Athletes Connected Making Immediate Impact on U-M Campus
1/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | General, Athletic News
Jan. 14, 2015
The Athletes Connected pilot project, funded by an NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant, is a collaboration between the University of Michigan School of Public Health, U-M Depression Center and U-M Athletic Department. Its goal is to increase awareness of mental health issues, reduce the stigma of help-seeking, and promote positive coping skills among student-athletes who are often reluctant to seek help when it comes to mental health. The program features engaging, personal videos -- "Will" and "Kally" -- and informal, drop-in support groups.
Check MGoBlue.com Friday (Jan. 16) for the third part in this series -- a follow-up report from the NCAA Convention where findings on Athletes Connected are being presented.
• Part 1: Athletes Connected Supports Student-Athlete Mental Health
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Beth Williams is an example of the impact the Athletes Connected program is making at the University of Michigan.
Williams, a water polo team captain, struggled with anxiety and depression to the point that she tried to harm herself. But with the help of an attentive coach and counseling, Williams turned the corner on better understanding herself and finding solutions that brought happiness.
Now, she's on fire about the mission of Athletes Connected and looks forward to regularly sharing thoughts and knowledge with other Wolverines student-athletes while encouraging her teammates to do so.
For Williams, torment gave way to coping with the difficult things in life.
Williams said the presentations Will Heininger and Kally Fayhee made to her team at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year prompted her to join small groups of student-athletes meeting to discuss their mental health needs.
"I want other points of view," Williams said. "I want to know how others have dealt with anxiety or stress.
"And now I want to help other people deal with that kind of stuff so they don't have to go through the same things I did or deal with it the same way. I talked to Will and really want to get involved this semester. I'm hoping to be involved as much as I can while I am here."
Heininger said the Michigan Athletic Department has decided to extend the program because of the special value it's had for student-athletes.
"That's awesome," said Williams, a senior from Carlsbad (Calif.) High. "I wish I had had this program when I was a freshman. It's nice to be in a room of other student-athletes. It's nice to be in a space where they aren't judging you. It feels normal -- other people go through this -- and that would've been huge for me back then. I thought I was the only one in the world dealing with depression or anxiety."
Heininger said Athletes Connected began when Michigan received a grant of $50,000 from the NCAA after presenting the proposed program in a presentation last year. The grant funded the program start-up that included a pair of videos in which he and Fayhee told their stories.
"Those videos have prompted a ton of people to seek help," Heininger said. "And we created drop-in support groups for the student-athletes. It's not necessarily for if you are suffering from depression, anxiety or an eating disorder. You can be, but it's to connect with other athletes -- that's how we created the name of the program. It's hard to be a student-athlete, and it helps to be connected."
They also made presentations to all 31 varsity teams and the coaches separately. Heininger said the response has been so "overwhelming" that the athletic department decided in December to continue backing the program. Additional funding through grants also is being sought.
Heininger said athletes from numerous schools have contacted him about Athletes Connected.
He said, "They say, 'Thank you so much for the videos.' I don't know of any other school in the country that has a program like this. This program at Michigan is ground-breaking because it is collaborative between the Depression Center, athletic department and the School of Public Health. That's what makes Michigan great -- bringing together great minds and collaborating for a common purpose."
Daniel Eisenberg, an associate professor of Health Management & Policy in the School of Public Health and a Faculty Associate at the Population Studies Center in the Institute for Social Research, has put together findings from the Athletes Connected program's work.
Daniel Eisenberg
"We will be presenting to the NCAA on our findings based on Daniel Eisenberg's research," said Heininger. "He was the principal investigator on this grant and is spectacular. He is one of the driving forces behind this."
Eisenberg's presentation of what has been discovered at Michigan and its impact will be given Thursday (Jan. 15) at the NCAA Convention being held near Washington, D.C.
"We found that if athletes have a problem or mental illness, they are much less likely to seek help," said Heininger. "Thirty-three percent of the general student population will seek help if they have mental illness, but only about 10 percent of student-athletes do. So, there is this stigma that we work to reduce or destroy it.
"I tell athletes, if you tear your ACL, you know what to do. There is a process of getting better and people are going to help you, and you are going to get better. But if you tore your ACL and thought you had to close off and do it on your own ..."
Creating better understanding is important to the program's mission.
Heininger said, "People will say, 'You play college football -- how could you be depressed?' And I understand where they are coming from, but I remind them kindly that it's similar to saying, 'You play college football -- how could you get cancer?' It's a medical condition."
Ridding mental illness of stigma is central to the cause.
Heininger said, "I care that the stigma goes away -- that no kid, nobody ever has to suffer in silence again or let their shame or self-judgments or defeating mindset get in the way of their goals and their dreams -- that they know they can get better. And that's what drives me. And being proof of that is nothing more than a blessing -- to still be here and to be as fortunate as I've been to be in this position to work with the next generation at a place I love. How much better can it get?"
Fayhee said she would've been a more effective swim team captain had she shared her trials and triumphs with teammates. Williams, a two-time captain who plays defense and scored 15 goals with 10 assists as a junior, relishes having that opportunity.
"I'm going to set up a meeting with my teammates after talking with Will," she said. "I'm going to tell them, 'I went through some things in my years here, and you might as well.' I really want them to know about Athletes Connected. I don't know what they're dealing with, but I know it's stressful to be a student-athlete. And it would be nice if they went even once to a meeting and sampled it.
"People should know that it's more common than they think. The feelings they have aren't bad. Just because you are thinking them doesn't mean something is wrong with you. And you have to address it."
Williams has learned coping skills to pinpoint and deal with her stress points from athletic department counselor Barb Hansen.
"When I was talking to Barb," she said, "I would talk about harming myself or like I wanted to do something that I didn't even know. But I'd just go out and take a walk and get out of the house with my earphones on and listen to music. I would walk around, get the energy flowing, and take some breaths. Deep breathing was something they talked about with me, but I found I would get anxious. I wanted to move around and the walking helped.
"And in talking with Barb, I realized the things I was stressing about weren't that stressful. But I would build them up in my mind. Realizing that I do that, so I could internally be like, 'OK, is this really stressing you out? Or are you just making it more than it is?' I learned that if something was bothering me, to work it out right away. Definitely don't keep it in because it will boil and explode."
Senior Beth Williams
Williams, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten pick majoring in movement science, was asked to describe how different she feels now.
"Extremely different," she said. "When the whole team came back this year, I got a lot of feedback from people just about my daily mannerisms. They were like, 'You seem so happy. Your attitude is different.'
"So, it was nice to hear. And what I liked was that I actually felt that way, too. I had been pretty good at hiding what I was actually feeling. 'Fake it so you make it' was what I was trying to do. But now I feel happy and I am happy."
Educating herself on anxiety and depression has changed her life. She credits the counseling of Hansen and the personal touch of Fayhee and Heininger.
"They were there with their presentations and that made it so real," said Williams. "What struck a chord is that I struggled with similar things. I could relate. And I realized other people were feeling the same way I was."
She also learned that anxiety and depression are connected.
"I always felt that something was wrong with me," Williams said. "It became a negative thing for me."
Hansen got her on the right path.
"Barb was the savior," Williams said. "I finally went to her in the fall of my sophomore year because I didn't like what was happening and I wanted to change. I got better, it was awesome."
How did Hansen impact Williams?
"Just talking, because I don't do that," Williams said. "I like to keep my things inside. She would also give insights of other points of view, and that really helped.
"The main thing I liked about talking with Barb is she was totally un-judgmental. She made it seem like nothing was wrong with me -- it was how I was dealing with it. I just needed the right approach."
And that's what Athletes Connected supplies.
The Athletes Connected project team will present its research findings at the University of Michigan Depression on College Campuses Conference, March 11-12 in Ann Arbor. For more information visit www.depressioncenter.org/docc.
