Mental Health Home Runs

Student-athletes are masters of multitasking. Often managing school work, a social life, sports, and other extracurricular activities, searching for balance in the madness can be a juggling act.

Athletes at all levels can experience extreme pressure, often pushing their bodies– and their minds–to the limit. Couple that with everything else required of student-athletes, and life can quickly become overwhelming.

Still, candid conversations about mental health in athletic spaces can be taboo. According to one study, only 10% of student-athletes with mental health conditions seek help. That’s why courageous athletes speaking up about their experiences are paving the way to destigmatize mental health in sports. Their advocacy is also attributed to schools and organizations beefing up their mental health offerings, changing the game for athletes by giving them the care they need.

Check out these athletes and advocates who are hitting home runs to destigmatize mental health in sports:

Ivy Watts: Track and field star turned mental health empowerment speaker

After quietly struggling with anxiety, self-worth, and depression as a track and field student-athlete, Ivy experienced first-hand the stigma around mental health in the sports world, as her coaches and mentors prioritized her physical health and disregarded her emotions. It wasn’t until after she graduated college that she began to break her silence about the mental health hurdles she faced. Once she sought out therapy, she was able to pull herself out of a dark place and began shedding light on the pressures of being a student-athlete.

Now, Ivy is a fierce advocate for destigmatizing mental health in college sports. As a renowned speaker, she travels all over the country and “has empowered over 20,000 students and over 10,000 administrators/coaches, as well as parents and employees to learn the power of self-love and self-care, for themselves and for others.”

Jacklyn Oleksak: Softball player and brave advocate for vulnerability

Mental health advocacy starts with getting real about the emotional challenges that people face. Regardless of the sport, athletes often find themselves in spaces that don’t promote vulnerability, making it more difficult to find the resources they need to process difficult emotions. After all, something like sprained ankle is more likely to receive treatment than a mental illness. In an article she wrote, softball player Jacklyn Oleksak reveals the double standard that exists in college sports regarding mental health. She says:

“Athletes are used to playing through pain we experience, hiding injuries from the coach so we don’t get taken out of a game, and always minimizing the pain we experience. It is a part of being an athlete — that we can overcome obstacles we face — but what happens when we cannot see that obstacle? When that obstacle is inside our head and seemingly never goes away? What happens when we cannot compartmentalize our thoughts that are causing us inexplicable pain?”

As an athlete with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety, Jacklyn knows firsthand how challenging it is to cope with mental illness in an arena where physical illness and injury are taken far more seriously. Her vulnerability is paving the way for athletes like her to speak up about their own struggles, which I love to see.

Joey Julius: From kicking field goals to tackling stigma

Let’s face it: we don’t often hear about football players dealing with eating disorders, do we? However, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, men make up as much as 40% of eating disorder cases and about half of binge eating disorder cases. Still, most disordered eating among men goes unreported, and even more so in sports.

You can imagine that when Joey Julius first noticed his disordered eating patterns, it was incredibly difficult to seek help. He didn’t see anyone else on his team going through the same thing, at least on the surface, which likely felt isolating. This feeling extends outward to the sports world in general, as male athletes are the smallest group to report and seek treatment for eating disorders.

As a well-known kicker for Penn State, Joey faced media scrutiny for his weight, which further fueled his binge eating disorder. After undergoing treatment, he opened up about his experiences and now raises awareness about eating disorders and depression among male athletes. Hats off to you, Joey, for being a team player on and off the field.

Justin McKenzie and Danny Divis: Hockey buddies unite for mental health support

It’s not every day that you see two hockey bros making waves in the mental health space, but I’m all for it! Justin McKenzie and Danny Divis, who played ice hockey together at Saint Michael's College in Vermont, started an on-campus support group called Hope Happens Here. They came up with the idea after their friend and fellow student-athlete committed suicide. The traumatic event led them both to seek counseling, which made them realize how critical mental health resources are.

By starting Hope Happens Here, Justin and Danny’s goal is to make it easier for student-athletes to open up about their mental health struggles and seek out the help they need. The organization puts together support groups for students and student-athletes to process their emotions in a safe space. Since starting the organization, students from other schools have started their own Hope Happens Here chapters, showing how planting seeds of support can allow awesome resources to flourish.

Ian Thorpe: Swimming toward anti-bullying in sports

Convinced that mental illness in sports is severely under-reported, Ian Thorpe, an Olympic swimming champion, is a strong advocate for destigmatizing mental health and shedding light on the bullying that many young athletes face. After first being questioned by the media about his sexuality when he was only 16, Ian’s journey to coming out as a gay man was a difficult one fraught with bullying and extreme social pressure. He has also been candid about his struggles with depression and substance abuse, citing perfectionism and external pressure as the cause.

Once he retired from swimming, Ian threw himself behind mental health, indigenous literacy, anti-bullying, and gay rights advocacy. His fuel for change? He says, “I always thought of myself as more than whatever I did in the pool. I had a mindset that I still wanted to do great things with the rest of my life. I wasn’t sure what they were going to be at the time, but I knew that I could move forwards.”

DeMar DeRozan: Breaking the silence on the college athlete mental health crisis

With one simple tweet, “This depression get the best of me…” DeMar DeRozan broke his long silence about the severe depression and anxiety he was experiencing. Since then, the former University of Southern California basketball star-turned-NBA athlete has continued his advocacy, using his platform to advocate for better mental health resources in sports.

In 2019, DeRozan joined fellow NBA player Kevin Love on a panel discussion about mental health, hoping to spark more conversations around the topic. For somebody in the public eye to bravely speak up about their innermost feelings is admirable, but even more when considering how rare it is for pro-level athletes to do so.

Ernie Duncan: Proving that it’s okay to take mental health breaks

Former University of Vermont basketball player Ernie Duncan faced depression, regular panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts during his junior year, leading to his quiet resignation from his team. Oftentimes student-athletes feel like they can’t take breaks from playing sports, especially if it's for their mental well-being. However, this dark and difficult period in Ernie’s life made stepping away from sports (at least for some time) inevitable.

Ernie was able to find the help he needed, but it wasn’t easy to open up. Reflecting on the experience, he said, “I feel like people, especially men, are almost afraid to cry. I was afraid to cry and I think that contributed to where I was.” After taking a much-needed break from basketball, Ernie returned to the court with a fresh perspective and desire to help other athletes like him. In a 2019 interview, he says, “I want somebody to read (this) story and find some type of comfort or a way to relax themselves, to understand that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.” It’s the growth and vulnerability for me!

Opening up about difficult emotions is hard for most people, let alone athletes who exist in a world where there’s extra stigma around mental health. These 7 athletes-turned-advocates are hitting home runs, breaking records, and slam-dunking when it comes to vulnerability, paving the way for others to do the same.

Some of the stories in this article might be triggering or even resonate with your experience as a student-athlete. DoSomething has a diverse mental health resource hub, which is there if you need it. It’s 2023, ya’ll, and open conversations about mental health are IN!