Combat gyms can reach the families who would never normally walk through their doors

Mercedas Taaffe-Cooper is a registered psychologist, founder and boxing-based adolescent resilience coach who delivers physical activity-based resilience training for adolescents and trains facilitators to scale the program.

She moved from competitive kick-boxing and martial arts into coaching after a decade representing Ireland in kick-boxing and winning European and World titles; the gap she noticed was that young people needed practical, embodied skills for emotional regulation and connection rather than only talk-based interventions. That observation led her to develop a program that pairs combat-sport training with psychological skills teaching.

She brings over 35 years of presenting and coaching experience and formal academic credentials that include a BSc in Psychology, a first-class honours degree in Sports and Exercise Science, and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tasmania; she became a registered psychologist in 2010. CounterPunch was piloted as part of her Master’s thesis, was validated by the Menzies Research Institute during its Northern Territory trial, and since founding CounterPunch Pty Ltd in Mt Barker, South Australia, she has run recurring teen groups and built a facilitator training pathway.

Day-to-day she combines sports and exercise science with clinical psychology to run CounterPunch teen groups, deliver CounterPunch Facilitator training via an evolving online learning management system, tender and partner with local sports institutes, and provide supervision and course materials for facilitators.