Members Area

Consultant Profile

Michael Gerson

Organization:
National University

Job Title:
Professor

Address:
1015 Morton Street
Alameda, CA 94501
United States

Telephone:
803-528-5918

Email:
mgerson@nu.edu

Bio

Dr. Michael Elliott Gerson has worked with a diverse range of soldier-athlete-clinical populations in the field of performance, sport, military, health, and clinical psychology. Currently, Dr. Gerson is a Full-time Faculty / Assistant Professor at National University where he teaches sport psychology and contemplative courses in the JFK Sport Psychology Graduate School program.

In addition to working in academia, Dr. Gerson is the Director of Mental Skills at Mission 6 Zero, a tribe of performance experts that merge Special Operations Forces veterans with Behavioral Science Practitioners /Researchers. This elite-performance company takes proven U.S. Special Forces strategies and blends them with human performance sciences to teach mental and emotional skill-building tactics. Recently, he co-authored a best-selling book titled, Deliberate Discomfort: How U.S. Special Operations Forces Overcome Fear and Dare to Win by Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable.

From 2014-2017, Dr. Gerson served as the Mental Skills Director for the Seattle Mariners. In this position, he provided individual, small group, team, departmental, and organizational mental skills education, training, and application for performance excellence. The years between 2006 and 2014, Dr. Gerson worked for the United States Army where he designed and executed performance enhancement programs with some of the nation’s most elite warfighters. The primary focus of these programs was to train the mental skills necessary to elevate and sustain peak performance in rugged and high-risk environments. His primary responsibilities included providing mastery and group performance coaching along with comprehensive strength building strategies in the pursuit of personal and professional excellence. Dr. Gerson has trained thousands of soldiers from various professional specialties including: Special Forces Operators, Snipers, Military Police, Combative Instructors, Drill Sergeants, Wounded Warriors, and many more.

Dr. Gerson earned his doctoral and master’s degree in Clinical and Sport Psychology from Argosy University in Phoenix, Arizona and holds a master’s degree in Health and Exercise from Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California. He played a variety of sports and earned a scholarship to play college baseball at a NAIA Division school in Nebraska. He was named an All-American twice and has played baseball in eight foreign countries. Dr. Gerson has coached baseball at almost every level, from young children to the college and international ranks. Over the last 20 years, he has been engaged in training his own mind, heart, and spirit through daily meditation practices and in fact has created various mindfulness programs for JFKU, the Seattle Mariners, and Station Foundation—a nonprofit organization that works with former and current Special Operational Forces and their families.

Year Certified

2020

Recertification Year

2025

Certification and Licensure

CMPC: Certified Mental Performance Consultant

Performance Areas

Sport
Exercise
Tactical
Business
Arts

Specializations

Attention/concentration
Communication
Elite performance
Emotional control/regulation
Exercise/fitness/health and well-being
Fair play/good sporting behavior
Goal setting
Life skills
Mental health
Mindfulness
Motivation
Public speaking
Religion/spirituality
Team culture/cohesion
Work/school-life balance
Youth sport

Age Levels

12 & under
13 - 17
18 - 25
26 & older
Middle aged adults
Master's participants
Seniors

Session Preference

In-person or Online

Sport Specializations

Baseball
Basketball
Golf
Martial arts
Racquet sports
Running
Skateboarding
Soccer
Softball
Track and field

Languages Spoken

English
Spanish


Perform a new search