Jeni Shannon’s work with UNC athletes highlights importance of mental health resources

Mounting research supports the importance of sport psychology, especially in schools and sports programs with high performance expectations.

At UNC, a Power Five school that holds every team to a national competition standard, establishing mental health programs for athletes is especially critical to their overall well-being.

Jeni Shannon, director of the Mental Health and Performance Psychology Program at Carolina Athletics, is one of three full-time providers at UNC who is pioneering the athletics department’s approach to sport psychology. Shannon, along with Brendan Carr and Bradley Hack, are developing programs to help address mental illness within the UNC athletic community.

When Shannon was a senior in high school, a career-ending injury took her out of the world of competitive gymnastics and turned her into a coach. An undergraduate course at the University of Arizona called “The Psychology of Excellence” exposed her to the field of sports psychology, and she noted the relevance of it through her own experience in sports and her time. of her with the players.

While Shannon acknowledges that UNC provides “an exciting athletic culture to be a part of,” she is also aware of the impact of high athletic expectations coupled with academic rigor.

“I think the flip side of this can be (that) it’s a lot of pressure and sometimes you’re very public,” Shannon said. “There is a lot of expectation. It’s a hard life, it really is.”

The impact of Shannon and her colleagues’ work within the athletic space reveals a key oversight within the field of sports medicine when it comes to mental health, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parker Austin, a rising senior volleyball player, saw life as an athlete at UNC before and after COVID-19, saying being an athlete during the pandemic was an isolating experience.

“It’s this endless cycle of waking up, working out, going to practice, coming home, taking a shower and going to bed,” Austin said. “It’s just this chronic cycle where you get stuck and you don’t come out of your room, and you just can’t see other people. That affected me quite a bit.”

AMP has grown exponentially in recent years, growing from one to three full-time providers. According to Shannon, most of the work she and her colleagues do involves interacting with athletes one-on-one, but there are also multiple new initiatives that aim to incentivize greater peer leadership within sports teams themselves.

UNC field hockey head coach Karen Shelton said Shannon’s work with her team has been “outstanding.”

Shannon hosts weekly 30-minute meetings with the team, providing a safe space to discuss topics such as athletic performance and team and social issues.

“It gives everyone a role on the team,” Shelton said. “No matter what your position is, you have a voice. I think that’s one of the most important things, but also performance. If you’re not having a good game, having a tool or something you can think of that can get you back in.”

Shannon works directly with various athletic teams at UNC through sessions, outreach, and programming. She says there is also a new focus on training coaches so they can be better equipped when mental health issues arise within their teams.

Another important aspect of the integration of sport psychology in the UNC Department of Sports Medicine is the effort to destigmatize the discussion of performance issues and stress.

“Mental health is health,” Shannon said. “It’s not separate, it’s just a part of your health. I think one of the most important things we can do is approach it like we do physical health. For coaches to bring it up and talk about it. For athletic trainers and team doctors monitor mental health along with physical health. Have athletes willing to talk to each other about it.”

By ensuring players feel comfortable discussing mental health issues with their coaching staff and peers, Shannon and her team are able to collectively build a safer space for athletes at UNC.

While AMP is growing, three full-time providers may not be adequate for a large population of athletes. Some have expressed concern that the number of providers may not match the increased demand for mental health services.

“It’s amazing to see UNC as a whole starting to de-stigmatize mental health,” said Madi Pry, a UNC women’s soccer volunteer assistant and rising junior. “We are having more conversations about it and encouraging people to seek help. But again, we have three full-time sports psychologists for over 800 athletes, which of course will create waiting lists.”

However, the presence of an extensive waiting list highlights the prominence of Shannon’s work in the UNC athletic community and shows that AMP is a program that UNC must continue to develop.

“The influence they’re having on athletes now and retired and in the future is going to be huge,” Austin said. “I’m excited to see how it continues to grow and how it can continue to help students because it’s really, really important.”

Shelby Swanson contributed reporting to this story.

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