About Luca Falcone

I was a semi-professional footballer with a plan, and injuries ended it before it went anywhere. What I remember most clearly isn't the physical part. It's the disappearance of a person, a version of me that had existed since I was six, gone, and nothing prepared for the gap.

I've spent the years since studying that gap in other people. Why some athletes come back from a season-ending injury and others never really do. Why changes in work can affect people so differently. Why the most capable people I meet are so often the ones least convinced they're worth anything.

I'm a registered psychologist (AHPRA) and a SIRA-approved provider in the NSW workers compensation scheme.

I've spent six years working in workplace rehabilitation and workers compensation, first as a provisional psychologist and then as a registered one. That includes supporting people managing psychological injury, changes in work, and the loss of confidence or identity that can follow.

Alongside that, I work in sport and performance psychology. I'm the head coach of the Men's First Grade side at NWS Spirit FC in the NPL NSW competition, where I've been since 2019, through promotion, Australia Cup campaigns, a 2022 Waratah Cup, and the club's first-ever NPL Men's NSW Premiership in 2025. I don't only read about high-performance environments. I pick the team. I have the conversation with the player who's been dropped. That changes what I'm able to be useful about.

And I work with adults on attachment, developmental trauma and childhood emotional neglect, which, in my experience, is frequently what's actually driving the first two.

• Master of Science, Coaching Psychology: University of Sydney
• Bachelor of Psychology (Honours): California State University, San Bernardino
• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology: Australian Catholic University
• Registered Psychologist, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
• AHPRA registration: PSY0002401447
• SIRA Approved Provider, NSW workers compensation scheme
• Medicare provider: rebates available under Better Access

Direct, and reasonably plain-spoken. I'll tell you what I think is going on and why. I'd rather be useful than agreeable, though in my experience the two aren't usually in conflict.

I don't think insight on its own changes much. I'm interested in what you do differently on Tuesday.