Ed Garrett

California Baptist University

Title: Enhancing Behavioral Health, Understanding, and Dynamics within Teams: A Participatory Session Engaged in Mechanisms, Implementation, and Outcomes

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Biography

Ed Garrett, a distinguished Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology at California Baptist University with over two decades of experience in applied mental performance coaching, academic research, and leadership development. With a passion for optimizing human potential, He has worked extensively with elite athletes, coaches and corporate leaders to enhance mental toughness, focus, and resilience under pressure.

He holds a Doctoral degree in Sport and Performance Psychology and is a recognized expert in areas such as motivation, leadership, stress management, and the psychology of behavioral understanding and modification within teams. He served in the 1996 Olympics as Team Manager for the Gold and Silver medaling USA Beach Volleyball Teams. He has also gathered experience working with Major League Baseball, the Professional Golfers Association, and several collegiate athletic departments. He is also the founder and leader of the Division of Sport and Performance Psychology with the AACC.

Abstract

Mental health stems from behavioral health and continues to be a challenge for practitioners within the athletic arena. This presentation examines how the DISC behavioral assessment can be operationalized to improve behavioral health, understanding, and dynamics among teams by promoting tailored communication, role clarity, stress resilience, and help-seeking culture. Drawing on recent evidence linking behavioral styles to individual functioning and social-identity approaches to mental health, we (a) summarize DISC’s four behavioral domains and their team-specific interpretations; (b) present a practical implementation pathway—administration, coach debrief, role-mapping, and brief team skill workshops; (c) illustrate expected behavioral-health impacts (reduced interpersonal conflict, improved team cohesion, earlier help-seeking, diversity, and targeted stress-management strategies); and (d) specify outcome metrics and ethical considerations (confidentiality, nonselection use, and cultural sensitivity). Scope: 55-minute applied session with 15 minutes for Q&A. Includes one short case vignette from a collegiate team and an implementation checklist teams can adopt immediately. The argument is grounded in recent sport-personality and athlete-mental-health literature showing that personality traits relate to sporting level and that social identity processes shape athlete mental health and help-seeking—findings that support using structured behavioral profiling to align supports with individual and team needs (Piepiora et al., 2024; Stevens et al., 2024). Attendees will leave with a one-page protocol and suggested evaluation plan to measure behavioral-health change over a competitive season.