155 Five Types of Mental Skills Programs that Transform Teams | Aaron Walsh & Andrew May

Thinking about becoming a mental skills coach or wondering what it’s like to work with one? This episode is your backstage pass.

Elite Mental Skills Coaches Aaron Walsh and Andrew May aren’t just talking theory. They’re unpacking the exact frameworks they use with world-class teams and athletes - showing how to flip pressure into performance gold.

No fluff. No clichés. Just raw insights and practical tools you can use straight away.

In this episode, Andrew and Aaron discuss:

2:00 Aaron’s relationship with Owen Eastwood, New Zealand’s mental skills roots, and avoiding feast-or-famine training.
7:00 What performing under pressure really means and Aaron’s framework.
11:10 Individualising mental skills: quick technique tweaks vs. long-term mindset change.
15:50 The five mental skills program types and how each helps.
27:10 “Blank canvas” programs: hierarchy of needs and why mental skills aren’t always first.
33:20 When coaches resist mental skills, and why it’s not just for struggling teams.
38:05 Light-touch programs: pacing, burnout avoidance, and slow-build progress.
43:00 Skill-based programs and how they evolve into embedded systems.
54:25 Working with coaches: expectations, alignment, and resistance.
56:35 The difficulty of head coaching — and alignment vs. psychological safety.
1:01:50 Embedded programs: shifting from reactive to strategic and involving all coaches.
1:13:15 Final insights: program capacity, embedded learnings, and why teams fail without mental skills.

Take a look at the mental skills program model: https://performanceintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/5-Types-of-Mental-Skills-Programs-7_Page_1.png
See Andrew's model of a mental skills coach here: https://performanceintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Embedding-Mental-Skills.pdf
You can find Aaron at his LinkedIn: https://rb.gy/xoz5e