The University is piloting a new program designed to draw attention to the mental health for student-athletes.
The program, which was piloted in the fall and included a public service videos and drop-in counseling sessions, drew participation from 90 percent of the University’s 931 student-athletes.
The program, which is a collaboration between the Athletic Department, the School of Public Health and the University’s Depression Center, is supported by an $50,ooo NCAA grant.
The pilot consisted of presentations that showed two videos in which two former student-athletes, former football player Will Heininger and former swimmer Kally Fayhee spoke about coping skills and their experiences with mental health.
In an e-mail interview with The Michigan Daily, Fayhee said prior to the pilot program, 33 percent of University students would seek help for mental illness, compared to only 10 percent of student-athletes. She decided to get involved and share her experiences after meeting Heininger.
“We found that we faced similar pressures, but those pressures just manifested themselves in different ways,” Fayhee wrote. “Knowing I was not alone in what I went through and that I should not be ashamed of my struggles was what motivated me. I came to realize that helping break down the stigmas surrounding mental health trumped hiding my struggles.”
[For more of this story, written by Katie Penrod, go to https://www.michigandaily.com/...thlete-mental-health]
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