Amanda Visek, Public Relations and Outreach

Amanda J. Visek, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University Medical Center. As the daughter of a career Army soldier and former figure skater, she discovered sport and exercise psychology during her undergraduate years at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she concurrently earned two bachelor degrees – one in Exercise & Sport Science and the other in Psychology. She attended West Virginia University where she also earned a M.S. in Sport Psychology, a M.A. in Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Sport & Exercise Psychology. She is a Certified Consultant of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (CC-AASP), a National Certified Counselor (NCC), and is also listed on the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology and Mental Training Registry

As an academician, Amanda teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in sport and exercise psychology, the psychology of injury and performance, counseling theory and techniques, physical activity, health, and behavior change, and chairs master’s theses research. As a researcher, she collaborates both domestically and internationally with colleagues to publish empirical research, and also publishes professional practice articles aimed at strengthening our field’s applied practice within various sport and exercise psychology scholarly peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests include aggression in sport, psychological skills training, athletic identity, applied professional practice issues, ethics, youth sport, cross-cultural psychometric assessment, and the development of exercise adherence theory and cognitive-behavioral interventions designed to facilitate exercise adoption and maintenance.

As a practitioner, she founded and directs The Mental Training Center for Optimal Performance, Inc. in which she provides sport and exercise psychology services in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Additionally, she provides consultation and mentoring to graduate students and professionals working towards their Certified Consultant status within AASP.

Amanda is an active member of AASP and the American Psychological Association (APA). In addition to participating in special interests groups within AASP and serving as a member of the convention programming committee for Division 47 of APA, she has conducted workshops, given invited presentations, and presented numerous papers regionally, nationally, and internationally.