Who ?
emma Ylitalo-james
Bsc (Hons) Psychology, Msc War and Psychiatry, PcET, MBPsS
In a nutshell. Emma is in professional academia. She is a psychologist and research PhD specialist in decision making in high pressure and time critical environments, perception and distortion in threat environments.
Outside of academia, she worked with individual clients in therapeutics and high level professional athletes. These sports include MMA, boxing and explosive sports and she worked on psychological performance enhancement with them. She also is a commercial lecturer in behaviour and communication, having worked with greats like Volvo and British Airways.
Elite Sport Credentials: 32 years competing internationally. 13 times world champion. Multiple world record holder. One of the top 5 all time biggest female bench pressers……. in the world….. in history. And still going…….
Emma has been a contributor and expert guest on a number of TV and media platforms. This includes, Trisha, CNN, BBC, Channel 5, MTV and also been a speak at numerous conferences over the years.
A Different Approach
Working with Nepal Sports Council for Vision 2020 and lectured at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Actual experience as a world level international athlete combined with the theoretical understanding in psychology creates a practical approach to competing challenges. She has worked in over 18 countries with clients, research and lecturing and has competed in over 23.
As a published psychologist, she has a dual interest in behaviour, neuropsychcology, perception and performance. She specialised in War and Psychiatry Msc at Kings College University London and the decision making in high pressure combat environments. Emma combined this knowledge on a practical level with clients as well as pursuing her research career in academia. and how this effects decision making and the associated distortions. From years of experience with clients, she has a unique, pragmatic approach
Been there.........
Competing internationally at an elite level gives real time understanding of what clients are experiencing.
- Esports competitors undergo the same psychological stressors and issues that physical competitive athletes do.
- Time critical environments will alter decision making which are dependent on optimum psychological state
- State and perception will directly effect physical output
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Group dynamic cohesion will also effect group decision making
and individual performance
As a competitor, understanding why you prefer specific routes, repeat errors and have particular way of perceiving situations which may not be optimal are all 50% of the way to changing and improving your performance.