Coaches need to take the lead on this now more than ever.

There is no doubt about that fact mental health is incredibly important, now more than ever. We are in the throes of a global pandemic, one that requires us to concentrate and focus on protecting our physical safety. Our athletes will experience return to school a little differently than most students and they will feel additional stress. They will be required to maintain their level of fitness by going to the gym and training in their sport but it will look very different and we must be mindful of that.

Athletes tend to thrive on routine, rituals, and preparedness, all of which are going to prove quite challenging over the next few months. Coaches are going to be required to proceed in a manner they have never experienced before. They will have to ensure their athletes are prepared for competition when sport is given the green light…both physically and mentally. Doing so while maintaining distance and getting in the way of forming relationships so necessary in developing healthy teams.

When this pandemic ends, as it will, we will see the unveiling of an echo pandemic. That echo pandemic is mental health. If we want our athletes to be ready to compete, to be healthy, we must attend to how this pandemic will impact their mental health. There are many great mental health incentives that exist and we will see more come forward as our world strives to provide support to one another. Unfortunately few will allow you to support your athletes and coaches during this time of confusion and unknown.

MindfulAthletics has spent the last six years working specifically in the world of sport with athletes, coaches, and parents around sport specific mental health stressors. The weight of these athlete specific stressors will increase over the next few months and the only way we are going to be able to support our athletes is to support them every step of the way.

As we are faced with increasing our understanding, discussion, and treatment around mental health we must work with athletes in a specific way and so as to not get caught up in the confusion. Confusion around the facts and how to best support and help people — this is especially true when working with athletes. We have come to understand there are misconceptions that exist in working with athlete mental health and we are here to set the record straight.

Let’s get clear on some misconceptions, with some true or false statements:

• Sport offers so many tremendous pro-social opportunities. However, there can be a shadow side to sport.
  • True. Sport helps people develop amazing lifelong skills such as leadership, resiliency, connection and confidence. Yet participation in sport can also yield pressure, expectation, and criticism which impacts the overall experience and mental health of participants.
• The mental health treatment of athletes should be the same as the way we treat mental health in the general public.
  • This one is false. We must consider the uniqueness of the sporting culture and cannot treat athletes the same way we treat the general public when it comes to mental heath concerns. PS. This is where the importance of “sport specific mental health” language comes in to play.
• The majority of mental health incentives that exist in sport continue to put the responsibility to get help on the athlete in a sporting culture where they are strongly encouraged to be tough, show no weakness, and push or play through any level of distress.
  • Yes, this is true AND incredibly confusing for our athletes. Unfortunately, this approach can promote silence and stigma in the world of sport specific mental health.

So, what does this all mean for our athletes right now? In order to give athletes a more well-rounded and more positive experience, the people who control and set the tone around the environment our athletes exist in must create a sporting environment and culture where they feel comfortable and safe addressing mental health concerns. We cannot put the responsibility on athletes to ‘step up.’ We cannot ask them to come forward. We have been given an opportunity, as leaders in sport, to reevaluate and consider what kind of environment we are creating; a chance to consider if we are using this time wisely and creating a culture that promotes mental health conversation and attention.

We move towards athletes when they are physically injured, support staff rallies around them and works very hard to get them back to themselves. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to sport specific mental health. Let’s piggyback the physical rehab model in sport and do the same when an athlete is struggling with sport specific mental health concerns. Let’s move towards the athlete and rally around them. Now is the time. They need their leaders to take the lead on this one now more than ever.