TM Robinson Mosley, PhD, presenting at the Minnesota Twins’ Techstars Demo Day earlier this year.
In August 2024, the world of sport will witness the launch of The playbookan innovative software platform designed to transform the way athletes and sports organizations approach mental health and wellbeing. TM Robinson-Mosley, Ph.D., a second-generation counseling psychologist with extensive experience in sports mental health, has been working on developing The Playbook since 2018. This new software aims to fill a major gap at the current intersection between athlete wellbeing and performance.
Dr. Mosley’s career path to developing this technology is informed by her personal experiences and professional expertise. As a former athlete working in the mental health space in sport, she saw the intersection of the impact mental well-being has on athletic performance. Through her work in various leadership roles at the university level, she saw the huge need for greater access to help and resources. “If it’s built into the system, then help and support becomes part of the ecosystem,” says Dr. Mosley. Through her role as associate vice dean at Dartmouth and associate vice provost and dean of students at UC Santa Cruz, these positions fueled her interest in further investigating how performance and well-being are interconnected.
Despite growing recognition of the importance of mental health in sports, Dr. Mosley noticed a persistent gap in the market. “If we’re so interested in the physical health of athletes, why aren’t we focusing on mental health?” asks Dr. Mosley. In 2018, she transitioned into entrepreneurship full-time after starting her private practice in 2014. She decided not to continue working in isolation, but would instead embrace opportunities where she could work within the ecosystem, directly with leaders of large organizations. Dr. Mosley and her team began working with organizations like the NCAA and NBA. When demand for services increased during COVID, she began thinking about entering the tech sector, which is where the idea for The Playbook came from.
“How do we quantify mental health statistics that give people concrete metrics about their mental health?” Dr. Mosley asked. She also began to consider the various care providers and individuals within these organizations who are tasked with caring for athletes. “The Playbook is an app and web-based dashboard that quantifies mental health status and tracks things like stress, well-being, and resilience,” Dr. Mosley explains. The Playbook not only provides quantifiable mental health metrics, but also provides actionable insights to improve performance.
The Playbook is a patent-pending, HIPAA-compliant SaaS platform that offers gamified psychological assessments for athletes aged 14-40. Through these short questionnaires, key metrics such as stress, wellbeing, and resilience are tracked. In turn, personalized game plans are provided to improve performance through the lens of mental health and wellbeing. The athlete would log into the app to complete the questionnaires and view their plans, while team staff or administrator would see an anonymous overview of their team’s results. “Data security and privacy are of utmost importance to us – players must consent to data being collected and who has access to it,” explains Dr. Mosley.
When asked if The Playbook is a clinical platform, as it is HIPAA compliant, he replies, “We are not a clinical platform and that is intentional – we are designed to catch you before you are in a diagnosable range of a mental health disorder.” The desktop dashboard allows mental health professionals and other team clinicians with approved access to identify athletes who need support proactively, rather than reacting to crises. The Playbook is designed to be a versatile tool for many different levels of sports.
“The Playbook is a sports performance platform designed from a mental health perspective,” explains Dr. Mosley. The app’s AI and machine learning capabilities ensure that the more engaged users are, the more personalized their experience will be. Through the quantifiable snapshot of team wellbeing, The Playbook can help organizations deliver strategic and intentional care, ultimately resulting in improved performance and overall athlete wellbeing. The Playbook, which is set to launch in August 2024, aims to integrate mental health metrics into the fabric of sports training, ultimately helping athletes and organizations achieve peak performance. As Dr. Mosley puts it, “looking after your mental health gives you a competitive advantage.”
