Sports Mental Health & Performance | Hope Ave Therapy
Hope Ave Therapy — Sport & Performance
Mental Health & Performance in Sports · Waltham, MA

Performanceandmentalhealtheducation,builtintoyourseason.

Hope Ave Therapy partners with club and collegiate programs across the full season — building the mental skills infrastructure that keeps athletes healthy and competing at their best, all year long.

Athlete Workshops
Skills for real moments
Coach Education
Build the culture
Parent Education
Support at home
Clinical Care
Therapy & evaluations
Philosophy

The skills that make an athlete tougher to beat are the same ones that keep them healthy. We build both — as one system, across a full season.

Our work is led by a licensed clinical psychologist who knows the difference between a performance skill and a mental health concern — so athletes build the mental side early and compete with an edge that holds all season.

Audiences

Who We Serve

Clubs & Youth Programs

Season-long partnerships that protect your culture and strengthen your athletes' mental game.

Collegiate Programs

Built for the pressures unique to college sport — identity, transition, and performing under academic load.

Athletes & Families

Education for families, with clinical care available when an athlete needs more.

Our Offerings

Four ways to work with us

We have a flagship, but we're flexible. Every offering can be tailored to your program's size, season, and specific needs — all worked out in a free consultation.

All Season Long

Hope Ave Shows Up All Season

Mental skills grow the same way physical ones do — with reps over a season. So for partner programs, the work keeps going after the talk ends: every month brings a new Huddle, a short, personal check-in from Dr. Kaplan built around what your coaches and athletes are actually bringing up. Not a generic newsletter — the momentum from your live sessions, carried straight through to spring.

Monthly · Included with every partnership

The Hope Ave Monthly Huddle

A short video from Dr. Kaplan
Responsive to the questions and themes coming up in your season — so athletes keep hearing from us, and coaches stay in the loop.
A one-page research digest
The latest in athlete mental health and performance — distilled into one focused, practical takeaway your program can actually use.
Resources

What your program gets.

All of it is plain-language and practical — an interactive library your athletes use all season, plus playbooks for the sideline, the car, and the staff room. Developed with your program and delivered across the season.

Inside a partnership
Partner clubs only

The Athlete Library

A growing library of interactive tools — pressure resets, game-day prep, post-loss debriefs, weekly habit plans — organized by the moments athletes actually face. Your athletes reach it by QR code at your club’s own co-branded page, and it keeps growing all season. The full library is a partner perk — but you’re welcome to try one tool yourself.

Open the Pressure Plan →
Partner deliverable

Parent Playbook

How to show up well after a tough match, read the warning signs, and keep sport a source of confidence — not pressure. Co-branded for your families.

Partner deliverable

Coach Education Guide

Climate, communication, the mistake response, and clear referral pathways — so staff know what to say and when to bring us in.

Free for any parent or coach

Warning Signs & When to Reach Out

A one-page reference for telling normal ups and downs from the moments that call for support — and exactly what to do next. No partnership required.

The People

The People Behind the Work

Dr. Aaron Kaplan

Dr. Aaron Kaplan, PsyD

Licensed Clinical PsychologistCo-Founder & Clinical Director, Hope Ave TherapyAdjunct Faculty, William James College

Aaron leads Hope Ave's work in sports mental health and performance, specializing in the mental health of competitive athletes, college and graduate students, and high-achieving young adults. He has worked with athletes at the club, high school, and collegiate levels — across volleyball, basketball, track and field, swimming and diving, tennis, baseball, and soccer — helping them perform better and stay mentally healthy at the same time. A parent of youth athletes himself, he understands the demands these families navigate from both sides. PsyD from William James College, postdoctoral training at Brandeis University Counseling Center.

Grace Edwards

Grace Edwards

Mental Health Counselor, MAHope Ave TherapyFormer Division I Swimmer

Grace is a clinician at Hope Ave and a former Division I swimmer who competed at the highest level of collegiate sport. She has seen that world from every side: as an athlete carrying the training load and the pressure, as an assistant swim coach, and as the athlete representative for her state — carrying athletes' voices into the house of delegates and USA Swimming conventions, and serving on panels that gave board members a real window into the athlete experience. She has also designed and led a mental-health education group, teaching students how to recognize what they're going through and support one another. That blend of lived experience, public speaking, and program design is why she leads athlete sessions in language that lands. Read Grace's full profile →

Questions

Frequently Asked

Hope Ave Therapy is a licensed clinical practice with a focus on athlete mental health and performance. We treat performance and wellbeing as the same conversation, and we pair a licensed clinical psychologist with the lived experience of high-level competition. That means we can deliver the education work and hold the clinical care that's sometimes needed alongside it — something a coach or consultant alone can't.
No. Our model is built for any club or collegiate program, and the skills travel across sports. We're forming founding partnerships now and expanding across New England.
Yes. Hope Ave Therapy is a full clinical practice. Athletes referred from partner programs receive priority intake. Visit our main therapy services page to learn more about clinical care.
Investment depends on your program's size, season length, and which pieces you want — a single workshop looks very different from a full-season partnership. Rather than a one-size-fits-all price, we build a package that fits your program and your budget, and we're transparent about cost from the first conversation. The introductory consult is always free.
Our education work covers club athletes from roughly ages 10 to 18 and collegiate athletes. Our clinical practice serves all ages — from children through older adults.
A free 30-minute introductory conversation with no pitch deck — just a real exchange about your program and our model. We'll talk through what your program needs and tailor a package to fit. Reach out below.
Get in Touch

Let's Talk About Your Program.

Whether you're a club director, athletic director, coach, or family — we'd love to hear from you. No pitch deck. Just a free, real conversation about your program and what we might build together.

Waltham, Massachusetts · Greater Boston
In-person & Telehealth