Seeking mental health care can be a hard decision, especially for student-athletes in the spotlight on college campuses. The stereotypes and expectations can weigh heavily on players, putting them in a unique position few understand better than Clewiston Challenger, an assistant professor of counseling in the Neag School of Education and a former UConn football player.
It can be hard for athletes to ask for help because of the stigmas that surround mental health, Challenger said. As the topic of mental health in college athletics has grown increasingly popular in recent years, Challenger said a key to continuing those strides and making athletes feel more comfortable discussing mental illness is to increase visibility and make sure everyone in the athletic department is equipped to help.
“It needs to be part of that model,” Challenger said, “so that all coaches, athletic advisers, academic advisers — anyone that comes in contact with the athletes — are able to know where to send an athlete to get the resources they need and assess and identify the triggers of crisis if someone’s going through something mentally.”
Colleges across the country have begun taking steps to better care for student athletes’ mental health as more and more athletes come forward with stories of the mental health issues they face. UConn is among the schools that have started prioritizing mental health among student athletes in recent years to address concerns, hiring a director of student-athlete counseling and mental health services, bringing in speakers and striving to increase visibility and accessibility.
“UConn takes the same approach to serving athletes’ mental health needs as it does for all of our students: First and foremost, we want the services to be highly visible and easily accessible,” university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said. “It’s important that all students know that help is available, and for the university to invest the time and resources into offering the best services possible.”
A study published by the NCAA in 2016 showed that roughly 30 percent of student-athletes felt “intractably overwhelmed” within a month of the survey, around 25 percent were mentally exhausted from their sport and around 30 percent lacked energy to do things outside of their sport. While the study showed 73 percent of athletes felt comfortable discussing mental health with their coaches, the numbers were lower for women.
Student-athletes are unique because they are faced with the ordinary pressures of college — many are away from home for the first time — and balancing their academic responsibilities with their athletic commitments, especially if they’re scholarship athletes who rely on sports to pay for their education. Realizing the array of potential stressors, the NCAA has continued to update its list of mental health best practices. Among the list is having a licensed professional whose focus is on athletes and will serve as a go-to for players.
Dawn Shadron, as director of student-athlete counseling and mental health services, is that go-to person at UConn. According to Reitz, Shadron and others at UConn’s counseling and mental health services office work closely with the athletic trainers, coaches and nutritionists, to take an “integrative approach” to ensure they’re giving the athletes the best care they can. The NCAA recommends approaches such as this because those closest to athletes are more likely to recognize differences in behavior or signs an athlete might need help.
“That approach helps us ensure the students are getting the most appropriate services for their individual situation,” Reitz said. “For instance, if an athlete has an injury and might benefit from meeting with a counselor about their emotions surrounding that.”
Challenger said that while coaches and trainers aren’t mental health professionals, it’s good that they pay attention to the behavior their players are exhibiting and act as a guiding hand toward mental health care when players are reluctant to reach out themselves. Believing they’re showing weakness can make players fear for their playing time or feel excluded, whether that’s actually a valid concern or not, Challenger said. The result of this can be athletes not reaching out when they need help, Challenger said, and retreating into themselves.
“It’s a tough balance because coaches are employed to push the athletes to their physical and mental and emotional excellence to perform on their field of play,” Challenger said, “so it’s almost like it’s a military service where they’re breaking you down to build you back up to be part of a team and a system, so that’s the psychological battle that the coaches balance. And to be honest a lot of coaches aren’t trained in mental illness and clinical therapy to help student athletes. They are aware of it, they’re aware of the academic needs and the physiological needs the athletes have, but they’re starting to know more about the component of mental illness and mental health, which is great.”
UConn has come a long way in terms of mental health care for student athletes since 2003, Challenger said. Student athletes’ mental health wasn’t neglected back then, but there’s more visibility and awareness of mental health and the resources the university can offer, he said. Coaches are more aware and talk more openly with players about their options, and mental health is starting to be talked about alongside athletes’ athletic and academic performance.
“Now that I’ve started to come back into the athletic program and working with the athletic department and the clinical mental health department with the university, I now see a great emergence between the two of them,” Challenger said. “I can now say that there’s a stronger push toward the balance of mental health and mental wellness for student athletes.”
As they continue to try to improve mental health care for student athletes, the athletic department has brought in speakers to discuss why it’s so important. In April the department brought in Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer, to talk about mental health. Now, the athletic department joined in over a week of events to raise awareness for mental health with the rest of the AAC.
Led by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, tables were set up four days ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week (which is Oct. 7-13), athletes from every sport wore green ribbons or stickers during their games and there was an open discussion as well as yoga to end the week of events.
