Breaking the Stigma?

08/31/22

Reducing the stigma of mental health in athletics has come a long way in many regards. I certainly didn’t grow up as an athlete in a time where professional athletes like Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and Kevin Love talked about the importance of their mental health. There is no question that the discussion around mental health has become more commonplace in sports. I think a lot of that is due to the increasing rates of mental health concerns among athletes and many star athletes talking about it. The mental health of athletes simply isn’t a topic that can be ignored anymore.

I’m thankful for this progress, but I think it’s important we don’t confuse mental health entering the discussion in sports as the end of the conversation, when I think it’s just the beginning.

There are many mental health campaigns in sports now that perpetuate discussions and promote awareness around mental health (which is great), but I believe lasting change in “Breaking the Stigma” is only truly possible when EVERYONE in sports culture “buys” into this message and mission.

There is no question this generation of athletes is growing up in a time where mental health is less stigmatized more so than ever before; however, many of these athletes still have parents or are being coached by a generation who grew up in a time where stigma was higher and mental health awareness was lower. I’m not generalizing this to include all coaches and parents, but it’s important to consider, especially because it comes up a lot in the work with my younger athlete clients.

This leads me to posing the question are we overestimating how much progress is actually being made in destigmatizing mental health in sports?

If we don’t acknowledge the influence and impact coaches, parents, and other athletic personnel have on our athletes who interact with them regularly then I think we are missing a significant piece of the puzzle. Improving athletes’ attitudes towards mental health is great, but what if they don’t have a supportive parent who helps them actually get the help they need? This is where the potential discrepancy between an athlete’s attitude vs. parent’s attitude can become a barrier to making real strides towards “Breaking the Stigma.”

I believe in order to see the sustainable changes in breaking the stigma we have to target EVERYONE involved in sports (parents, coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, etc.) to revamp the culture to one that values and integrates mental health into its foundation.  

If I’ve learned anything as a former athlete it’s the importance of the TEAM approach in order to be successful and be effective on and off the field. If we want to see meaningful change we need all players and personnel involved to be working towards the same mission—Breaking the Stigma. Otherwise, maybe our efforts are working towards bending the stigma but not breaking it?