Katie Tardif, founder of Apex Minds, is leading a mental skills training program at NOFO Wellness Center this summer. (Photo credit: Katie Tardif)
Sometimes the most powerful hurdles are the ones we put in front of ourselves. Katie Tardif wants to nip that negative self-talk in the bud — and the earlier in life, the better.
The Cutchogue-native and corporate head of marketing and communications for luxury hospitality brand Equinox Hotels has developed a high-performance mental skills training program set to debut this summer at NOFO Wellness Center (320 Depot Lane, Cutchogue, 631-734-4042).
From working with industry leaders in sleep psychology, psychology and neuroscience at Equinox, Tardif developed a deep interest in mentally training for elite performance. With so much pressure coming at kids, from stressful school applications, to highly competitive sports, to internet bullying, it an arena that seemed ripe to apply to the rigors of modern life.
Currently pursuing a master’s in sports and performance psychology, Tardif’s program is aimed specifically at ages 14 to 25 to help participants identify their own motivators and limiting beliefs, putting focus on their attitude, effort and behavior.
“The whole sports and performance psychology industry is entirely geared to military or athletics and obviously that’s a great fit but I’m really trying to democratize this and give it to young people,” says Tardif. “This should be as critical as math and English.”
In the program, Tardif will walk through self-talk mastery, mental rehearsal visualization, confidence architecture and ultimately help students produce a two-to-three-minute video depicting the highest-performing version of themselves.
The idea for the program came about after giving birth to her first child in June 2025. “Why is no one doing this for young people? Why is this only taught to Navy SEALs, fighter pilots, Olympians, surgeons?” she found herself asking.
From there, she started developing her mental skills program under her own brand, Apex Minds. While her ultimate aim is to bring the program into schools, this summer she’s launching her brain-train program at NOFO Wellness Center as a summer program that takes full advantage of the business’s unique setting for physical learners.
“I don’t want people sitting down for the whole time,” says Tardif. “I want them moving around. There are a lot of sensory physical activities that you’re doing and they have a lot of really interesting spaces to play with.”
Tardif’s program offers two four-week blocks meeting every Monday and Thursday in July and August. Each session is 90-minutes long with the program priced at $1,500 per participant. She also offers one-on-one sessions priced at $150 per hour.
“This is not rocket science — this is the ability to focus, remain calm under pressure, have a confidence architecture that’s unique to you,” she says. “It’s not quantum physics here.”
Learn more about the program here.
