I am a FIJLKAM Judo Coach, already with experience with high level youth athletes. I am grateful to Dr. Alessia Bruno because my fourteen-year-old daughter, who I am forced to train personally, is following a path of psychological support that has allowed her to grow as an athlete and as a human being and for which we are very proud and grateful.
At the beginning of her competitive athletic journey with the Italian Federation, Sofia had a disappointing experience. Despite being in a very good national ranking position, she did not manage to qualify for the finals of the Italian Championship and this impacted on her emotional well-being.
After weeks of silence where Sofia was isolating herself, my wife and I decided to contact Dr. Alessia Bruno.
Thanks to Dr. Alessia Bruno, Sofia regained her confidence and learnt to value not only the outcomes, but the process of the experience. This new mindset resulted in Sofia getting 2 medals at the Italian Championships and the black belt (Sofia is the third youngest black belt in Italy) and two placings in the European Cup.
Unfortunately, the possibility of participating in the European and World Championships was lost by a little, but Sofia is very young and the support of Dr. Alessia Bruno was essential to give both the athlete and myself (being a parent and a coach) the motivation and the confidence necessary to stay focused with the aim of training a skilled athlete who can have a long and resilient athletic career.
My name is Mariachiara, I am 17 years old and I practice fencing at a competitive level. This has been my passion since I was 9 years old. Fencing has always been “my safe place” and occupies a large part of my heart. Unfortunately, however, in the last 2 years the pressure has started to be felt. The desire to demonstrate how much I was worth to others made me lose sight of my goals in sport and also in life. Anger and anxiety started to be part of my daily life. I have started a journey that gives me confidence, concentration and determination. Thanks to Alessia I found my peace of mind on the platform and in everyday life. Lightness and joy are the only emotions that accompany me in the competion and that have led me to achieve important results. THANKS Alessia!
Thanks to Dr. Alessia Bruno and to our sessions, I have understood that what hurt me and made me vulnerable were past experiences, memories and developmental traumas that were not healed such as the relationship with my parents, people who made me doubt myself and many other things. These issues dwell within us and at some point we have to find the courage to express orselves and speak up. This is the most important thing; Courage!
Thanks to Brainspotting I was able to make peace with myself, with those sides of me that still made me suffer, that undermined my confidence, that prevented me from performing in the moments when I really had to show all my value (auditions). In the past, auditions had been very distressing to the extent that I thought of giving up my career as a musician!!!. Then, I looked within myself, I embraced my weaknesses and they became strengths.
Since I've been doing Brainspotting, the results are amazing, evidenced by placements at auditions and by the feedback of my friends and colleagues, who see my improvement which is constantly evolving. Improvements have occured in life as well. Everything is connected and I can say that I have never felt so good as I do right now. I have made peace with myself, I feel safer, more open, stronger, more empathetic, fearless and determined to achieve my goals. I do everything with courage, whether it's work or relationships! I finally feel free. I have rediscovered the joy of doing the things I have always loved to do, of connecting to others and of sharing with other people my enthusiasm!
I have never had the high self-esteem, I have now. I feel I am a Warrior, indomitable, who wants to make his dreams come true, with Joy and Enthusiasm!
My name is Giorgia and I am 12 years old. I have been working with Alessia for almost 1 year now. Before I met her I was suffering with confidence issues in my sport karate and not able to perform to the best of my ability. I was losing fights purely because I wasn’t confident in myself even though I was capable of doing well. We used Brainspotting techniques and even after 2 weeks of working with Alessia, my fellow students, parents and coach noticed a difference in my confidence levels. We focus on the performance rather than the result and everything we do has helped in my normal life as well as my sporting career. We started out just to get me through the world championships but Alessia has helped so much that we continue to do ‘maintenance sessions’ now. I am a happier, more confident fighter and have fallen back in love with training and competing.
When I met Alessia, I suffered from performance anxiety during auditions. I felt anxiety in my belly and my right arm was unable to correctly hold the bow. I could not control fine motor skills, I lost control while playing the Violin. I knew the problem was in my subconscious. Brainspotting allowed me to access the deep areas of the brain and gradually the feeling of anxiety started to diminish as if I digested it. Then empowerment and I started to emulate the Violinist I admired. I was only focusing on music. Now the violin is what helps me to express what I have to do. The violin is no longer a threat. Now I have the tools and the skills to do what I want.
The most important thing I have learnt in this journey with Alessia is that I must not be afraid of disappointing people around me; they will love me anyway. I also have learnt to manage my anxiety by focussing on the positives. I have learnt not to think about people's judgment. When I have a competition I am in the zone and I think only about myself.
We all carry weights from the past that do not allow us to fly as high as we would like to. With Dr. Bruno we carried out a precise and targeted work. In a short span of time I was able to find strength and energy I did not even know I had inside of me. Changes were immediate and I achieved goals both in sport, windfoil, as well as in my personal life. I never thought these goals would be possible. Now I know that when the "road gets tougher" I have a powerful ally cheering and supporting me; my inner child who still lives inside of me.
I am twelve years old, and my passion is show jumping. I have grown up around horses and ridden since I could walk. It is my life. It is who I am. Last year, I suffered a severe knock of confidence, which was debilitating. It was so bad that it took my ability to even jump a cross pole. This made me very unhappy; I would even say depressed. It took something very special away from me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t overcome my fears and get past this point. I continued to train and work with my coach, but I just could not regain the levels of self confidence and belief required for competition at the level I wished to compete. Eventually, my coach suggested trying a sports psychologist. We were sceptical about this at first, it seemed a long shot, but anything was worth a try, as I felt I had nothing left to lose. And if there was a chance of it giving me back what I had lost, it was worth a try. I hadn’t just lost my confidence; I had lost a huge part of myself.
We were put in touch with Alessia, and my sessions began. I had a course of 6 half an hour session, and in the beginning, I was doubtful as I was in such a bad place, I didn’t think anything would help. I saw no way of getting back to the level I was at previously. Alessia was so bright and happy, and put me at ease. Even though I was unsure how it could help, I continued and looked forward to speaking with her on a weekly basis, and by session number 5, I began to think differently, and after my last session, I almost had a moment where I took back what was always mine. I had just mislaid it for a while. Alessia has helped me more than she will ever know and given me back my most precious and most valued thing, show jumping. I am now back out competing, and I think I came back better and stronger, and more able to deal with and process things. Not only with my sport, but in life in general.
I am so grateful and so happy that I did the sessions, as without them, I don’t think I would have overcome my issues and moved forward to where I am today. If you are thinking of trying sports psychology, and you have reached a point where there is no hope, please give it a try, because there is, and it worked for me.
Thank you Alessia.
