Natalie Durand-Bush, Ph.D
Natalie Durand-Bush, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her research aims to understand the self-regulatory processes and skills underlying the development of optimal performance and well-being in different contexts including sport, medicine, the performing arts, and academia. Professor Durand-Bush also investigates mental training interventions designed to help individuals not only achieve performance excellence but also manage stress and reduce burnout. Her 17 years of consulting work with high performance and developmental level athletes and coaches are an asset to her scholarly work and teaching. Dr. Durand-Bush is the co-author of the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT-3*©), an instrument developed to evaluate several mental skills necessary for consistent high-quality performance. She was the Chair for the Canadian Sport Psychology Association and the Vice-President of the International Society of Sport Psychology from 2005-2009. She has presented over 125 research and applied papers at national and international conferences. She has also published 24 peer-reviewed articles, 4 book chapters, as well as her own life skills workbook.
Aside from teaching and conducting research at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Durand-Bush has been working for the past 17 years as a mental performance consultant with hundreds of athletes aged between 8 and 60 years and competing at different levels in various sports (ex. hockey, gymnastics, alpine and cross country skiing, taekwondo, badminton, water polo, basketball, volleyball, tennis, figure skating, ringette, cycling, rowing, etc.), including athletes from five Canadian national teams, a men’s major junior hockey team, two University varsity teams, and professional / amateur athletes from the Peak Centre for Human Performance in Ottawa, Ontario and Physio Outaouais in Gatineau, Québec.