Barbara Walker - Division Head, Professional Standards

                                       
Barbara has a private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio as a Performance Psychologist, where she consults with a wide variety of individuals and groups/teams of high level athletes and business professionals in the area of peak performance.   She has a spouse, Trey, of 15 years, and is also the mother of three children.  Her family resides on a horse farm, just outside of Cincinnati.  Barbara demonstrates a passion for peak performance principles applying them in her personal life as a competitive athlete in the sports of duathlon and triathlon, where she is currently internationally ranked. 

Barbara earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from The Union Institute with an emphasis in exercise and sport psychology in 1999.  Her BA (1990) in psychology and MA (1994) in health psychology were earned at the University of Cincinnati.   Barbara was in the field of health psychology until 1995, while presenting a paper at the International Olympic Committee’s Sport Science conference, she was introduced to the area of sport psychology.  Having been involved and keenly interested in athletics her entire life, she quickly realized that sport psychology was her new field of study.  While doing her doctoral work in the area of clinical psychology, Barbara was given the opportunity to do her pre-doctoral internship in Canberra, Australia, at the ACT Academy of Sport, where she worked with elite athletes under the supervision of Gayelene Clews.  While there, she also had the opportunity to be coached by an elite triathlon coach, and went on to race in the triathlon, Ironman Australia.

Barbara is a regular presenter at national and local professional conferences and workshops, as well as a regular contributor to popular magazines. She has appeared as a guest expert on multiple radio and television programs.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon and is a member of both the American Psychological Association, and AASP, where she currently serves on the Executive Board as the Professional Standards Division head, and recently served on both the ethics and performance enhancement committees.  She is also a member of the sport psychology registry with the United States Olympic Committee.