Overcoming the Mental Health Stigma among Student-Athletes

A Safe Space for student-athletes to feel comfortable talking about their personal mental health challenges and experiences

The outside perception of student-athletes is that they get special treatment and are lucky to have access to everything they could ever need: a full scholarship to school, new apparel, team provided meals, easy access to tutors and other resources, and the ability to say that they are a collegiate athlete. Because of this, there is an invisible barrier among student-athletes to voice their personal issues and seek out assistance to help with their problems.

Student-athletes don't want to be seen from the outside as looking vulnerable or weak because they are having issues related to stress, anxiety, or depression. This results in many individuals being hesitant to seek out help or talk about their issues, and choosing instead to deal with their challenges alone internally. Pushing your personal mental health issues aside and attempting to deal with them internally only leads to further mental strain, which can lead to more severe symptoms and consequences as a result.

The best medicine for mental health is the ability to write and talk openly about your challenges with others who are in similar situations, while the biggest obstacle is getting people to feel comfortable talking openly about their issues over a fear of appearing weak, vulnerable, or privileged.

According to the NCAA’s chief medical officer, mental health is the single most important health and safety issue facing student-athletes. Sadly, data from NCAA reports also show that only 10% of collegiate athletes ask for help. In a recently released NCAA survey with responses from over 9,800 student-athletes, 69% of women’s sports participants and 63% of men’s sports participants said that they can identify a mental health facility on their campus.

Yet, less than half of the survey participants said that they would feel comfortable visiting or seeking support from a mental health provider on campus.