It’s clear student-athletes need more support, but as James Borchers, MD, MPH, President and CEO of U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health, said in Part One of our webinar series, “If all we do is talk about it, but don’t institute solutions, we’re going to be stuck where we’re at… If we’re not seeing change and we’re not seeing results in that area, we’re not going to be successful.” 

Even as professional athletes like John Wall, Simone Biles, Kevin Love, and countless others come forward to share their personal experiences with anxiety, depression, and suicidality, student-athletes continue to face stigma around help-seeking behaviors. Athletes may not feel comfortable speaking up and if they do, they may not access care, due in part to the lack of guidance, the limited counseling center hours, or the inadequate mental health care available. 

Athletic Departments Fall Short in Mental Health

In our recent survey with the NAIA, we found that 90% of athletic leaders wish they had mental health training for their athletic directors and coaches and 92% of athletic departments don’t have access to psychiatric services but wish they did. 

There are dozens of resources available to athletic departments, including, but not limited to:

The NCAA Sports Institute’s Mental Health Best Practices

Coaches Assist’s handbook Managing Student-Athlete Mental Health

The Game Plan, led by Hilinski’s Hope Foundation

Mental Health First Aid training courses

QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention 

Unfortunately, this isn’t enough. Athletic departments need to put in the work to really change the culture. They need to invest in more resources, services, and training. They need to secure more funding for mental health care, through grants, donor opportunities, or a rearranging of the budget. And they need to be willing to talk openly about mental health challenges, bring mental health professionals into team meetings, and create an environment that encourages student-athletes to open up about personal hardships – and they need to know when to refer a student to mental health care, who to refer them to, and how to do this in the best possible way.

Athletic Departments Must Adapt Best Practices and Work in Collaboration with Other Campus Stakeholders

No matter the campus, no solution has proven better or more effective than another and you’ll hear experts arguing for different approaches, proving that each campus is responsible for adapting best practices to their campus’ existing model of care. While some athletic departments are hiring clinicians in-house, and outsourcing high acuity cases, others are referring student-athletes to the on-campus counseling center, and some are working directly with telehealth vendors to offer specialized care to their student-athletes. 

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to mental health care, but there are key recommendations that athletic departments should consider as they begin to develop more robust, comprehensive mental health solutions. This includes, but is not limited to:

Establishing more collaborative relationships with other departments, especially health and counseling services

Making mental health services available beyond the standard 9-5 hours so athletes can access clinical providers on nights, weekends, and when traveling

Training all athletics department staff on crisis and suicide signs and symptoms, intervention strategies, and response protocols 

Giving students easy access to mental health resources, including skills-based trainings, crisis hotlines (including the new 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), peer support, and telehealth services

Mental health is just as important as physical health – and student-athletes need to be reminded of this. In order to properly meet the comprehensive and often overlooked needs of student-athletes, many of whom are battling financial stress, performance anxiety, and academic pressure, among other stressors, every member of the camps community needs to take action and allocate time to mental health advocacy. 

Want to Watch the Webinar Series?

When it comes to implementing best practices, Ari Miller, MA, LPC, the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Mental Health and Performance within Athletics at Johns Hopkins University, said in Part Three of the series, “It needs to be a collaborative process around leaders, stakeholders, and decision-makers. What does this student-athlete population need? Things work differently at different places, so understanding your system and what’s going to be most effective is really important… it’s never one department’s responsibility… [the solution] needs to work for the community.”

If you missed our student-athlete mental health webinar series, we encourage you to watch the recordings here:

How to Redefine and Reimagine the Power of Resilience and Improve Student-Athlete Mental Well-Being feat. James Borchers, MD, MPH, at U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health and Jeffrey J. Milroy, DrPh, at Prevention Strategies

Strengthening the Player-Coach Relationship to Improve Mental Health feat. Stephen Hebard, PhD, at Prevention Strategies, Deborah Wardlaw, at Columbia College, and Joe Valerio, former NFL athlete, and currently at Willis Towers Watson

Supporting Student-Athletes: Care Collaboration across the Campus feat. Ari Miller, MA, LPC, at Johns Hopkins University, Timothy J. Silvestri, PhD, at Muhlenberg College, and Jennifer M. Whitney, PhD, LPC, at University of North Carolina Greensboro

You can also read our Taking a Team Approach to Mental Health: Best Practices Collegiate Athletic Departments white paper and NAIA Survey results. 

To learn more about our partnerships with collegiate athletics and how Mantra Health can support your program, reach out to our Partnerships Team here.