Brett Woods

Brett Woods, Ph.D., is the Assistant Director of Sport Psychology. He has served as an athletic psychologist for the Nebraska Athletics Department since August 2016. He is a member of the B10 Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet. He has been a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) since 2018 and is also listed on the USOPC Sport Psychology Registry.
 
Dr. Woods provides counseling and psychological services, mental skills training, teambuilding, biofeedback interventions, and leadership development for the men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball programs. His work focuses on teaching athletes how to improve concentration skills, effectively manage emotions, enhance cognitive flexibility and creativity, manage arousal levels, optimize training through productive goal-setting, use visualization strategies, improve communication skills, enrich interpersonal relationships and foster resiliency.
 
Woods' philosophy emphasizes a strengths-based and positive psychology approach that cultivates mental and emotional well-being. He also offers mental health and performance psychology education, consultation and outreach to coaches and athletic department staff members.
 
Prior to his arrival at Nebraska, Woods served as a doctoral intern at the Florida State University Counseling Center for one year. From 2013 to 2015, he served as a clinical graduate assistant at the University of Missouri Counseling Center, and from 2011-2013 he was a clinical graduate assistant at the University of Missouri Student Health Center.
 
Woods earned his Ph. D. in counseling and sport psychology from the University of Missouri in 2016. He earned his master's degree from Missouri in career and sport psychology in 2011. Woods attended Baker University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2008 with a degree in psychology and a minor in English. Woods was also a member of the football team at Baker University.
 
Woods and his wife Ellen live in Lincoln with their two children.