Team Denmark’s sport psychology professional philosophy 2.0

Abstract

In 2008, Team Denmark established a sport psychology team with the aim to enhance the quality and consistency of applied sport psychology services in Danish sport. The team began their work by creating a professional philosophy (Henriksen, Hansen, & Diment, 2011). Since this publication, the team has worked closely with Danish athletes, coaches and sport federations in consultations, training and competitions, including at numerous World and Europeans Championships as well as several Olympic Games. Lessons learnt on the job, the introduction to new theoretical perspectives, insights from supervision, and formal professional education have resulted in the continual development of the team’s professional philosophy. The purpose of this article is to present a revised version of Team Denmark’s professional philosophy; including: (1) the vision for the team; (2) basic beliefs and values; (3) the psychological theories that interventions are based upon; (4) Team Denmark’s Sports Psychological model which describes the content and focus of the team’s work; and (5) the concrete psychological services that delivered. High quality service requires coherence across all five levels of the philosophy.