Recent grad minding her own business
Recent Lakeland University graduate Chanel Bradford ’22 has channeled her passion for helping people into a new business.
Bradford recently launched Bradford’s Mental Performance Consulting LLC which aims to help a wide range of individuals excel in their given field through psychological skill development.
This spring, she completed a master of science degree in sport, exercise, and performance psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to go with her bachelor’s in psychology from Lakeland.
Bradford believes in the synergy between mental and physical strength and advocates for the development of robust mental skills alongside physical prowess. Mental skills can help build resilience, confidence and focus, ensuring they perform at their best when it matters most, both on the field and in life. Bradford helps athletes, artistic performers, students, first responders and many others work on their mental strength.
The business stemmed from her pursuit of Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) certification. She needs 200 hours of direct client contact prior to taking the CMPC exam and 100 hours have to with an athlete population. Serving clients through her business is helping her log the needed hours.
“Thankfully, I have a lot of connections between playing basketball at Lakeland and some former teammates starting their coaching careers,” said Bradford, who hopes to secure the CMPC credential by the spring of 2026.
One of her first clients has been the Lakeland men’s wrestling program, which has brought her back to her alma mater for several sessions.
“I appreciate them taking a chance with me,” Bradford said. “Mental performance is so important for athletes. You can have the best athlete but they may struggle to be great if they’re not mentally in the game.”
Bradford enjoys teaching concepts like self-talk. She said athletes often talk to themselves out loud or in their heads before, during and after games, and the use of positive vs. negative self-talk can play a big role in performance.
“For example, negative self-talk is when I miss a shot and saying ‘I suck. I’m not good at this,’” Bradford said. “We work on changing that to ‘I don’t suck, I just missed this one and I can get the next one.’
“A lot of what I do for people is teach awareness. If you’re not aware of what’s causing your bad performance because of the mental side, it’s hard to fix it.”
She’s also been a resource in classes for longtime LU faculty member April Arvan. Bradford is having regular meetings with students as part of an assignment to help them learn a mental skill to aid their sport or other performance.
Sports has always been a centerpiece for Bradford and her twin sister, fellow 2022 Lakeland grad Chassity, along with their family. The twins grew up in Metro-Detroit and were recruited to play basketball for the Muskies. Chanel was initially an exercise science major with a psychology minor but switched her major to psychology after taking a sport psychology class.
She further developed her skills by serving strength and conditioning internships at Lakeland and for Prevea Health and another internship for a workout facility in Sheboygan. At UWGB, she served her practicum hours working as a mental performance consultant at St. Norbert College.
Once she completes her CMPC certification, her dream role is working in a school athletic department in a sport psychology position.
“This profession is still growing,” Bradford said. “I love what I do. I love seeing when athletes understand what I am saying, or they get excited to use a skill and come tell me about discussions with their teams and they’re really into it. I’m proud of myself and how far I have come.”
