Kayla Hussey
Audience focus: youth athletes and collegiate student-athletes
Education
- Doctoral student, Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, West Virginia University
- Master's student, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, West Virginia University
- M.S., Sport and Exercise Psychology, Ball State University, 2021
- B.S., Psychology and History, University of Pikeville, 2016
Experience
- Consulting with elite youth, collegiate, and semi-professional athletes
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, West Virginia University (Sport and Exercise Psychology courses)
- Master's level trainee, WVU Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services
- Former student-athlete (women's basketball), University of Pikeville
Interests
- Positive youth development in sport
- Mental health in sport
- Exploring new coffee shops, hiking
Goals
- Become a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)
- Work in an athletics organization providing mental performance services
- Build curriculum for community youth sport programs
Biography
Kayla is a doctoral student at West Virginia University in the Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology program and master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Her prior educational background includes bachelor's degrees in Psychology and History from University of Pikeville in 2016 where she was a student-athlete for four years on the women's basketball team, and a master's degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Ball State University in 2021. Kayla has diverse consulting experience consisting of working with elite youth athletes, collegiate athletes and teams, and semi-professional athletes across multiple sports on key performance areas such as self-talk, confidence, goals, communication, and cohesion. Kayla's research interests broadly encompass positive youth development in sport settings and mental health related topics in sport. Kayla was previously a graduate teaching assistant for WVU's undergraduate sport and exercise psychology courses and currently holds a position as a master's level trainee at WVU's Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services. Kayla is working towards certification with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology to become a certified mental performance consultant and hopes to have a future role in an athletics organization to provide athletes with mental performance services and build curriculum for community youth sport programming. In her free time, Kayla enjoys exploring new coffee shops, hiking, and being a new mom.