Lisa Bonta Sumii, LCSW, CSW
Lisa is a psychotherapist with over 21 years of clinical experience, licensed in both CA and NV. She is a private practice clinician, consultant, and entrepreneur. Lisa supports the elite athlete to achieve optimal mental health and peak mental sports performance. She works with elite youth athletes, collegiate student-athletes, Olympians/Olympic hopefuls, professional athletes, coaches, and teams.
Lisa is the first-ever Mental Health & Sports Performance Specialist for the Oakland Roots Sports Club. The Roots are a men’s professional soccer team and purpose-driven club. Seeing the elite athlete as a multidimensional human, navigating various roles and identities, is integral to Lisa’s approach. Focusing on the role that interpersonal trauma, culture, race, gender, and sexual orientation play as the athlete navigates life on and off the field, is at the center of her work.
Lisa is listed in the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Mental Health Registry and the National Football League Player Association’s Clinician Directory. Lisa is scaling the diverse AthMindset team with the goal to have an AthMindset practitioner in every state. Lisa is the host of the AthMindset podcast and is often an invited podcast guest and conference speaker. She will be a TEDx Speaker in April 2022.
Lisa has been interviewed and quoted in Time Magazine and Teen Vogue on the decisions that both Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles took to prioritize their mental health. Most recently, Lisa was interviewed by BBC World News on athlete mental health, specifically the decision for Naomi Osaka to take a break from tennis after her recent performance at the US Open.
Lisa received her Master’s in Clinical Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work and is currently pursuing her CMPC (Certified Mental Performance Consultant) via the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.
Lisa is a former competitive soccer player. Her 15-year-old daughter plays club softball with dreams to play in college.