“Before I started working with Annika I was frustrated and scared when it came to my riding. I had an unfortunate injury that took months to rehabilitate which created a lot of fear when I got back in the saddle jumping again. After working with Annika for a short time myself and my coach noticed a huge difference in my riding! I am able to be confident in my decisions and my horse is much happier and is back trusting me. My mindset has completely changed and I find myself wanting to jump the big or spooky jumps that used to scare me! To anyone struggling with their riding or who just want to enhance their performance, I highly suggest Annika. She listens, is kind, and will give you some very valuable skills!”
-Madi Draper, Equestrian, Vancouver Island, BC.
“Working with Annika was such a delight. The sessions were done efficiently online via zoom and her available hours were early enough to do before work. She is very warm, understanding and approachable. It was so nice to just get down to business - very different than traditional therapy. Everything was relevant to my particular issue, and her guidance was very effective with easy tools I could apply when I felt anxiety during my rides. The scheduled appointments were efficient time spent covering lots of ground within the hour, and results were immediate with the homework she gave me. Highly recommend— I found her advice super valuable and now I have priceless skills that have made a massive impact with my confidence and joy during my riding.”
-Melissa Baker, Equestrian, Vancouver, BC
“ Annika has been providing regular workshops for my clients since January and it has been one of the best investments I have made this year, hands down! She is a delight to work with and is very good at making sure everyone is engaging and and understands how they can put into practice what they have learnt. The benefits my clients and myself have taken from Annika’s work are phenomenal. A must for any rider or sportsman!”
-Natalie Alexander, NMA Fitness
“We have been working closely with Annika over the past year as she continues her journey on helping people identify and overcome the mental blocks that are preventing them from achieving their goals. Annika was a key speaker for our in-house seminar and online webinar series, where she had endless amounts of questions from the audience, who were so eager and keen to learn from her. Her strategies and approaches to wellbeing through sport and fitness aim to help enhance not only performance, but quality of life too. Annika is a wealth of knowledge and we are delighted to be associated with her at BLK BOX.”
CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN - Marketing Manager, BLK Box
“Annika's service is top-notch quality. I hired Annika to complete a training session with my personal training clients on growth mindset and how it can be used practically with the weight loss goals that my clients have. It's safe to say both myself and my clients were blown away by Annika's professionalism, attentiveness, and overall fantastic delivery. The package I opted for included a follow up Q&A session which was of incredible benefit and helped many of my clients with some of their individual struggles with limiting beliefs and specific life events that went way beyond just weight loss. The package also included a 1:1 session with myself to discuss the psychology behind me being a better coach which was also fantastic. I would highly recommend her services and I will be hiring Annika again very soon to deliver more brilliant training with my clients and for my own personal benefit too. Thank you Annika.”
DALE WALLACE - PERSONAL TRAINER
“During the first lockdown my work (in the medium of Virtual Reality) suddenly exploded and I had more projects on my plate than I could manage. After a couple of months of trying to negotiate the overwhelm myself and epically failing at time management, I was lucky to find Annika as a coach. We had weekly sessions for over three months and our work together has helped me no end. I was able to be honest and vulnerable about what I was feeling and what wasn’t working, and together we worked on strategies to improve my daily processes as well as my mindset. Specific, detailed steps like single tasking and a morning routine so that I could hit the ground running, continue to help me.
Annika was able to help me see where and how I was standing in my own way and provided me with analogies and techniques to help me step out of my own way! Together we co-created both daily and weekly routines not to mention re-framing my identity to move past negative self beliefs. Annika is incredibly knowledgeable and so much of her knowledge is based on techniques she has tried and tested either herself or with other clients.
Annika is a wonderful coach and I would highly recommend her to anyone. She is such a pleasure to talk with, that you often forget you are in a coaching session as the answers start to tumble out of you! “
CAMILLE DONEGAN - VIRTUAL REALITY CONSULTANT
“As part of Mental Health Awareness week, colleagues from the Prince’s Trust - the largest Youth Charity in the UK, recently took part in an inspiring workshop on the topic of motivation and well-being. Annika was a wonderful host and expertly applied the psychological theories of motivation and well-being to both our working and personal lives.
The Q&A session provided colleagues with a fantastic platform to ask questions to build a deeper understanding as well as giving us the confidence to apply this knowledge to the young people, delivery partners & volunteers we work with. In the current context of the global health crisis, the workshop was just exactly what our colleagues needed and are hopeful of to continue these sessions in the future.”
RYAN MCMULLAN - PRINCE’S TRUST EXECUTIVE
"At times you have to do all the marketing, the selling and the fulfillment all on your own, and it can feel like you’re working multiple jobs. Learning to market yourself effectively requires that you have a growth mindset... learning to sell your services requires that you have confidence in what you’re about, and being present on the gym floor with your clients requires that all the other stuff doesn’t take up too much head-space!This is where Annika shows us how to shine!!!
She understands your self-limiting beliefs and your negative self-talk better than you do... and she’s able to articulate it in a way that no one else can !If you want your mind to level up and take your FitBiz to the next level then working with Annika is a must!!!”
MICHAEL LENNON - ELITE FITNESS AND PERFORMANCE ACADEMY BELFAST
“Having never took part in a sports performance and psychology session, I was a little tentative prior to my first conversation with Annika. This feeling was dispelled very quickly through Annika’s warm personality and friendliness. Her knowledge and passion for her work is contagious. Annika made a special effort to understand my field, posing questions regarding GAA culture, our current practices and areas that I felt were strengths and weaknesses of ours. Over the course of the following six weeks, Annika introduced me to many effective practices and strategies, with a strong emphasis to our early conversations, ensuring that this new content was relevant. It was clear throughout that while Annika was focused on mentoring/training, she also wanted to learn as much as possible about hurling and life within the GAA.
Annika also recounted some of her own sporting experiences and this approachability and openness made the sessions hugely enjoyable. The content that Annika introduced me to both practical and authentic. There is so much that I have taken from these sessions not only for my sporting endeavours, but also other areas of interest.
Annika’s sessions were hugely rewarding and I would especially recommend them to GAA athletes who may have overlooked this facet of their game until now.”
— FORMER TIPPERARY SENIOR HURLING CLUB CAPTAIN
"The part I found most useful about the course was the idea of a growth vs. fixed mindset. A lot of clients come to you with a fixed or "I can't" mindset, which needs to be gradually changed!
Annika helped us understand perfectly their struggles and how to overcome them to ultimately get them great results."
MICHAEL NEILLY - PERSONAL TRAINER, CLEAR COACHING
"The Sport Psychology Course for Equestrians that Annika designed for us was fantastic! There were so many great concepts introduced - with concrete exercises to practice and put into real life situations. No matter if you are competitive or a recreational enthusiast, there are lots of excellent tools. The course inspired us all, and my students are practicing the simple techniques and getting great results!!"
BRANDY SAUNDERS - EC COMPETITION COACH SPECIALIST
"The thing that really struck me most was habit change. We discussed how people have these daily habits that weren't contributing to their goals.
I have a client that had a habit of skipping the gym. Using Annika's advice my client now goes straight to the gym from work."
TIERNAN HARMON - PERSONAL TRAINER
Annika has been brilliant working with our clients on a range of topics from managing stress to time management and goal setting. We always get brilliant feedback on how engaging she is, not to mention incredibly friendly and easy to listen to. She takes complex subjects and breaks them down into easily understandable chunks for all. Making sure no one gets left behind and everyone is getting as much as they can from each workshop.
Tony and Jen - Online health, fitness and wellbeing
Annika has been - by far - the best expert guest I’ve brought into my coaching program.
Jack Mitchell - Personal trainer
Annika is a fantastic mindset coach and a wonderful human being. I've been working with Annika for a year now and myself and our community are looking forward to working with Annika in year two. Can't recommend her highly enough!
Noel Toman - Evolve lifestyle and fitness
If you are on the fence about getting a specialist into your community or group. Give Annika one shot and you will realise after 10 minutes you have made a great decision, my members all said they could listen to her talk all day. Due to her knowledge and her ability to hold engagement.