The thoughts you rep are the results you get!
Why are you here?
… you are gymrat looking for a therapist that gets you.
… who understands what “fighting your demons” means.
… a therapist who understands what “getting the gains” means.
… and why “being swole” matters.
… one who won’t judge you for weighing your food (or yourself, or your progressive overload).
… and who gets the whole process of transformation that is happening in the gym, and why you are low-key addicted to it.
I GOT YOU!
I’m Sierra, your friendly Gymrat Therapist.
I’m a mom of five kids, a licensed therapist, a mental perfomance coach, and professional competitive bodybuilder.
I LIVE GYM.
We are not different.
We are also not the same.
If any of these sound like you, it’s time to take a look at whether therapy or coaching is right for you.
You are here because something is slowing down your progress. You need support to maximize the gains, or the weight loss, or the body recomposition, or the prep for competition, and you know it’s in your head. Or maybe in your heart. That’s where I come in.
I’m a few steps ahead of you on this shared journey of fitness. Having birthed five children, I know what it feels like to start from Ground Zero and claw your way back to fitness. I’ve dealt with injury, surgery, depression, anxiety, and negative self-talk, all of which interfered with my progress and taught me valuable lessons about myself and the whole-person process that is the gymrat lifestyle.
I’m here because when I started my bodybuilding journey, the therapist I was working with unintentionally made me feel terrible about my goals and the process needed to achieve them.
Instead of seeking to understand the values that drove my desire for excellence, or the needs I was fulfilling through reclaiming my body, he redirected my valuable therapy time toward pathologizing my sport (that’s psychobabble for making there be something wrong with it).
Don’t get me wrong: eating disorders and body dysmorphia are very real. But in the world of bodybuilding, if the therapist doesn’t understand the science behind off-season and prep, they are going to want to diagnose you on behaviors alone, and that is not helpful.
What I needed, and maybe what you are needing too, was someone who could help me navigate the self-invalidating talk going on in my head. Old voices from people and situations in the past telling me I couldn’t succeed. I needed help renegotiating my primary relationships, to make space for MYSELF and my sport—setting healthy boundaries, learning to communicate those values and needs I spoke of earlier, and allowing others to disagree with my priorities without becoming codependent.
And as a woman, I wanted support to buck against a culture that says I need to stay small, quiet, and at least conform, if not be basically invisible, to be convenient and useful to others: my partner, my children, and society in general.
Bodybuilding changed all of this for me, and your fitness pursuits might be doing the same.
It is NOT easy, but I can help you make the changes you are seeking to make in yourself, your body, your relationships, and your life.
Services
Therapy:
Offered to residents in the state of California, clinical psychotherapy is best suited to those who are struggling with symptoms that are lifelong, rooted in the past, and truly impair their relationship to self, others, and their progress in the world. A person appropriate for therapy may already have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, or suspects they might be struggling with such issues.
While I do not take insurance, your insurance may reimburse you for the costs of therapy, and I am happy to provide superbills to help you do that. (It’s your responsiblility to get that approval from them first before starting therapy.) Therapy is retrospective in it’s early phase, seeks to understand how the past is interfering with the present, and then moves to make changes from that understanding to effect a different future.
Coaching:
Coaching is best for those who are not interested in digging into the past to find deep psychological reasons for their challenges, but rather are focused on what is happening right now and what they can do to change it. Mental performance coaching focuses on evaluating current mindsets, actively working to change them, and implement the new mindset into daily behavioral changes that produce results.
While there is all the room needed to process emotions and negative self-talk, you will not be diagnosed, and therefore insurance will not cover or reimburse for coaching. Coaching is practical, here-and-now based and future-focused.
Schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation.
Let’s see if we are a good fit to work together on your goals.
Text “GYMRAT” @ (805) 335-1915. I’ll connect with you to see which track (therapy or coaching) best fits your needs.
Individual Clinical Psychotherapy
$200/50 min session
Couple’s Clinical Psychotherapy
$250/75 min session
Individual Mental Performance Coaching
$200/50 min session
$135/30 min session
Couple’s Coaching
$250/75 min sessions
Prepaid Coaching - Package of 4
$740/(4) 50 min sessions
$480/(4) 30 min sessions
Group Mental Performance Coaching
$35/60 min group sessions
Group Coaching - Package of 4 Prepaid
$100/(4) 60 min group sessions
Testimonials
An Interview:
Sierra talks with YouTube content maker All The Rage George Page about what it takes to be a competitor in bodybuilding competition. (an excerpt)
My journey to The Gymrat Therapist
I became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (California) in 2020 after five years earning a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology (2017) and completing three years of internships. I added mental performance coaching for clients worldwide shortly after. I’m passionate about helping people succeed, from everyday athletes just getting back to the gym to competitive athletes at the professional level. Toward that end, I enrolled as a CMPC-Candidate in 2023 under the mentorship of Dr. Danny Pueblos, expanding my education and training specifically in Applied Sports Psychology. But my arrival to this moment started long ago…
I’m a lifelong athlete: from childhood gymnastics and team sports, to soccer and competitive cheer/dance team in high school, to my Bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance, I’ve been pursuing athletic excellence for decades. From 1998 to 2009, I became a mother of five kids, most of them two years apart. (Kid Five was a surprise baby, coming five years after Kid Four!) I’ve come to ground zero and started over time and time again, regaining my body, and performing as a dancer/choreographer and taking deep dives into everything from HIIT training to hot yoga to body “sculpting.” I entered the competitive bodybuilding arena in 2021 and haven’t looked back.
Now I’m wedding my passion for helping people with my passion for athleticism as Your Friendly Gymrat Therapist. Whatever stage of the journey you are in to take your body and mental performance to the next level, I GOT YOU!
Sierra
Contact The Gymrat Therapist
Sierra Boatwright, Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT, CMPC-C
(805) 335-1915
731 East Haley Street
Santa Barbara CA 93101
By appointment.