Mental Health Awareness is a High Priority with Temple Athletics

From an early age, athletes are programmed to be tough. When injured, they get back in the game. When fatigued, they keep grinding. When they come up short, they work harder. However, over the last several years, athletes and individuals across the globe have begun to realize that it is okay to not be okay, especially when it comes to mental health.

In December of 2017, Temple Athletics took a major step towards mental wellness by bringing in Dr. Stephany Coakley to serve as the Senior Associate AD for Mental Health, Wellness and Performance. She became Temple's first mental health professional with the specific focus of student-athletes.

Prior to Coakley's hiring, the tides were already beginning to turn within multiple facets of collegiate athletics. First, student-athletes within Temple, the American and the NCAA were using their increasingly powerful voice to advocate for resources and awareness.

In the summer of 2017, the American Athletic Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) convened in Rhode Island for their annual conference. At this meeting the student-athletes decided that their annual initiative would surround ending the stigma of mental health. At this time the conference and its member institutions decided that they would support student-athletes in committing their time and resources to the cause.

Athletics departments began to offer their support as well. Through the PowerfulMinds initiative, universities began to hire in-house mental health professionals with the focus on student-athletes. Prior to this shift "it seemed like athletics departments were missing out on the opportunity to help student-athletes" said Coakley.

Bringing in Coakley was a major victory for student-athletes, and they felt as if this demonstrated the Athletic Department's commitment to change. "When I joined, we had an athletic director that was committed to the mental health of student-athletes," added Coakley.

SAAC President and Temple golfer, Matt Kristick discussed the evolution of the PowerfulMinds initiative in saying "with the help of all institutions across the American and the country, we have been able to make people feel more comfortable and willing to talk about mental health."

When Coakley arrived, she not only met with student-athletes, but she created toolkits in order to provide student-athletes an extensive portfolio of resources. Temple field hockey player and SAAC executive board member Christina Carotenuto discussed some of these, "we've put a very heavy emphasis on our resources such as TUWell, Talkspace, and Headspace to encourage students to reach out and get help, or simply just take care of themselves during these very stressful times."

Coakley discussed some of the changes she has already seen surrounding the stigma of mental health. "I have seen a large jump in people's willingness to address mental health" said Coakley, but she notes that maintaining wellness is important and "nothing has to be wrong in order to want to be better."

The system that Coakley has created allows student-athletes to sign up for sessions on their own, or to refer other student-athletes that others recognize may need assistance. "Our community of coaches, academic advisors and athletic trainers are constantly watching out for the entire athletics family" Coakley added.

While both Temple and the NCAA have come a long way in the arena, everyone acknowledges that until there are no deaths by suicide, the initiative will be hard at work. "I hope that we can get to a place where everybody will check in on their mental health, regardless of if they believe something is wrong" added Coakley.

"As the stigmas around mental health start not being as prevalent, I see this initiative saving lives and getting people help. I see this opening up dialogue in college athletics, but also professional sports as well. It starts small with us but can grow if we put as much time and effort into it as we have" said Carotenuto.

COVID-19 has brought on many, atypical points of stress for student-athletes. "The stressors related to injuries, performance, etc., have decreased, however as people have had to begin venturing back into an uncertain world, we have now started seeing student-athletes increase utilization of our services" said Coakley.

Kristick added, "with the help of our Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Jeremy Jordan, we are providing all student-athletes with care packages that include a variety of tools to help them as it pertains to their mental health."

During and beyond pandemics, the mental health of student-athletes and individuals everywhere needs to remain at the forefront of the discussion. There remains a long road ahead, but at every turn, the athletics department and its student-athletes remain committed to ending the stigma around mental health.

Temple University Athletics

Mental Health Awareness is a High Priority with Temple Athletics

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