mental health Archives - Page 6 of 6

Whole Being Athlete Series

Posted: May 3, 2021 Updated: April 19, 2022 by jbelinkie

The Whole Being Athlete Series is a platform for athletes to share their stories about their own mental health journey. Please be advised the following article contains mental health content that may be triggering to some. If someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please call the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) hotline 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) M-F 10am-8pm Eastern or info@nami.org.

Why Mental Health Matters

by Mariah Parsons, Notre Dame Rowing ’21

I am beyond grateful for all the opportunities I have been given and woefully aware of how many people have helped me become better versions of myself every day. That being said, it hasn’t been a smooth process. There were days or even several months where I had no desire to go to practice, to class, to lift, to that party, to that interview, to that meeting. I really started to struggle maintaining my mental health sophomore year. We were doing selection work for competition when I broke my rib. My injury, along with challenges in my personal life, was the perfect storm to destroy my mental health.

I became frustrated with my own body and its inability to function without pain let alone perform at the collegiate level. It drove me to an internal scrutiny that I had never felt. I tore myself apart from all angles and refused to ask for help, mostly out of my own stubbornness and independence. But, I also felt the unspoken pressure to be gritty, tough, and to ‘dig deep’ and push back through it all. That’s what we do when racing, so that mentality of getting after it bled into all areas of my life. There was no mental relief from myself or the fact that I felt useless to my team. I felt I had gone from being at my strongest to my weakest and all it took was a millisecond snap of a rib. My perception was that the rehab I was doing wasn’t as important as the intense hard work my teammates were doing. I felt cast aside and forgotten about even though I was still present in the erg room. I felt alone and invisible in a room full of my teammates.

Those days still resurface every now and then and to this day I still regret being so stubborn for so long and not reaching out to a professional sports psychologist earlier. But, if it wasn’t for my teammates, I don’t think I would have ever felt better. A few of my teammates who had gone through or were going through similar situations took me under their wing and showed me the hope I’d lost. If you or someone you know is struggling in a similar way, my best advice would be to rely on your support system and that it’s okay to rely on them heavily. I used to think asking for help was weak, shameful, and selfish, but I’ve since learned asking for help welcomes a deeper relationship. Because of my own journey with mental health and my constant struggle to open up I have challenged myself to start a platform, called Learn 2 Listen, for anyone to share their story in an effort to end the stigma of silencing our mental health stories. Through this process of forcing myself to write and talk about my own struggles I have been embraced by family, friends, and strangers in a way that was a huge relief to me.

With any type of performance-based task, such as athletics, we have this notion that showing vulnerability is a weakness. We see in movies the superhero struggles to have loved ones because that is a vulnerability that the enemy can exploit, it becomes a weakness to show emotion and struggle. In athletics, there’s this unspoken acceptance from coaches and teammates that if we aren’t mentally strong, we are not as good of an athlete, but this should not be the case. We’re taught to push the pain away, to dig deep, and perform even when every muscle fiber is screaming to stop and every brain cell is on exhaust and to shut the emotions out. When an athlete hits a personal record and overcomes this physical challenge, we admire this accomplishment, but the same outlook is not mirrored when it comes to mental health.

This is what I hope will change as society opens up about our vulnerabilities, because we all have them. I hope we commend each other for their bravery and perseverance to work on their mental health and happiness. I hope we admire each other when we finally get to where we want to be in our life. I hope we change the narrative of mental health and instead of viewing these challenges as weakness, we admire the person’s effort to do their best each and every day.

AFH Announces Mental Health Initiative: The Whole Being Athlete

Posted: May 1, 2021 Updated: May 1, 2021 by jbelinkie

Please be advised the following article contains mental health content that may be triggering to some.

This past year has been incredibly challenging for everyone’s mental health. A recent survey by the CDC found rates of self reported behavioral health symptoms to be double what they would have been pre-pandemic including: symptoms of anxiety or depression, having started or increased substance use, stress-related symptoms, and having serious thoughts of suicide in the past 30 days.

Athletes have not been immune to experiencing mental health struggles during the pandemic as an NCAA Student Athlete Well-Being Survey recently explored. The Survey found that student-athletes reported elevated rates of mental exhaustion, anxiety, hopelessness and feelings of depression. These rates were even more elevated in student-athletes of color, women, those on the queer spectrum, those living alone and those reporting financial hardship.

Recent studies highlight the way that mental health symptoms for elite athletes may even be heightened compared to those in the general population yet the unfortunate fact remains that the stigma of getting support for mental health is just as strong. AFH has also heard from countless athletes across all levels and sports who are struggling with their mental health or who want to take action and support others. For that reason, we are excited to open spaces for athletes to share about their own mental health journeys and link athletes to resources for support. Athletes for Hope’s initiative is a layered approach, rooted in advocacy and resource sharing, all amplified on social media in order to support the “Whole Being Athlete.”

In response to the challenges faced over the past year in particular, Athletes for Hope is thrilled to announce the launch of an ongoing Mental Health Initiative created to support athletes wherever they are in their athletic journey and beyond. Beginning today, we’re kicking things off to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month. Over the next 31 days AFH will be sharing engaging resources, compelling athlete stories and various ways to get involved in order to stop the stigma around mental health. Join us by tuning in, connecting and activating around mental health awareness and action.

AFH is grateful to help share the mental health stories of some brave athletes to inspire and support athletes on their own mental health journeys. Each week we will feature blogs, social media events and connections from professional, Olympic, Paralympic and student-athletes. We invite others to share their stories or participate in our events throughout the month and believe there is power in telling, sharing and owning our own stories.

Advocacy efforts in May will focus activations and service opportunities that feature and elevate the work of AFH’s mental health partners. AFH will host weekly discussions on Instagram Live with mental health partners that will be focused on how to advocate for mental health. These partners include:

The Hidden Opponent
Alliance of Social Workers in Sports (ASWIS)
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Sports Psychologist, Dr. Jessica Bartley
Danielle Berman of Tackle What’s Next

AFH will also offer resources every Friday during May to help athletes feel good during these challenging times including: Live yoga classes, guided meditation, and mindfulness exercises. Our “Feel Good Friday” sessions will elevate the positive examples of staying active and taking time for self care.

AFH is excited to contribute to the conversation around Mental Health by facilitating a discussion in front of 300 corporate executives about mental health as part of the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), offering Trauma Informed Training with DocWayne internally and externally and hosting check-ins throughout the year for our AFH athlete and partner network.

It is AFH’s hope that through an ongoing and robust approach to athlete mental health well-being we can all work to end the stigma of mental illness and strengthen athletes who are struggling with their own. With Pride Month in June, trainings for AFH University (AFH U) student-athletes around disaster preparedness, 9/11 Day of Service and World Mental Health Day in October, AFH will have year-round opportunities to not only shine a light on mental health but also take an intersectional approach to ending this stigma and advocating for better mental health resources for athletes at all levels. We aim to uplift the Whole Being Athlete.

If someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please call the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) hotline 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) M-F 10am-8pm Eastern or info@nami.org.

World Mental Health Day and Athletes

Posted: October 10, 2020 by Brooke McMillan

Today, October 10, 2020, is World Mental Health Day, and organizations around the world are sharing resources and focusing a much-needed spotlight on mental health. The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused a public health and mental health crisis that will continue to have far-reaching impacts for decades to come. Recent research shows that 53% of American’s reported feeling that their mental health has been impacted as a result of the pandemic due to “stress and worry.”

Today on our AFH social media feeds, we’ll be featuring stories of athletes, organizations, and resources to recognize and empower other athletes to join in the global mental health discussion. We hope that more athletes will come forward with courage and support others who may be silently struggling. We plan to elevate the work of incredible organizations working in this space and actively share resources for those in need.

We will continue to advocate for issues that impact athletes from across the globe and include athlete voices in the critical discussion. We invite you to read our OpEd on Athlete Resilience in Mental Health published in July 2020 and share it with those you know who may need to hear they are not alone.

Time to Re-envision Resilience with Elite Athletes Leading the Way

Posted: July 21, 2020 Updated: August 7, 2020 by Brooke McMillan

The 400-year sickness of racism continues to kill Black Americans, while a newer plague, COVID-19, has brought over 100,000 US deaths. That terrible loss of life does not fully encompass the current crisis, where traumatic grief, outrage, anger, and fear are themselves epidemic. The searing stress of unchecked racism burns like a national fever. Economic disruption, social distancing and sheltering at home add to the burden of coping. Mental health and domestic violence hotlines report large increases in calls for help. Alcohol and gun sales are up over 50%. While many people with mental health challenges suffer alone and in silence, others act out their emotional struggles, visiting their suffering on partners, family members, and in communities.

Living through this crisis has shown us how much our mental health and resilience depend on access to key psychological, social, and economic resources. In the case of athletes, critical coping resources like training facilities, workout opportunities, and team contacts are largely inaccessible. Opportunities to compete are mostly absent. Some colleges are cutting sport programs, and schedules at every level remain uncertain. Constrained from fully expressing their athletic identities and deprived of usual supports, athletes are facing significant mental health vulnerabilities.

Research suggests that, broadly speaking, elite athletes are no less vulnerable to mental health problems than the general population. A 2019 IOC review documented significant rates of depression, anxiety, sleep problems, disordered eating, and substance abuse among top athletes. A new NCAA study found a 150-250% increase in college athlete reports of mental health problems over comparable pre-COVID surveys, with athletes of color showing the highest level of concern. The current crisis is hitting athletes hard precisely because of the pressure for them to appear emotionally invulnerable.

The myth of athlete invulnerability has long hidden the human side of our sports heroes. Male and female athletes have long been taught to push against and push away their emotional needs, keeping their personal struggles secret. Mental toughness has meant a single-minded drive through adversity and an imperative to never show weakness. The toxic mix of inflexible, self-reliant coping strategies and denial of emotional vulnerability, forecloses help-seeking and can lead to tragic outcomes such as suicide, self-harm, domestic violence, sexual assault, and addiction.

Athletes facing today’s doubly shadowed valley of racism and pandemic need new sources of resilience, as their familiar strategies of toughening up and tightening down are not sufficient. To thrive in this unique period of adversity, athletes must break with outmoded assumptions about athletic strength and weakness, and acknowledge, accept, and embrace emotional vulnerability as an essential step toward mobilizing resilience. Today’s athletes have a unique opportunity to demonstrate what true courage looks like. They can embody emotionally healthy resilience, modeling the best of what we reach for, as competitors and as human beings.

Our hearts lift when we see the US Women’s Soccer team win the World Cup, marvel at the artistry of Michael Jordan, or watch Michael Phelps win 28 Olympic medals. But in the shadow of the triumphant champion athlete lies an impoverished image of healthy emotional life. Seeing athletic heroes as carefree entertainment icons, rather than as people who feel and fail, suffer and struggle, ill serves the human beings who give themselves over to the rigors of training and the demands of competitive excellence. The myth of athlete invulnerability leaves us with unhealthy role models and perpetuates the misconception that embracing vulnerability is a sign of weakness.

Fortunately, new images of athletic strength are emerging as courageous champions Hope Solo, Brandon Marshall, Kevin Love, Chamique Holdsclaw, Daniel Carcillo, Serena Williams, and others break the silence on emotional pain, acknowledge their vulnerabilities, and move beyond unhealthy, hyper-masculine models of mental toughness. They show us what it looks like to experience depression, anxiety, anger, fear, or shame, and then rise, moving forward with determination and dignity, undeterred by the old idea that vulnerability means weakness. These courageous leaders have shown us the way to humanizing heroes and normalizing vulnerability.

Busting free the myth of invulnerability liberates athletes from soul-crushing expectations. Courageously vulnerable athletes model a more balanced, humane, accepting, and affirming athletic identity. An emotionally healthy athletic culture acknowledges mental suffering as a part of human experience, endorses reaching out for support, rewards enlisting help when needed, and celebrates excellence achieved without the price of emotional and physical harm to self or to others.

Courageously vulnerable athletes elevate a new image of resilience, reducing stigma around emotional challenges and honoring strength in reaching out to supports. By embracing vulnerability and still rising, resilient athlete role models lead us along the path toward ending forever the silent suffering and harmful acting out that too many athletes, too many family members, too many fans, and too many communities have endured.

Jim Helling, LICSW, CMPC
Alliance of Social Workers in Sports

Suzanne Potts, LMSW, MPH
Athletes for Hope

Social Workers as Positive Sports Allies in Mental Health

Posted: June 22, 2020 Updated: June 22, 2020 by Brooke McMillan

Many athletes around the world are using their voices to advocate for change, and there are professional groups supporting them from a vast network from the field of social work. Across a large group of professional social workers runs a thread of interests and skills that focus on the advocacy, support and treatment of athletes. The Alliance of Social Workers in Sports (ASWIS) mission is, “.. is to promote individual and community well-being through partnerships between the profession of social work and the field of athletics. We focus on partnerships in practice, research, and policy, with involvement and awareness in all areas where social work and sports systems intersect“ and is a “..collective voice for social workers to advocate for and educate administrators and organizations about the breadth and depth social workers can uniquely bring to athletes and athlete culture.”

ASWIS was formed in 2015 to help provide a platform for social workers working with athletes or in sports to “partner with and contribute to all levels and call segments of sport.” This dynamic group of mental health professionals provides education, training, networking, collaboration and a certification program for social workers looking to work in sport. This network supports athletes by providing clinicians, consulting, resources and education to athletes at all levels of sport. Their membership has grown to over 400+ social workers working in sport, and provides an annual conference, committees in youth/college/professional sports, International sport, education and clinical practices.

AFH has been thrilled to work with Anita A. Daniels, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, CCS, current Vice President of ASWIS and founder at Actualities, Ltd, who hosted two free mental health check in sessions with the AFH athlete network last month. These sessions focused on athlete identity during the COVID crisis, addressing barriers and then discussing practical tips and resources that athletes at all levels could include to strengthen and support their mental health.The ASWIS network also created a comprehensive list of mental health COVID Responses and resources for their members. It can be found on their blog for those looking for specific pandemic support resources.

Here are two infographic resources ASWIS created to support and strengthen athlete mental health during a global pandemic.

We are collaborating with ASWIS to continue the dialogue on athlete mental health with an OpEd (coming soon!), more mental health resources and opportunities in the intersection between social work and sport. Their continued leadership and education about athlete mental health is leading the way for others interested in this space and we look forward to having more athlete voices at the table in discussing athlete mental health. AFH collaborated with mental health professionals to create a “Quick Hitter” graphic guide to athlete mental health. It’s meant to be a high level checklist of signs to look for, what to say and do and a few specific mental health resources if you suspect a teammate is struggling with their mental health.

The AFH team is committed to continue the conversation with our athlete network about mental health and advocate for resources, volunteers and more. Check out our recent collaboration with friends at DocWayne who hosted a Facebook live event for kids and COVID with Erica McLain, USATF, Olympian and advocate and look for more like this in the future.

Suzanne Potts LMSW, MPH
Director, AFH University