Hughes Counseling & Sport Psychology
Our Clinicians and Approach to Treatment
Lynn Puma, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
(Telehealth Only)
Accepting New Clients
Lynn Puma is a licensed clinical social worker in North Carolina. She works with teens, young adults, and adults. Lynn is particularly passionate about serving students & collegiate athletes, high-stress professionals such as medical personnel, first responders, and other helping professionals. Many of Lynn’s clients come to address anxiety, fatigue, burnout, and performance issues.
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Lynn believes physical, mental, and emotional health are all connected. When you’re mentally healthy, you can enjoy your life and the people in it, feel good about yourself, and deal with stress more constructively. In session, Lynn focuses on creating positive habits as a great way to support your mental health. This helps you build skills to use when you do face difficult situations. She focuses on teaching brief interventions, including deep breathing and grounding techniques that can be used when challenging situations arise.
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Lynn's style is warm, compassionate, and non-judgmental. When clients first start therapy, they will develop a strong, trusting relationship with Lynn where they are allowed to be themselves, feel safe, and feel heard. She uses therapeutic approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, and mindfulness.
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Lynn received her MSW from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. For the majority of her career she worked at Levine Children's Hospital, where she provided mental health support and guidance to children and families living with a chronic illnesses. Outside of private practice, she enjoys hiking and being outdoors. She is an avid sports fan and loves attending sporting events with her family. Lynn is also a fierce advocate for women's sports. She is heavily involved with advocacy at a state level and currently sits on the North Carolina Chapter of The National Association of Social Worker's Legislative Committee. Lynn is happy to offer convenient online, virtual therapy sessions.
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Samantha Buxbaum, M.A., CMPC
Certified Mental Performance Coach
(Virtual Only)
Accepting New Clients
Samantha is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) with a master's degree in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver, a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Colorado College. She is also a 200-hour certified yoga instructor.
In addition to training the body with exercise, healthy foods, and rest, Samantha believes it is imperative to train the mind for optimal performance. Our mind is just a fancy muscle after all, capable of amazing feats!
Samantha's passion for Sport and Performance Psychology stems from her career in competitive gymnastics, collegiate diving, and teaching yoga and meditation. She found the field of Sport and Performance Psychology as a gymnast when she experienced the intimate relationship between her physical performance and "mental game" - She realized that she could befriend her mind to be her ally, not her enemy.
Samantha considers herself a "Professional Reminder." As humans, we tend to forget what we need to do to take care of ourselves, and forgetting is simply a part of the human condition. It's the cycle of forgetting and remembering that she is here to guide you through.
Samantha specializes in working with gymnasts, divers, and masters level athletes ages 40+ to help them overcome mental barriers to experience more focus and passion in sport and at work.
Hayley Hughes, PhD
Practice Owner and Licensed Psychologist
(In Person and Virtual)
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Although Dr. Hughes’ practice is not limited to sport psychology, her career path as a psychologist started with sport. Originally from the Greater Toronto Area in Canada, Dr. Hughes grew up in a hockey family and played DI collegiate hockey at Cornell University.
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Dr. Hughes has specialized training and mentorship in sport psychology. She is passionate about understanding the relationship between the mind/body and performance in sport, relationships, and career (and vice versa). In addition to owning and running her private practice, she currently serves as the NC Courage’s (NWSL) licensed psychologist and sport psychologist. In her approach, Dr. Hughes aims to provide skills for peak performance, while also exploring and addressing the potential underlying issues that may be contributing to the problem.
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Beyond sport and performance, Dr. Hughes has developed a handful of passions that guide her practice. She works well with people experiencing anxiety, adjustment to developmental changes or other transitions, perfectionism, attachment and relational trauma history, body image issues, family conflict, or identity concerns. Dr. Hughes has a special interest in working with early career professionals, which includes navigating their careers, perinatal concerns (pregnancy and postpartum), and parenthood. She is Perinatal Mental Health Certified (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International.
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Regardless of what you are facing, Dr. Hughes works from a belief that all people have resilience to face life's challenges. Her goal is to provide a warm, compassionate, trauma informed, strengths-based, and nonjudgmental approach to treatment. Dr. Hughes is very relational in her work. She is interactive and often uses humor. She pulls from approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Interpersonal Process, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, and Psychodynamic theories and approaches. Together, you will explore your current challenges and make a plan to accomplish your goals by combining your existing strengths with new insights and skills.
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Dr. Hughes has lived and worked in the triangle area since 2018. She enjoys hiking, yoga, and is an avid reader. She is a bit of a coffee snob and considers herself an excellent movie quoter.
Contact Our Office
182 Wind Chime Court, Suite 104
Raleigh, NC 27615
919-213-7825