Mike Mata, M.A., CMPC
About Me
As a child I was fortunate to be involved in a lot of the classic team sports: football, baseball, hockey, soccer, swimming, etc. Then, in my early teens I shifted my focus toward motorsports, eventually getting involved in the competitive world of motocross. As this gained momentum among my family and friends, we started traveling and racing all around the New England area. As the story goes, I ended up facing a couple of back-to-back, serious injuries. At a young age, I was faced with a choice on how I wanted to use this experience and spend my energy moving forward. Since my family has always been involved in service and giving back to the community, I chose to make efforts to give back and bring people together. Because it comes naturally to me and always has, I choose to live by kindness. And importantly, since my injuries were so severe and I know how lucky I am to be healthy, I choose to live each day with the understanding that it is a privilege and a gift. I remember making these choices during my healing, and I’m proud to say that they’ve guided me ever since. They are a big part of my perspective and the foundation that has led me into the field of sport and performance psychology. At this time, I’m going on ~5 years of experience in this field and have had the privilege of working in various contexts. While I remain open to any client profile, some of my specializations include mindfulness-based practice, breathwork, injury rehabilitation optimization, and mental performance in action sports.
For hobbies, I like to swim, ride my snowboard, make videos, plan trips, ride bikes, and play the drums. In addition to being a mental performance coach, I serve/bartend, I do work with the incredible non-profit https://www.dawgpatchbandits.com/, and am in the process of contributing to my band’s first original album alongside 4 bandmates in Denver.
If any of this relates to you or builds interest, I welcome you to reach out. We offer a no-cost intro session, and I’m always open to having a conversation about how mental skill training can fit into your life.
Education
M.A. Sport & Performance Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO
B.A. Psychology, Hunter College, NYC