Dr. Shannon Baird, Mental Strength Coach for 1st Special Forces Group (1SFG) and PR & Outreach Division Head for the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP)
Q&A: What is your professional background? I started out thinking I was going to be a researcher. I earned my Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in sport psychology. Before that, I completed my M.Ed. in developmental kinesiology and B.S. in kinesiology from Bowling Green State University, where I also competed as a DI athlete.I have always been interested in understanding how our identities are shaped by cultures, subcultures and shared lived experiences. I began my career as a lecturer and applied practitioner, working with various sports teams, athletes and performers. I fell in love with this application portion of being a sport psychology consultant. I did a presentation at a conference about aggression and identity and was approached by a recruiter for a job to teach mental skills to soldiers. I immediately responded, “Absolutely!” My mom is retired Air Force, and I grew up overseas on a military installation, so I felt a personal connection to the job. In 2011, I took a job working with the Army. In 2018, I made the jump to special operations, where I am today. What do you do as a CMPC mental strength coach? Often, there is a misunderstanding of the continuum of mental health in thinking that mental health is just about the absence of illness or behavioral health issues. Mental health is a spectrum. I work with the population of active duty service members and reservists to enhance their well-being and performance outcomes. My work focuses specifically on the enhancement side of that spectrum. I seek to help people thrive in life, not just survive. What do you do specifically to help this population thrive in life? It depends on the individual and whether I’m doing individual or group sessions. So, I start by asking questions like: What is the actual performance that you’re trying to enhance? What is it that you’re looking to get better at?
28
WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / December 2023
For example, if an individual is looking to be more motivated at work, then we’ll talk about what has led to the erosion of some of that motivation. Then, from my knowledge of sport psychology, I look for ways to help this individual enhance motivation. We might work on goal setting or identifying someone’s “big enough why.” The big enough why is an individual’s reason for doing what they are doing. If the individual doesn’t have a clear idea or perspective of the answer to the question, “Why am I doing this,” it can be difficult to stay motivated through the grind. In this case, I may begin with simple techniques to excavate the values, identities, or beliefs that make the grind “worth it.” We will probably do some psychoeducation on what this individual wants to achieve and why and then contrast that with barriers that may stand in their way. From there, we will explore specific tools they can use daily to help them set the conditions for their own success. What topics do you generally cover? The topics we typically cover are vast. Regardless of the topic, I think it all boils down to enhancing selfawareness and self-regulation. We’re trying to influence those two things with all service members–get to know yourself and your internal environment. Then, realize that your thoughts are not who you are. You don’t have to follow every thought you have, and we can make strides to enhance performance and well-being by priming your internal environment to work for you rather than against you. No one tells you how to operate the brain–there’s no operator’s manual. I educate individuals on how their brain functions, its limitations, and how to navigate those limitations to excel in performance or life in general. How can a service member get in touch with a CMPC mental strength coach like yourself? For the population I work with, it’s very easy because I’m located in the gym. They’re able to just pop upstairs and chat with me. For most Special Operations, CMPCs are embedded assets that are easy to access. With the regular Army, there are some specific avenues that service members can look into, which are primarily through the Army Resilience Directorate (ARD). ARD has different performance training centers scattered throughout the U.S. and some military installations abroad. An individual can look online or on Facebook to find a local ARD and be able to find local resources. Getting in touch with them can be as simple as emailing a local Performance Expert who works at a training center. The Army is also pushing a new Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) initiative. Through H2F, each brigade will be