
Kristin Mills
Mental Performance Coach
Kristin Mills is a mental performance coach for Living Mental Wellness, a music educator, and a professional cellist. She has over 15 years of teaching experience as a music educator, with 5 years as a public school orchestra director. Kristin has served as a guest clinician for multiple performing arts education programs across the state of Texas. Her passion lies mainly with helping students, educators, and professionals incorporate psychology skills into daily life and practice in order to achieve their optimal level of performance.
From a young age, Kristin struggled with Performance Anxiety before music competitions and solo performances. Although her instructors offered support and advice, she still felt the effects during times of high pressure. Her love for playing the cello surpassed her fear of the stage and she continued to pursue music by earning her undergraduate degree in Cello Performance from Texas Tech University. This anxiety continued throughout her undergraduate degree and well into her graduate studies, until she discovered her love for Sport Psychology after taking an introductory course. The performances that followed began to demonstrate signs of relief after incorporating and practicing the skills she had learned. Upon graduating from Ithaca College with a Master of Music in Cello Performance, Kristin decided to become the resource for others that she did not have as a student and performer.
In 2014, Kristin earned a Master of Arts degree in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver and has worked with student and professional athletes and performing artists to overcome mental performance barriers. She is a member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Texas Music Educators Association, is currently working towards becoming a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), and is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate (LPC-A) supervised by Matt Bierds.