispensable to helping me connect with those I work with, as being able to relate to those I work with I find very important. I feel so blessed to be able to combine my two passions into a career! Along the way in my professional training, I became Licensed as a Professional Counselor in Texas and have worked in a number of settings, working with individuals with anxiety/depression, ADHD, eating disorders, and/or simply navigating life’s “tricker” phases, such as transitioning to college, retiring, relationships, etc. I feel that my clinical background is very advantageous to others I work with as I can address the whole person sitting in front of me; working on not only their performance but their overall emotional lives-this is one of the most important cornerstones of my work. I started out seeing a couple athletes a week while working in general counseling shortly after getting my degrees and knew this was what I wanted to specialize in right away. From there and over time, I began working with a number of top areas club sports teams, NCAA D1 programs, professional, and Olympic Development. After practicing at a couple different facilities, I opened up my private practice in February of 2018 and now have two office locations, one in North Houston/Woodlands area, one in College Station (Gig Em Aggies!) Even before COVID-19, I have done performance consulting all across the US, and I now have a pretty robust tele-practice as well. I literally built this practice one client at a time and wouldn’t have it any other way. I have now been practicing counseling and sports psych for nearly a decade now and it’s been amazing to watch everything as it unfolds. What started as something that sounded ‘cool’ has become a reality. Every day brings a new lesson and something new and I am truly blessed to be able to do what I love everyday as my career. A little more on tech and telework: something I’ve struggled in the past was learning how to navigate being a clinician in a very connected and electronic world. My style is admittedly pretty old-school: I like it to just be about me, my client in front of me and the natural process unfolding, but I have started to embrace technology and get out of my comfort zone as a practitioner. Also speaking of tech, helping the younger generation, notably teenagers and millennials deal with the inherent challenges of the social media age can sometimes be a touchy area.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, I recently moved to College Station (still practicing in the Houston area, however), so the day would begin with a long run at a little-known spot outside of town known as ‘River Bottoms’. Most of my friends are runners, so this actually sounds like a good idea! Next up would be breakfast at Hullabaloo Diner and perhaps one of the local coffee shops, such as Tipsy Bean or Sweet Eugene’s. My place is near my office and located near where all the action is: Century Square: which has a great green space and a number of great restaurants. My favorite place to hang out and unwind would be the Canteen Lounge. If its during the fall, you can’t go to College Station without taking in a sporting event. Although football is king here, any of them would do. Of course we cannot forget about the Northgate District after the game. Older folks like me are better suited for happy hour there, and the night belongs to the college students. There’s a little bit of everything here and I love the soul of this town.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to thank Olympian Kara Goucher and Blue Star Press for allowing me to contribute to the 2018 book Strong: A Confidence Journal. Dr. Arnold LeUnes at Texas A&M is and continues to be a great support to the work that I do. I also want to thank the running and athletic community at large as I would not be where I am without my experiences as an athlete.

Website: www.langelierspc.com
Instagram: @langelierspc
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-langelier-m-a-lpc-963a1926/
Twitter: @alangelier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LangelierSPC/