Luna Ugrenović, MS, MA
Offered Services and Approach:
Luna Ugrenović, MS, MA, Ph.D. candidate is a mental health therapist and sport psychology consultant providing individual and group services to athletes, teams, and other performers. Luna is passionate about helping performers achieve their goals by choice, rather than by chance. Her aim is to help clients maintain a healthy and satisfying relationship between their performances, lifestyle, and mental wellbeing. As a former student-athlete, Luna understands what it takes to manage the pressures of achieving and sustaining excellence in one’s field. She aims to help her clients improve their mental health while reaching their highest level of performance in sports, performing arts, or professions such as law and medicine.
Areas of Clinical Expertise:
- General and social anxiety
- Depression
- Grief and loss
- Stress and trauma
- Identity concerns (e.g., ethno-cultural, religious/spiritual, gender/sexuality, professional)
- Life transitions and adjustment concerns
- Lifestyle changes (e.g., starting exercise, quitting smoking)
Areas of Performance Enhancement Expertise:
- Burnout
- Performance anxiety
- Stress management
- Resilience and growth mindset
- Perfectionism
- Coping with failure
- Performing under pressure
- Confidence
- Recovering from sport injuries
- Team culture and cohesion
- Communication and conflict resolution
- Mindfulness for optimal focus
- Values-based goal setting
Selected Workshops:
- NCAA DI Rifle Team: Making Anxiety Your Friend
- NCAA DI Gymnastics Team: Budling Team Culture – Team Values and Committed Action
- NCAA DI Rowing Team: Effective Team Communication and Conflict Resolution
- School of Law: Building Resilience via a Growth Mindset
- Washington Interscholastic Activities Association: Gen Z and Mental Health – The Role of Coach Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Professional Experiences and Education:
Prior to joining the Greenepsych team, Luna worked as a therapist at West Virginia University’s (WVU) Athletics Department (2023–2024), where she provided the full range of mental health and sport psychology services to student-athletes from various sports. Additionally, while interning at Whole Brain Solutions (a private practice; 2022-2023), Luna was trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. She incorporated EMDR when working with children and adults presenting with traumatic stress as well as mental performance concerns. She is eager to bring her clinical experiences with athletes and this unique treatment modality to the clients she serves at Greenepsych.
Luna is currently a doctoral candidate in sport, exercise, and performance psychology at WVU preparing to defend her dissertation this summer. During her doctoral education, Luna served as a mental performance consultant for the WVU Rowing Team and the WVU School of Law (2019-2022), providing individual and team/group sessions. She also worked as a graduate teaching assistant in the department of sport and exercise psychology (2019-2023), teaching various classes as a means of developing her ability to effectively communicate psychology content to young adults.
Luna completed her first master’s degree in movement science with a specialization in sport, exercise, and performance psychology at Barry University, while working as the graduate assistant rowing coach (2017-2019). As a student-athlete at Barry (2013-2017), she was a two-time NCAA Division II rowing champion with a team that went undefeated for two consecutive years (2015, 2016).
Luna received her second master’s degree in mental health counseling at WVU (2022). During that time, she served as a trainee for WVU’s Counseling Center as well as WVU’s Athletics Department (2021-2022), providing various mental health and sport psychology services to WVU’s athletes and other students.
Luna’s doctoral research focuses on the experiences of student-athletes receiving mental health referrals, and how those conversations impact athletes’ willingness to engage with referral recommendations. She hopes to leverage her knowledge to increase access to mental health care for athletes, by helping coaches and support staff improve mental health culture in their teams and maximize the effectiveness of their referral conversations with athletes. Luna’s other lines of research have included emotional intelligence, leadership styles, and burnout among NCAA coaches (published in The Sport Journal), the experiences of Gen Z athletes during the COVID-19 sport shutdown, and the impact of sport uniforms on body image concerns. She is excited to apply her research to meaningfully serve the community’s needs through Greenepsych.
Contact Information:
Luna offers both in person and telehealth sessions. To find more information about working with Luna or to schedule an appointment please email her at [email protected] or call at (267) 394-7748.
Personal Background:
A native of Belgrade Serbia, Luna speaks both Serbian (synonymous with Croatian, Bosnian, etc.) and English, and has been living in the U.S. since 2013. In her free time, Luna enjoys traveling far and wide, being active outdoors, and spending time with family and friends, especially her husband Salman and their cat Delilah (AKA Baby D).