Each May, Athletes for Hope celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month through advocacy, training, resource sharing, and activations – 2023 is no exception!
If you are an athlete or coach and want to get involved, let us know here.
Ways To Get Involved
Mental Health Champions Club
The Mental Health Champions Club is an Athletes for Hope initiative intended to build, inspire, and activate a robust community of mental health champions across the U.S.
We invite you to join our community built by the power of sports where we will deliver weekly doses of self-care, wellness, and kindness in an effort to reduce the stigma of mental health in and out of sports.
The QPR mission is to reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical, and proven suicide prevention training. The signs of crisis are all around us. We believe that quality education empowers all people, regardless of their background, to make a positive difference in the life of someone they know.
Are you an athlete or coach? Register for your free training here.
Day on the Hill
We are thrilled to announce that we will be heading to Capitol Hill for a legislative visit and press event to advocate on behalf of athlete mental health.
If you would like to get involved, please let us know here.
Pledge To Reach Out
For many people, the stigma of mental health challenges can feel isolating and overwhelming. The fear of sharing that you’re feeling weak, anxious, or hopeless can feel impossible in environments where winning is the ultimate goal.
The first step to addressing mental health is by shattering the stigma & creating community. Seemingly small acts of checking in or offering support are more than kind – they can be lifesaving. Join athletes all over the country in pledging to say to others: “you are not alone.”
Learn more about our Whole Being Athlete program, do a few exercises from our Mental Health Sessions, meet like-minded athletes, and discuss ways to get involved!
Spaces are limited! Questions? Contact Denise Kamyuka at dkamyuka@athletesforhope.org.
Remy is a University and current Co-Founder & Managing Director of Clutch ICONS, a clothing brand aimed to empower athletes. He attended the University of South Florida where he pursued his business degree while serving as an offensive lineman and student assistant for the Bulls football program.
What has your mental health journey looked like and how has it impacted your status as an athlete?
My mental health journey began at Temple University when I tore my ACL. The medical staff recommended that I have a session at TUWELL, the on-campus therapy service for athletes. While my first few sessions focused mostly on my injury, I slowly started opening up and working towards understanding the roots of some of my emotions. As a child, I became accustomed to insecurity, not knowing what the future held, and anxiety that I had to do extremely well to set myself up for a chance at a better life. I often felt that I had to be perfect in my actions and daily tasks to have a chance at making something of myself. This anxiety carried over into athletics, where I consistently imposed my will to control everything, which I thought might improve my chances of success. Instead of looking inward, I focused on minute details such as my diet, sleep, flexibility, strength, injury prevention and rehabilitation, and hydration.
I often felt that my feelings did not matter and that my value as a person was solely based on my performance in sports and academia.
Remy Bikowski
Why are you passionate about mental health awareness?
I am passionate about mental health awareness due to my personal struggles and the struggles of my teammates. Through sports, I’ve had many conversations with teammates where I feel unequipped to help them. I always provide a listening ear and compassion to my teammates, but I often saw how athletes in hyper-masculine sports, such as football, chose to diminish their feelings and focus solely on sports. Additionally, the constant pressure to prove toughness and grit becomes exhausting. I have personally been made fun of by coaches for being “soft” or not playing through an injury, even though later MRIs revealed that I had a herniated disk. The level of anger I felt towards the coaching and medical staff was unhealthy, and I am grateful that I reached out for appropriate support instead of mishandling the situation and losing my temper. If there were less of a stigma around being “soft,” playing with serious injuries could be avoided, as it is dangerous and may result in further injury.
What resources have you found helpful in your mental health journey?
Throughout my playing career, I found on-campus mental health services made specifically for athletes to be the most beneficial. I greatly appreciate Dr. Stephany Coakley at the TUWELL offices at Temple University, as well as Dr. Lee Dorpfeld, Director of Sport Psychology at the University of South Florida. These two people greatly impacted my life for the better and inspire me to continue improving through my mental health journey. These sessions helped me get through surgical procedures, family hardship, and personal dilemmas.
Athletes endure more stressors than the average student, and the pressure to perform can wear us down. Feeling understood and knowing that there is someone to turn to is an invaluable resource for athletes.
Remy Bikowski
What advice would you give to someone who might be struggling with their own mental health?
The advice I would give to someone struggling with mental health, especially someone dealing with a constant perfectionism, shame, and guilt cycle, is to show up for yourself just one time. Too often, we will defend friends and family, and provide support and empathy to others, but never ourselves. It is much more difficult to rationalize neglecting and hurting ourselves when we take a moment to reconnect with our inner child. Try to be more forgiving and realize that you are human too. We all make mistakes, react poorly, and fail to communicate sometimes. This does not mean that we are unworthy of love, kindness, or patience.
What do you hope the future of sports and mental health looks like?
I hope that the future of mental health in sports is one of open communication and understanding. I hope that athletes feel comfortable leaning on their peers and resources for support. A future where a seriously injured athlete can get checked out by medical staff without being made fun of or belittled.
I hope that one day, talking about genuine mental struggles will not be associated with being “soft.”
Remy Bikowski
How can people be more supportive of mental health and advocate for change?
People can become more supportive of mental health by gaining a deeper understanding of each other. Isolated thoughts tend to spin out of control quickly, but if we communicate more with each other, we could find comfort in mutual understanding. Often, just talking it out can significantly reduce stress and increase empathy for others and ourselves. Advocate for change by being there for someone, and most importantly, be there for yourself!
You have to be the best. You are an athlete. Your sport is who you are.
By: Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller is a former Division III women’s basketball player at Otterbein University, where she earned her BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. She is now the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at the University of Virginia at Wise, where she mentors her student-athletes about who they are outside of the basketball court in hopes to help them find their identity outside of sports.
Photos courtesy of Taylor Miller
These are just a few of the ideas engrained into the minds of athletes at such a young age. Growing up, this is what I believed. I believed that athlete was who I was – I saw it as my identity – and I was never told any differently. Hard work. Dedication. Striving to be the best, and doing whatever it takes to get there. You spend hours upon hours dedicating yourself to the sport you love – to be the best at it, and once that final buzzer goes off – what then? Who are you now? I had no clue. I was lost. This is my story of identity loss and my struggle with anxiety, depression, and my eating disorder.
I grew up with a love for sports – playing sports, watching sports, and learning sports. From a young age, there was always a ball in my hand with a game on TV. I loved the competitiveness, the drive that college and professional athletes had, and the feeling of success after a big win. Growing up, I played multiple sports, but the one that I lived, breathed, and succumbed my life to was basketball. I would spend hours in my high school gym getting shots up, and running sprints, knowing I had the work ethic and drive to make my dream of playing college basketball a reality.
That work paid off. I went on to play four years of Division III basketball at Otterbein University. Those four years were hands-down the best years of my life – not because I set any records or won any awards, not because I was the best on the team, but because I got to be a college student-athlete, something I had worked so hard to be.
I was an athlete, a competitor – it’s who I had been my whole life. Twenty-two years, 16 as an “athlete”, 4 as a collegiate student-athlete. Then one day it was over – the final buzzer went off.
Taylor Miller
I struggled with anxiety much of my life growing up – social anxiety, separation anxiety, and performance anxiety. As I got older, I taught myself ways to avoid dealing with the anxiety, avoidance was my coping mechanism. I did everything in my power to avoid failure. I was afraid to fail – whether it was on the court, in the classroom, or just in life. I felt like if I failed, I was letting my coaches down, my teammates down, my family, and my friends down, but most importantly – I was letting myself down.
This avoidance, coupled with my competitive nature and athlete mentality, as well as my perfectionistic personality – was a recipe for disaster once my playing career had ended. Without basketball, I had nothing to work hard for, nothing to dedicate my time and energy to, and nothing to link my identity to anymore. I had always known who I was – a basketball player, a college athlete – at least that’s who I believed myself to be, and society reinforced that belief. Without that sense of purpose basketball served, I quickly began reaching for anything to fill the void.
Throughout my four years as a student-athlete, I worked hard to stay in shape and get stronger in the off-season. I found a love for running. It was something that I knew in my mind would only ever benefit me, and as I’ve said, I was always looking to find things to do that would benefit me and allow me to accomplish a goal or see a result. I began running consistently, trying to beat times and distances. It was something for a while I did for basketball, but something I stuck with when basketball was over.
My sister was a runner, my mom was a runner – so in my mind, if I couldn’t be an athlete, I could still be a runner.
Taylor Miller
It became a hobby of mine when I was searching for something to fill the gaps in my life. It began to become something that filled my sense of accomplishment, especially after I trained and ran my first half marathon. That feeling of crossing the finish line at 13.1 miles, knowing you trained for that moment, the feeling of accomplishment was exactly what I needed to help fill a few of those holes.
I decided I needed to make a change in my life – to follow another dream: becoming a college basketball coach. A career path that many athletes turned coaches knows is not an easy one to secure. After dozens of applications and emails, I was offered a graduate assistant coaching position at a Division III college in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a new start – a fresh clean slate. I could rebuild myself, my career, my passions, my drive.
Moving 8 hours away from home, by myself, already struggling with undiagnosed and untreated anxiety and depression, was the start of a slippery slope. With grad school being online, living in a 450 sq. ft. studio apartment by myself, and only having basketball-related duties after 4 pm every day, I had a lot of time alone with my thoughts – and those that know, mental illness thrives in an environment of loneliness and absence of social interaction. With all of my free time and a strong need for a sense of accomplishment, I leaned on the one thing I knew always filled that void: exercise.
Exercise quickly went from a hobby and way to cope with my anxiety and depression – to an unhealthy obsession. I never saw any of it as a problem – let alone a mental illness or health concern. I thought I was in the best shape of my life, I thought I was “taking care” of my body by exercising and eating “healthy”. I promise you, it never started as a focus on wanting to lose weight (which is what most people think is the cause of eating disorders). I truly convinced myself that I was keeping my body at peak performance and making sure I saw results. If I felt like I wasn’t seeing results, it heightened my drive to work harder, run longer, lift heavier, do more reps, eat less.
Soon, I lost sight of the bigger picture.
Taylor Miller
My panic attacks became more frequent, and depression started to creep in. Every aspect of my life felt like I was losing control – but what I could control were my exercising and my food intake. After finally seeking out a therapist, I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and referred to an eating disorder dietitian and doctor – both of whom knew I needed help – and fast. My physical health started to quickly decline, and my body was essentially fighting for its life – looking for any nutrition it could get to function.
Within a week – I went from still running and doing daily life – to barely being able to get off the couch without needing assistance. I have never in my athletic life felt as weak – mentally and physically – as I did at that point. I lost an extremely concerning amount of weight in a very, very short amount of time, and my body was about to give up on trying to stay alive. A week later I admitted myself into an inpatient facility back home in Cincinnati, OH. This is where I spent 42 days in a psychiatric hospital with restrictions of little to no movement and a re-feeding plan coordinated by my new treatment team.
Forty-two days. The toughest, most challenging, most soul-searching 42 days of my entire life. After being discharged, I spent another 4 months in step-down treatment facilities. Six total months. Six months of dedicating every waking moment focused on recovering from an illness that almost took my life. An illness that I almost let win. But with the help of my treatment team, incredible people struggling with this illness, my support system, and therapy and skills education, I was able to take a step back and look at my life, my purpose, and what I wanted my future to look like. I knew I did not want my future to include my eating disorder. I knew recovery wouldn’t be easy, but I had been through the hardest six months of my life, and I knew with my work ethic, my dedication, and my self-awareness, I could beat my ED.
My recovery journey began on February 26th, 2020, when I admitted myself to the inpatient psychiatric facility. It’s been 3 years. And it’s been nowhere near easy, but my experiences with my mental health – my anxiety, my depression, my eating disorder – have given me a perspective on life that I wouldn’t change for anything. It made me prioritize my mental health, and my physical health and keep myself balanced between my passion for exercise and goal setting and fueling my body correctly.
It’s taken a lot of work, and a few instances of relapses, but every single day is an opportunity to take a step forward. I’ve since become a Division II Assistant Women’s basketball coach at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise in Southwest Virginia – living out my dream with a better mindset and knowledge of who I am and what my true purpose in life is. I now walk through life with a new appreciation and awareness for student-athlete mental health and have conversations with student-athletes about who they are as people, not athletes.
I hope that my story, my journey, can help open the eyes of student-athletes – current and former – to know that their identity is not just athlete.
Taylor Miller
To have conversations about life after sport before it’s too late. To realize that disordered eating and eating disorders amongst student-athletes are so common, and something that needs more light shed on it. It only takes one story, one moment, that can change a life. Reach out, ask for help, and live your story. Mental health is real. Eating disorders are real. Athletes are real people. It’s all real, so let’s talk about it. Let’s make a change. Let’s erase the stigma of student-athlete mental health.
Athletes for Hope and Champs Sports Announce Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON D.C.- In honor of World Mental Health Day on October 10, Athletes for Hope (AFH) is proud to announce its partnership with one of the largest, athletic sports-specialty retailers in North America Champs Sports.
As part of the partnership, Champs Sports has donated $30,000 to AFH to help shatter the stigma of mental health and empower all athletes. Champs Sports’ donation to AFH will go towards education, training and resource creation related to athletes’ mental health, as well as fund AFH’s “Pledge to Reach Out” campaign.The pledge states: It starts with showing up, and a willingness to listen. It doesn’t need to be perfect, or filled with advice. It starts with reaching out.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Champs Sports as they are committed to raising awareness of mental health issues that affect athletes across all sports,” said Jason Belinkie, CEO of Athletes for Hope. “At Athletes for Hope, our goal is to break down barriers and provide help to those in need, and we recognize the power of sharing one’s own experiences in order to inspire others. With the support of Champs Sports as well as star athletes, we hope the “Pledge to Reach Out” campaign encourages all athletes to show up, listen and reach out.”
In support of the pledge, Champs Sports, in partnership with Athletes for Hope, launched a World Mental Health Day campaign on 10/10. The campaign features Washington Commanders Offensive Lineman Chris Paul and Olympian and World Cup Alpine Ski Racer Alice Merryweather, both of whom have grappled with mental health issues within their careers and have fought to overcome them.
“As athletes, it’s so important to use our platform to welcome conversations about mental health, or share our own experiences with mental health so people know they are not alone,” said Chris Paul, Washington Commanders Offensive Lineman and Athletes for Hope Mental Health Ambassador. “Mental health care deserves more of a spotlight, and we should all aim to do more for our ourselves and our peers in order to challenge the stigma that surrounds mental health in sports.”
In the campaign, Alice and Chris speak about what they do to stay mentally healthy and balanced, no matter what life throws at them, and encourage others to seek help if needed. They are also shown in photos that represent what these athletes do to help keep a healthy mind – spend time in nature, ride horses, collaborate with friends, attend educational conferences, and more. They’ve both signed the “Pledge to Reach Out” and encourage everyone to join them by visiting athletesforhope.org/reachout.
To kick off the campaign, Champs Sports hosted a Mental Health Day event at Champs Sports Homefield in Pembroke Pines, FL on Sunday, October 9th for local high school and college athletes. The events consisted of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation sessions led by Athletes for Hope ambassadors Kendall Ellis and Rachel McNair.
Champs Sports will dedicate the entire next month to mental health initiatives including a continued partnership with AFH to provide education and resources to athletes in need.
Founded by Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, Mia Hamm and nine other elite athletes in 2006, Athletes for Hope (AFH) is a cause-neutral non-profit that educates, encourages, and empowers athletes to find their passions and use their time to positively engage with their communities. Over the past 16 years, AFH has educated more than 10,000 professional, Olympic, Paralympic and collegiate athletes through its Causeway workshop series, and helped athletes volunteer with hundreds of underserved schools and impactful community organizations through core programs that focus upon helping underserved children become more physically active, changing the public stigma around mental health, and brightening the lives of children in hospitals. Through their dedication and passion for doing good, AFH athletes have positively impacted the lives of millions around the world.
About Foot Locker, Inc. Foot Locker, Inc. leads the celebration of sneaker and youth culture around the globe through a portfolio of brands including Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Eastbay, atmos, WSS, Footaction, and Sidestep. With approximately 2,800 retail stores in 28 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as websites and mobile apps, the Company’s purpose is to inspire and empower youth culture around the world, by fueling a shared passion for self-expression and creating unrivaled experiences at the heart of the global sneaker community. Foot Locker, Inc. has its corporate headquarters in New York. For additional information please visit www.footlocker-inc.com.
Highlighting the work of Richard Lima and his work in the mental health space.
By Rachel Chao, MSSW/MPH, MT-BC AFH Advocacy & Education Consultant
Richard Lima, an endurance athlete and long-distance cyclist, has always appreciated a challenge. But when he talks about biking across the country to raise awareness of mental health in America on his “Never Ride Alone” trip, he doesn’t mention the challenge of the record-breaking heat and drought. He doesn’t talk about the mosquitos that followed him on the road, or the sweltering humidity. He reflects about the stories, the conversation and the humans that he met while biking over 4500 miles.
On June 4, 2022, Lima started biking in North Carolina on his “Never Ride Alone” journey. He brought with him a tent, food and supplies – and above all else, a desire to bring awareness to the prevalence of suicide and mental illness. After losing a loved one to suicide in early 2022, he felt moved to action. He began to learn more about mental health in America, and became increasingly motivated to start conversations around the stigma of mental illness.
I couldn’t sit and wait,” he said. “I’m gonna take the loss, and I’m gonna go out there, and let people know that they matter.
Richard Lima
His journey across the country following the Trans America Trail was supposed to raise awareness. What Richard didn’t expect was to bear witness to the environment of mental health in America. He explains how people at rest stops and camp sites would ask him where he was biking. Once he shared his reason for the cross-country trip, others would immediately open up.
They shared their own stories, and the stories of people they’ve lost: the woman in Missouri who shared her suicide attempt with him one evening, the couple in St. Louis who lost their son to suicide and expressed their gratitude for others speaking up about their own unbelievable losses, the man in Kansas who opened up about his own depression and suicidality.
He shares their stories with reverence and with gratitude that others are willing to talk about their own mental health with him. “Never Ride Alone” became more than the name of the trip, it became true for how he felt on his journey.
As others shared their stories with Lima, together they shared the disbelief of how common these stories are. “I had no idea just how prevalent suicide really is. It blew my mind. I knew the numbers of mental illness and suicide, but I just didn’t know how it was a part of so many folk’s stories.” Through his journey he was an eyewitness to the struggles that people faced in accessing and receiving adequate mental health support. He talked to folks in rural, isolated communities he biked through who shared how difficult it was for them to access support. He talked to men at restaurants and camp sites who shared how they felt a pressure to toughen up, to “be a man,” and deal with their mental illness privately.
The importance of this ride kicked in when I started hearing people’s stories. What I really took away from this is that mental illness is so prevalent, and most people don’t understand how common it really is.
Richard Lima
Donations for his ride benefitted several chapters of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI). “What spoke to me about his story was his passion for wanting to see change, his passion for wanting to connect with others who are passionate about mental health,” said Heather Richardson, of NAMI St. Louis. “To connect with so many other people who have been touched by mental health… It opens the door for people who are scared or feel judged by social stigmas to seek support.”
When we examine the current stats of mental illness in America (1 in 20 adults experience serious mental illness, and suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for teens and young adults), it can be easy to forget the stories of the people who are represented in them. It can be easy to generalize about mental illness, or depend upon stigma and stereotype to inform what we think we know about suicide.
But Lima’s ride sought to bring the stories back to the numbers- to destigmatize experiences of thousands of Americans. Most importantly, he rode to remind others that they can make a difference by starting conversations around mental health, too.
Step by step, pedal by pedal, story by story. Whether by biking, opening up, or taking time to examine the stigmas that exist, Lima hopes that people become motivated to know that they can make a difference by starting a conversation about mental health in their own community.
“Looking back, it’s the people I remember,” he said, “Meeting such kind people, and hearing such sad stories of loss. It runs the gamut from beginning to end of the emotional, incredible moments of meeting people.”
Richard Lima, of Never Ride Alone, will continue his long-distance biking to raise awareness of the prevalence of mental illness and suicide in November, biking across the Route 66 trail. If you’re interested in continuing to follow his advocacy and awareness efforts, you can find more information on the Never Ride Alone website, or by connecting on Instagram (@NeverRideAloneUSA or @RichardLima1).
