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Indiana Counseling Association Presents The Conversations that Shape Us Conference: What You Wish Other Mental Health Counselors Understood

The Ones Who Never Ask for Help: Reaching Perfectionistic Teen High Performers

Cindi Miller, MS, LCMHC, LMHC, LPCC
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Date & Time

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism in adolescent high performers.

  • Explain how performance culture and identity development intersect to reinforce perfectionistic thinking across sport, music, dance, and the arts.

  • Describe the clinical connections between perfectionism and co-occurring presentations in teen high performers, including anxiety, burnout, disordered eating, and identity struggles tied to performance identity.

  • Demonstrate at least three practical interventions for helping adolescent high performer clients externalize, reframe, or reduce perfectionistic thoughts and behaviors in individual and group settings.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this presentation is for learners to distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism in adolescent high performers, understand how performance culture and identity development reinforce perfectionistic thinking, identify the clinical connections between perfectionism and co-occurring diagnoses, and learn three practical interventions for treating adolescent high performers.

Description

Teen high performers, including athletes, musicians, dancers, and artists, are a population most counselors encounter but few feel equipped to reach. Perfectionism in this group is not simply about wanting to be good. It is about needing to be flawless to feel worthy, and it shows up across sport, stage, studio, and screen. This presentation gives clinicians the cultural fluency and practical tools to understand how perfectionism develops in adolescent high performers, how it drives anxiety, burnout, disordered eating, and identity struggles, and how to intervene without threatening the drive that defines them.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Cindi Miller, MS, LCMHC, LMHC, LPCC
Cindi Miller, MS, LCMHC, LMHC, LPCC is a licensed mental health counselor specializing in eating disorders, perfectionism, and the mental health of athletes and high-achieving individuals. She is licensed in North Carolina, Indiana, and Ohio and works with adolescents, collegiate athletes, and adults navigating the intersection of performance culture, body image, and mental health. Prior to becoming a therapist, Cindi spent seven years as a Division I collegiate volleyball coach and has over 15 years of experience coaching athletes across levels while also competing in high-level sports herself. This experience informs her clinical work supporting athletes and high performers whose identities are closely tied to discipline, achievement, and performance environments. Cindi is a speaker and educator who presents on topics including perfectionism in athletes, body image in sport, and mental health in high-performance cultures. She frequently presents to clinicians, athletes, and athletic programs on perfectionism, body image, and mental health in sport. She brings a unique perspective that bridges athletics and psychotherapy, offering clinicians practical tools for supporting athletes and high-achieving clients in eating disorder recovery.