Meet Dr. Shane Saenz
I work with athletes, professionals, parents, and teams navigating pressure, performance challenges, leadership demands, burnout, injury, and identity-related stress.
My goal is not simply to help people achieve more.
It is to help people perform in healthier, more sustainable ways while feeling more grounded, confident, emotionally connected, and aligned with themselves.
About Dr. Saenz
Dr. Shane Saenz is a licensed psychologist and the Director of Sport Psychology and Scholar-Athlete Mental Health Programs at UC San Diego.
His work focuses on supporting athletes, high performers, leaders, and teams navigating the emotional and psychological demands that often come with high-stakes environments.
Dr. Saenz combines clinical psychology, sport psychology, and performance-focused skills to help people strengthen confidence, emotional resilience, communication, leadership, and sustainable performance.
He is especially interested in the deeper emotional patterns that can emerge under pressure, including perfectionism, self-criticism, burnout, fear of failure, identity-related struggles, and emotional disconnection.
His work is informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help people better understand themselves while creating meaningful and lasting change.
Performance is Personal.
Performance challenges are rarely only about performance.
Under pressure, people often encounter different parts of themselves: parts shaped by perfectionism, fear, discouragement, survival, or desperation.
Over time, these internal patterns can pull high performers into cycles of pressure, over-functioning, self-criticism, or emotional exhaustion while they continue to appear successful externally.
My work is not about silencing those parts. The goal is to better understand them so people can respond with greater self-compassion, clarity, emotional flexibility, and self-trust, creating space for healthier confidence, stronger relationships, resilience, and more sustainable performance.
Media, Speaking, and Professional Education
I provide speaking engagements, workshops, and educational presentations focused on topics including:
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performance under pressure
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athlete mental health
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confidence and resilience
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burnout and recovery
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emotionally intelligent leadership
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communication and team culture
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) in sport psychology
Speaking and workshop opportunities are available for:
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athletic programs
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teams and organizations
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schools and universities
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leadership groups
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healthcare and mental health professionals
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