Child & Adolescence Counseling
we offer specialized mental health services for children and adolescents facing challenges such as sport performance, anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, and trauma. Our therapists use developmentally appropriate techniques like Art & Play therapy, DBT, TF-CBT, and EMDR to help young clients express emotions, build coping skills, and thrive.
Trauma & EMDR Therapy
We offer expert trauma counseling using advanced approaches like EMDR, TF-CBT, and Seeking Safety to help clients heal from past experiences. Whether you’re dealing with PTSD, childhood trauma, or complex emotional wounds, our licensed therapists provide compassionate, trauma-informed care to children, teens, and adults.
Sport Performance
We specialize in sport performance counseling for athletes of all levels, from youth to collegiate, and professional. Our licensed therapists help athletes overcome performance anxiety, mental blocks/Yips, sport injuries, and pressure to perform, using evidence-based strategies to enhance focus, confidence, and resilience.
Adult Counseling
Our adult counseling services at TheraSports Counseling are designed to support clients through life’s transitions, emotional challenges, and mental health concerns. Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, or past trauma, our licensed therapists create a personalized and supportive environment for healing and growth.
Alma Gardarsdottir, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
EMDR Certified Clinician
Alma Gardarsdottir, LCSW, is the founder of TheraSports Counseling, where she and her team of former athletes specialize in sport counseling, mental performance, and trauma recovery. Alma holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work with a concentration in children and families from Kennesaw State University.
A former Division I collegiate soccer player, Alma brings firsthand understanding of the challenges athletes face, both on and off the field. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Georgia with extensive training and experience working with athletes, children, and families impacted by abuse, trauma, and life transitions.
At TheraSports, Alma and her team support youth, collegiate, and professional athletes navigating mental blocks, sport injuries, anxiety, depression, grief, and performance pressure. Together, they help clients build resilience, confidence, and emotional balance so they can thrive in sport and life
Expertise
Athlete Performance | Athlete Mental Health | Sport Injuries | Mental Blocks Abuse | Trauma | PTSD | Grief & Loss | Anxiety | Depression | Self-Esteem | Life Transitions and More.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does performance counseling for athletes involve?
Performance counseling for athletes uses evidence-based strategies to address the mental and emotional factors that can impact performance. Sessions may focus on performance anxiety, confidence, mental blocks and the yips, injury recovery, and pressure to perform. Approaches such as EMDR can help target underlying beliefs, emotions, and past experiences that may be contributing to performance difficulties, while also building focus, confidence, and resilience in and outside of sport.
Will athletes learn tools to manage stress and pressure?
Yes. Athletes will learn evidence-based mental performance techniques and coping skills to help manage stress, pressure, anxiety, and distractions during practices and competition. Athletes will also develop a detailed, individualized mental performance routine for practices and game days, including strategies they can use before, during, and after performance.
Who provides sport performance counseling at TheraSports?
TheraSports Counseling was founded by Alma Gardarsdottir, LCSW, a licensed clinical social worker and EMDR certified clinician who played Division I collegiate soccer. She works with a team of former athletes and licensed therapists holding LCSW, LPC, LAPC, and NCC credentials, trained in EMDR, CBT, solution focused therapy, mindfulness based therapy, and sport performance counseling.
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR, short for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro. It is based on the principle that traumatic experiences disrupt the brain’s natural processing abilities and leave emotional distress unresolved. EMDR helps you reprocess traumatic memories and ease the symptoms that come with them, addressing both the emotional and cognitive sides of trauma so healing and resilience can follow.
What can EMDR therapy help with?
EMDR is used for PTSD, childhood trauma, and complex emotional wounds. It also helps with anxiety disorders, panic attacks and phobias, depression, grief and complex grief, self-harm, OCD, traumatic brain injury, and sports performance. Reported benefits include fewer intrusive thoughts, flashbacks and nightmares, better sleep, steadier emotions and relationships, and a more positive view of yourself.
Can EMDR improve sport performance?
Yes, and it is a core part of our mental performance training for athletes. EMDR is traditionally regarded as a trauma treatment, but research has shown it is also highly effective at enhancing performance, motivation, and self-esteem, and at reducing sport anxiety. Athletes use it to overcome mental blocks, hold focus and concentration under pressure, and rebuild confidence and self-efficacy after past failures or injuries.