Dr Andrea Furst

BSc GradDipSocSc (Psych)

MPsych (Sport & Exercise)

PhD (Psych)

Andrea completed a Master of Sport and Exercise Psychology at The University of Queensland and immediately developed a private practice.  Andrea is the founding director of Mental Notes Consulting (MNC), and is dedicated to providing ‘solutions for optimistic thinking’; specifically focusing on the psychological needs of sports people.  MNC has several psychologists working together to promote the inclusion of psychological skills training into all levels of sporting performance.

MNC is a dynamic consultancy that has established itself as one of the leading providers of sport psychology services in Australia.  MNC is based in South East Queensland, with professional suites in Brisbane as well as the Sunshine and Gold Coasts.

MNC has expanded into Asia with its headquarters in Singapore, where Andrea now resides. This is wonderful for athletes located in Asia as well as Australian athletes in transit between Australia and the rest of the world.  Andrea consulted to Singapore Sports Council (SSC) for three years as their Head of Sport Psychology Unit.  During her consultancy with SSC she worked with Singaporean national athletes and coaches from SingaporeSailing and Singapore Golf Association’s Golf Excellence Program to integrate psychological skills into their training and competition.  Andrea has recently increased her availability for private consultation in Singapore for sports and business performance.

Andrea consults to athletes of various ages, ability levels, and sports.  In addition to her roles in Singapore, she is currently the sport psychologist for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) flat water sprint kayak program.  Prior to moving to Singapore Andrea serviced Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) golf, tennis, and athletics programs.  Outside of the SSC, QAS, and AIS, Andrea consults to international, national, and state sporting organisations, schools and colleges, and private academies.

Andrea has been involved in two Olympic and Paralympic Games campaigns (2004 & 2008).  The most recent being the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics where she worked with the Australian flat water sprint kayak team and the Australian 100m hurdler, as well as the SingaporeSailing team and a Mexican Laser Radial sailor at the Olympics, and with the Singapore swimming team at the Paralympics.

The golf clientele includes professional tour players from several international tours and elite amateurs, as well as consulting to Singapore Golf Association, Singapore Sports School, Singapore Ladies Golf Association, Women’s Golf Queensland, Women’s Golf Central Queensland, Women’s Golf Australia, Queensland Golf Union, PGA of Australia, PGA Academy of Golf, and Queensland PGA. 

The work involved with each of the various population groups includes individual consults, workshops, presentations, competition coverage, as well as high performance planning.  In addition to private practice Andrea has completed a PhD at Griffith University titled, ‘Dispositional Optimism, Sport Confidence, and Golf Performance’.  She also has experience in lecturing and tutoring sport and exercise psychology at Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, and The University of Queensland.  Andrea will begin lecturing at National University of Singapore in June 2011.  

The similarities between the characteristics of elite athletic performance and corporate performance have led Andrea to adapt her professional skills to the corporate sector.  She has undergone training to become qualified as a corporate performance coach.  Previous to her current role Andrea worked in the health and fitness industry as a personal trainer focussing on health and fitness testing in addition to stress management and lifestyle planning.

Specialties:
Andrea’s specialty sports are golf, sailing, and tennis, however she has extensive working knowledge and experience with sports such as triathlon, swimming, kayaking, track and field, taekwondo, karate, horse racing, motor racing, motorcycle racing, rugby league, rugby, cricket, and soccer.  Her passion is being part of the team of professionals assisting elite athletes to take their sport to the highest level.  In addition to sport, Andrea adapts the principles of sport psychology to the performing arts and the life of everyday people who want to make changes and improvements to themselves.  The majority of Andrea’s clientele are considered to be ‘high achievers’ in a variety of performance domains and as such perfectionism is a hot topic!