In order to best serve student-athletes and increase access to mental health care, faculty, staff, and administrators must come together to implement campus-wide solutions. In this webinar, we cover the ways in which counseling centers and athletics departments can collaborate more effectively, how to build more natural referral pathways, and how to engage in more meaningful conversations around student-athlete mental health.

Considerations for building effective partnerships between athletic programs and counseling centers

The unique needs of college athletes as well as the barriers they face in accessing care

Challenges faced by the campus counseling center to meet the needs of all students

Existing models of care that best support college athletes

Best practices in building referral pathways

We know student-athletes are in need of more comprehensive support and greater access to mental health resources and services, but this is only made possible when we equip campus leaders with the right tools, resources, and programs to be able to identify mental health needs, respond appropriately, and connect student-athletes to the right type of care at the right time.

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Ari Miller, M.A., LPC, Assistant Director, Student-Athlete Mental Health & Performance, Johns Hopkins University

Ari Miller joined the Johns Hopkins staff in August 2021 as a licensed mental health therapist at the Counseling Center and the Assistant Director, Student-Athlete Mental Health and Performance within Athletics. Miller is the first person to fill the newly-created position; he works directly with all 24 Blue Jay teams and more than 600 varsity athletes. Since 2017, Miller has served as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Sport Psychology and Counseling at Vermont; he previously had spent two years working with the Catamount men’s basketball team as a sport/performance psychology consultant. In the second of those years, Vermont posted a perfect regular season record in the America East and won the conference tournament before falling to Purdue in the NCAA Tournament.

Jennifer M. Whitney, Ph.D., LPC, Counseling Center Director, UNC Greensboro

Dr. Jennifer M. Whitney joined UNC Greensboro in July 2007. She is originally from Ohio and was previously working at the college counseling center at The Ohio State University. She comes with a background in adolescent and adult mental health in a number of diverse settings. Jennifer has a strong personal and professional interest in diversity and multiculturalism, GLBT-QQI concerns, and women’s issues. She currently facilitates an Eating Disorders and Body Image Group for women and is a member of the Eating Disorders Treatment Team.

Timothy Silvestri, Ph.D., Director of Counseling Services, Muhlenberg College

Dr. Timothy Silvestri holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Lehigh University and completed his psychology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Tim is a highly competitive athlete who works with college athletes as well as top amateurs, elites, and professionals. His primary approach is to apply neurophysiological principles to practical applications to improve performance, increase resilience, and create healthy, emotionally centered, and joyful athletes.

In this webinar, we cover the ways in which counseling centers and athletics departments can collaborate more effectively and how to engage in more meaningful conversations around student-athlete mental health.

Supporting Student-Athletes: Care Collaboration Across the Campus

College counseling centers are gearing up for another busy academic year in which demand for services will undoubtedly increase. Directors are eager to hire more providers and as they consider expanding their team to include telehealth providers, they are challenged with assessing the quality of a telehealth provider group. In order to prioritize clinical outcomes, mental health care should be grounded in sound clinical judgment and use evidence-based practices.

How do you know if the provider is qualified to work with college students? How can you assess their clinical expertise and training? What questions should you ask to properly vet a telehealth provider group?

In this webinar, we address:

Considerations for building telehealth quality control within a third party system

Evaluating the expertise of clinical mental health providers in a telehealth setting

Reasons to diversify your service offerings and provider group

Karen Singleton, Ph.D. Associate Medical Director and Chief of Student Mental Health and Counseling at MIT

Nora Feldpausch, MD, Medical Director at Mantra Health

Alecia Sundsmo, PsyD, Executive Director of Therapy at Mantra Health

As college counseling centers consider expanding their team to include telehealth providers, they are challenged with assessing the quality of a telehealth provider group. What questions should you ask to properly vet a telehealth provider group?

Expanding Care with Telehealth: How to Assess Provider Quality

The nature of sport is competitive and pressure-filled. For coaches and athletes alike the stakes are high, the expectations even higher. In both team and solo sports, the coach-athlete relationship plays an essential role in enhancing athletes’ performance and protecting their health and well-being. The problem is that coaches aren’t always equipped with the knowledge, skills, or resources needed to properly care for their athletes’ mental health. How do we change this?

In this webinar, we discuss the dynamics of the coach-athlete relationship, why it’s so impactful on college athletes, and what it takes to improve the culture so student-athletes feel protected, reassured, and supported, no matter what barriers they face.

How to change traditional mindsets to meet the needs of Gen Z

What tools, resources, and training needs to be provided to coaches

How to identify signs of stress, anxiety, and depression

We know student-athletes are in need of more comprehensive support and greater access to mental health resources and services, but this is only made possible when we equip athletic leaders with the right tools, resources, and programs to be able to identify mental health needs, respond appropriately, and connect student-athletes to the right type of care at the right time.

Stephen Hebard, Chief Innovation Officer at Prevention Strategies

Dr. Hebard earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2015 and worked as an assistant professor of Counselor Education at The University of Alabama at Birmingham before joining the Prevention Strategies team. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) whose clinical background in substance abuse and mental health intervention brings a unique perspective to prevention research. Dr. Hebard has provided Motivational Interviewing training and consultation for professionals in the fields of general medicine, oncology, psychiatry, nursing, pharmacy, education, and school, mental health, and addictions counseling.

Deborah Wardlaw, Director of Athletics at Columbia College

Debbie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education from Columbia College and a Master of Science in Sport Management from Southern New Hampshire University. Inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association, South Carolina Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, she was most recently into the Columbia College Athletics’ Hall of Fame in April 2019. Debbie was a dual-sport athlete in basketball and volleyball, while at Columbia College, earning All-American honors in both sports.  She served on the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Board of Directors for 4A and coached girls’ basketball for 24 years, earning 7 state championships and several coach of the year honors. She has a career basketball coaching record of 482-117 and earned South Carolina Track and Filed state 4-AAAA runner-up as a track coach. She was honored with the “Key to the City” in Columbia, SC by Mayor Steve Benjamin and is recipient of the Wil Lou Gray Educators Award from Columbia College, SC. 

Joe Valerio, Former NFL Athlete; Senior Director and Regional Client Service Operations Officer at Willis Towers Watson

As an integral part of one of the NFL's most successful teams in the 90s, Joe Valerio learned that it takes more than talent to play at the professional level and contribute to a winning team. When he retired from the Kansas City Chiefs and joined the "real world", Joe drew from his football experiences to improve performance and team dynamics in his "new" work environment. Today, Joe shares these valuable lessons with diverse audiences through his speaking and consulting program. Joe's program, "Lessons from the Gridiron," provides "playbook" strategies for creating effective team players, building great teams, and beating the competition. Joe's keynote speeches, team building seminars, and in-depth workplace consulting focus on his unique approach to self and team assessment, and address important topics like dealing with adversity, setting goals, focusing on priorities, creating chemistry, defining roles, and finding leadership.

Moderator: Carla D. Chugani, PhD, LPC, VP Clinical Content & Affairs at Mantra Health

Carla Chugani, Ph.D., LPC is currently the Vice President of Clinical Content and Affairs at Mantra Health. Prior to this role, she served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Health. Her current research is focused on suicide prevention with emerging adults in the higher education setting. She is also interested in tailoring suicide prevention and intervention programs to marginalized populations, including students with disabilities and those identifying as LGBTQ. Dr. Chugani is also a licensed professional counselor specializing in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. She has worked as a clinician in both college counseling and private practice settings and also offers training and consultation to college counseling centers interested in starting DBT programs. She has published more than 40 articles, reviews, editorials, and chapters and has been recognized for her community-engaged scholarship and as a recipient of the University of Pittsburgh’s Senior Vice Chancellor of Engagement’s 2020 Partnerships of Distinction Award for research-community partnerships.

Strengthening the Player-Coach Relationship to Improve Mental Health

The NASPA Strategies Conferences provide student affairs practitioners with the knowledge and skills to effectively address collegiate alcohol and drug abuse prevention, mental health, sexual violence prevention and response, and well-being through a variety of comprehensive and integrative approaches.

The mental health field is continually transforming, particularly in response to many societal changes over the past few years. As a society, we have experienced a collective shift in attitudes towards mental health, an increase in demand for services, changes in technology, multiple pandemics, and shifts in the job economy. As the field evolves, so does the specific division of college counseling. Each campus has taken a different approach to revolutionizing collegiate mental health care based on the needs and demands of our student populations. 

From the changes and transitions occurring across the country. We are interested in topics that explore ideas related to this theme and promote the advancement of the field of college counseling.

The mental health field is continually transforming, particularly in response to many societal changes over the past few years. This year’s theme is dedicated to highlighting what it means to redefine college counseling and rejuvenate.

We are excited to join you in Boston for the 2023 NASPA Annual Conference! This year's program is full of insightful and inspiring sessions to both challenge and support student affairs professionals at every level. 

Full registration with is now open. More info to come about Mantra-related events.

This year's program is full of insightful and inspiring sessions to both challenge and support student affairs professionals at every level.

2023 NASPA Strategies Conferences

Upcoming Events

2023 NASPA Strategies Conferences

2023 ACCA Conference

2023 NASPA Annual Conference

Past Events

Supporting Student-Athletes: Care Collaboration Across the Campus

Expanding Care with Telehealth: How to Assess Provider Quality

Strengthening the Player-Coach Relationship to Improve Mental Health