No Clients? No Problem: Creative Ways to Get Applied Experience as a CMPC-in-Training
If you’re a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) candidate, there’s a good chance you’ve had this thought at least once:
“How do I get my required hours if I don’t have enough clients?”
You’re not alone.
Many practitioners-in-training face a frustrating paradox: You need clients to get certified, but it’s hard to build a client base without already being certified. Whether you're a graduate student, a recent graduate, or a career switcher navigating the applied sport psychology world, it can feel like the doors just aren’t opening fast enough.
Here’s the good news: You can still make progress.
In fact, some of the best applied learning doesn’t happen in traditional one-on-one sessions. Below, we explore creative, ethical, and log-worthy ways to gain experience, sharpen your skills, and build confidence—even when clients are few and far between.
1. Volunteer with Local Sports Teams
One of the most accessible paths to applied experience is offering mental skills workshops or support to local sports teams—youth, high school, or college.
Why it works:
Coaches are often open to free support.
It provides group dynamics experience.
It exposes you to real-world performance environments.
How to start:
Reach out to athletic directors or coaches in your area.
Offer a free mental skills talk (30–60 mins) to introduce your services.
Ask to observe practices or games, then gradually integrate skills coaching.
You can log hours related to planning, delivery, observation, and follow-up reflections—especially if you’re under supervision.
2. Create and Deliver Workshops or Webinars
You don’t need a client to share your knowledge—you just need a topic and an audience.
Possible themes:
Building confidence in high school athletes
Managing nerves under pressure
Visualization techniques for peak performance
Who might attend?
Youth athletes
Coaches
Parents of performers
Dancers, musicians, or weekend warriors
Record these sessions, reflect on your delivery, and use them to gain hours.
3. Offer Support to Performing Arts Communities
Athletes aren’t the only performers under pressure. Actors, musicians, dancers, and even public speakers benefit from mental skills training.
Outreach ideas:
Contact local theaters, dance studios, or music schools.
Offer mindset talks before auditions or recitals.
Support competition prep for solo performers.
Not only does this diversify your experience, but it also reinforces the universality of mental performance principles.
4. Build a Personal Case Study
If you have a performance background—sports, music, dance—you can develop a case study based on your own application of mental skills.
While this doesn’t replace client work, it shows initiative and can:
Build your delivery fluency
Hone reflection skills
Form the basis for workshop examples
Document your own progress using tools like journaling, goal-setting, imagery scripts, or mindfulness protocols.
5. Partner with Academic Programs
Reach out to local colleges or high school psychology/sport science departments. Many professors are eager for guest speakers or workshop leaders to enrich their curriculum.
Pitch yourself as:
A guest lecturer on applied mental performance
A collaborator for a sport psych club or class
This strategy helps build your professional network.
6. Create Your Own Applied Project
Don’t wait for permission—create your own opportunities.
Project ideas:
Run a mental skills podcast or YouTube series
Write a blog offering actionable tips for performers
Design a 4-week confidence training guide for athletes
While not all content creation counts toward experience hours, projects that involve applied consultation, research translation, or educational delivery (with feedback and reflection) may qualify. Check with your mentor!
7. Observe and Reflect
Ask your mentor or other CMPCs if you can shadow workshops. Even if you’re not the one delivering, you’re building applied knowledge.
After each observation, reflect:
What was the goal of the session?
What mental skills were addressed?
How would you approach the same issue?
8. Use Mental Skills in Non-Sport Settings
If you work in counseling, teaching, coaching, or leadership roles, you may already be applying mental performance concepts.
Examples:
Teaching mindfulness to a student group
Helping a client develop goal-setting strategies
Leading a pre-performance routine for a work team
With appropriate supervision and documentation, these scenarios may count toward hours—especially if the content is rooted in the applied sport and performance psychology framework.
9. Document Everything
When client hours are limited, your ability to track, reflect, and grow becomes even more important.
Tips for effective documentation:
Keep detailed notes on sessions, observations, and projects.
Write weekly reflections on your applied growth.
Identify areas for feedback and seek out mentorship discussions.
Many mentors value quality over quantity. Your depth of engagement and intentionality can shine just as brightly as your client count.
Final Thoughts: Your Value Is Not Measured by Your Client List
It’s easy to feel behind when others in your cohort seem to be working with dozens of athletes, or when you scroll social media and see CMPCs posting highlight reels from team talks and consulting gigs.
But everyone’s path is different.
Getting certified is not just about checking off hours—it’s about becoming a competent, ethical, and flexible practitioner. Creative problem-solving, initiative, and a growth mindset are the very qualities that make you effective in the field. This season of limited clients can actually be a training ground for exactly those traits.
So if you’re staring at an empty calendar and wondering how you’ll ever meet the hour requirement, remember this:
You don’t need clients to get better.
You need commitment to the process.
Keep showing up. Keep learning. Keep creating.
The hours will come—and when they do, you’ll be more than ready.
