Summary
Yani Dickens, PhD, MBA, CMPC, is the Director of Counseling Services at the University of Nevada, Reno. A licensed psychologist in Nevada and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), he specializes in sports psychology and mental health advocacy.
Dr. Dickens earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, his Executive MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Since joiningthe University of Nevada, Reno Counseling Services in 2008, he has played a pivotal role in expanding mental health services on campus. He has served as Director of Counseling Services since 2022 and was previously the Director of Training from 2011 to 2022, overseeing one of Nevada’s largest mental health training programs. During his tenure, he established the Counseling Services’ APA-accredited doctoral psychology internship and helped develop a specialized training emphasis in sport psychology.
Beyond his university role, Dr. Dickens has been a strong advocate for mental health, serving as Co-Chair of the Nevada System of Higher Education Mental Health Task Force. His research focuses on descriptive experience sampling in athletes, and his work has been published in The Sport Psychologist, Behavior Modification, and Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. He recently co-authored Principles of Self-Talk in Sport Settings: Theory, Research, & Practice, an edited volume on self-talk in sports.