You know there is more in you — and Dr. Shelby Rodden-Matthews helps you turn potential into repeatable performance

When you know you are capable of more but pressure, self-doubt, inconsistency, or time away from your sport or role keeps interfering, it is exhausting to feel like your potential is always just out of reach. You do not need vague encouragement. You need someone who can help you understand what is happening, train the mental side of performance with intention, and turn progress into something you can actually feel in competition, training, work, and everyday life.

Dr. Shelby Rodden-Matthews, PhD, CMPC® brings that kind of support to mental performance consulting in Kitchener. With advanced training in sport psychology and years of applied work with athletes, performers, emergency service personnel, and other high achievers, she helps you build the confidence, structure, and self-trust that make strong performance more repeatable. Whether you are trying to overcome confidence issues, return from injury with more certainty, or finally execute the goals you keep setting for yourself, Shelby offers a calm, collaborative space where mental skills become practical tools, not just ideas you hope will work when the pressure is on.

Dr. Shelby Rodden-Matthews, PhD, CMPC® offers broad mental performance support, but her real difference is how practical and personal the work feels from day one

Dr. Shelby Rodden-Matthews, PhD, CMPC® provides comprehensive mental performance support across the full range of challenges that affect how you prepare, compete, recover, lead, and function day to day. You might be dealing with nerves before an event, burnout, transitions, disrupted focus, inconsistent execution, loss of confidence, or the mental strain of trying to perform while life is still happening around you. Shelby works with all of it.

What makes her stand out is the way she blends depth and practicality. Her academic background is substantial, but the work never feels abstract. She is skilled at translating performance psychology into routines, cues, decision-making strategies, and recovery practices you can use immediately. That means you are not left with a collection of insights; you leave with a clearer way forward. Shelby’s work spans sport, work, life, and high-pressure environments, so you get support that respects both your performance goals and your overall wellbeing.

You will not get generic motivation here — you will get a clear, evidence-based plan that fits how you compete, recover, work, and live

Shelby does not begin with a canned program or a one-size-fits-all worksheet. She starts by understanding how performance looks in your world: what is currently getting in the way, where pressure shows up, what you have already tried, and what success would actually look like for you. From there, she helps you build a plan that is structured enough to create momentum and flexible enough to fit real life.

Because mental performance consulting should support the whole person, Shelby’s approach can include attention control, self-talk strategies, confidence rebuilding, pre-performance routines, imagery, goal-setting, recovery planning, and practical reflection after setbacks or breakthrough moments. You can expect a collaborative, down-to-earth style that keeps the process both evidence-based and usable. And because performance rarely exists in a vacuum, Shelby works within the coordinated team model at CARESPACE Westmount in Kitchener, collaborating with other disciplines when physical rehabilitation, kinesiology, nutrition, or broader wellness support can help you move forward more completely.

Years of doctoral training, teaching, research, and hands-on performance work mean Shelby sees both the science and the real-life pressure behind your goals

Shelby’s credentials give you more than reassurance on paper — they shape the quality of the support you receive. She holds a BA specializing in Sport Psychology from Laurentian University, a Master of Kinesiology, and a PhD in Kinesiology & Physical Education from Wilfrid Laurier University, where her research examined mental skills and growth in armed forces and military family contexts. That background means she understands performance not only in sport, but also in demanding environments where identity, resilience, and pressure are closely intertwined.

As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC®), founder of A Cognitive Edge Performance Consulting, and former instructor for Applied Psychology of Performance at Wilfrid Laurier University, Shelby brings experience from scholarship, teaching, and applied practice. She has worked with individual athletes, teams, and high performers across multiple settings, and has contributed published research and conference presentations in the field. For you, that translates into support that is thoughtful, current, and grounded in methods she knows how to apply, not just explain.

When confidence drops, plans stay stuck on paper, or injury disrupts your rhythm, this is where Shelby’s added depth can change everything

In addition to providing broad mental performance support, Shelby brings particular depth in overcoming confidence issues, forward success planning and execution, and imagery for performance optimization and rehabilitation. Those specialties matter because performance challenges rarely begin and end with simple motivation. Often, what looks like hesitation, inconsistency, or frustration is tied to a deeper break in trust — trust in your preparation, your decision-making, your body, or your ability to deliver when it counts.

When confidence has taken a hit, Shelby helps you do more than “think positive.” She works with you to identify where confidence is breaking down — before performance, during pressure moments, after mistakes, or in the gap between practice and execution — and then builds repeatable strategies to repair it. That may include stronger routines, more useful self-talk, clearer attentional cues, better reset strategies, and a more stable internal definition of success so your confidence is not held hostage by one result, one performance, or one bad day.

Her work in forward success planning and execution is especially valuable when you are ambitious but stuck. Shelby helps you look ahead strategically, define what success actually requires, and break it into actions you can follow consistently. Instead of setting goals that live in the background, you create a plan for how you will prepare, respond under pressure, review your progress, and keep moving when things are imperfect. That kind of planning brings structure to uncertainty and makes execution more dependable.

Shelby also uses imagery in a purposeful, evidence-informed way to support both performance optimization and rehabilitation. Mental rehearsal can help you prepare for key moments, reinforce confidence, improve readiness, and stay connected to your skills when you are not yet able to train or compete at full capacity. During rehabilitation, imagery can be especially powerful because it gives you a way to keep practicing mentally while rebuilding physically. The result is not just feeling more prepared — it is often returning with more clarity, more confidence, and a stronger sense of control over what comes next.

The version of you that performs with more confidence, clarity, and consistency does not need to stay on hold

Book with Shelby today and start building the mental skills, recovery strategies, and forward plan that help you move from hoping for better performance to creating it on purpose.