By Charles A. Maher
Mental health in sports has recently been prominently featured in the United States and around the world, including in New Jersey. There have been personal accounts from high-profile athletes describing their mental well-being; reports of suicides of high school and college athletes striving for perfection; and incidences of bullying and hazing of high school teammates. Not surprisingly, these circumstances have spurred attention to athlete wellness and the availability of mental health resources.
In terms of mental health, professional sports franchises, intercollegiate athletics divisions, and high school athletic departments are challenged to respond to the mental health needs of their athletes and coaches. Tangible actions and programs are needed here, not words and promises. Although clinical treatment of individual athletes with mental health problems is essential, mental health in sports organizations must go far beyond responding to individual mental health problems. The more general task is to build a mentally healthy sports organization.
The task of building such an organization falls on many people: licensed mental health professionals, coaches, support staff, administrators, parents, and even athletes. These people can work together collaboratively to create an environment that is conducive to mental health not only for athletes but also for coaches and staff.
What does a mentally healthy sports organization look like? There is evidence from research and professional practice, including my own, that allows for a focus on the mental health of athletes, coaches, and staff of sports organizations.
To that end, the 12 indicators, outlined below, can serve as a checklist for stakeholders who are motivated to build a mentally healthy sports organization, whether at the professional, college or high school level:
- The commitment of the executives of the sports organization is assumed to invest, monetarily and as a priority, in mental health programs and services for its athletes, coaches and staff.
- Mental health in the sports organization is positively defined as the athlete’s ability to effectively cope with their daily demands; interact productively with others and contribute to the larger community.
- Key mental health leaders and contributors are identified, such as coaches, licensed mental health contributors, counselors, and others.
- There is a process for the evaluation of the mental and emotional development of athletes, coaches and staff, as a basis for the development of the mental health program.
- Athletes are taught to accept themselves as people, with a set of core values and a vision of life, beyond their sport.
- Athletes are also instructed to deal effectively with the risks they face – the people, places, substances, and circumstances that can derail their performance and their lives.
- Athletes learn to be good separators by keeping their performance as athletes separate from themselves as people, beyond the sport.
- Coaches and staff receive instruction so they can be mental health literate.
- A team culture is established that leads to mental health.
- There is a process for the referral of athletes for mental health intervention to licensed mental health professionals.
- There are emergency action plans and mental health crises
- A committee of stakeholders evaluates mental health initiatives periodically.
While a mentally healthy sports organization does not preclude mental health problems for individual athletes, such an entity increases the likelihood of positive mental health for all involved.
Charles A. Maher, PsyD, CMPC, FAASP, is professor emeritus of psychology in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. Maher is also a sports and performance psychologist for the Cleveland Guardians Baseball Organization, founder of the Rutgers Sports Psychology Concentration, and a member of the Positive Coaching Alliance National Advisory Board. His latest book, due out this fall, is “Promoting the Mental Health of Athletes, Coaches and Staff.”
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