Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Out Front And A Leader In Mental Health Awareness
2/22/2019 3:14:00 PM | General
Student-athlete wellness at the core of long-running initiative
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – As Central Michigan University's Faculty Athletics Representative for 15 years, Kevin Love advocated for the health, wellness, academic integrity, ethical behavior and overall success of Chippewa student-athletes.
In that role, Love developed an expert perspective on the daily and long-term machinations of intercollegiate athletics, specifically the many pressures and stressors that are unique to the student-athlete experience.
"We ask a lot of our student-athletes -- elite athletic performance, high academic achievement, dedication to their sport," said Love, who in January relinquished the FAR position and remains with the university as a professor of human resources and organizational behavior. "This is a difficult balancing act.
"We as athletics staff members and coaches have an obligation to make student-athlete mental health as important as physical health and athletic performance."
More than a decade ago, Love started the conversation, both at Central Michigan and in the Mid-American Conference, about increasing awareness of mental health as it relates to student-athletes.
The MAC held its first Mental Health Summit in 2016 and its second a week ago. Each February, the league marks Mental Health Awareness Week, employing the catchphrase: It's OK To Not Be OK.
Central Michigan, spearheaded by its own student-athletes and its Student Athlete Advisory Council, according to Love, continues to be out front on the issue of student-athlete mental health.
Last summer CMU named Brooke Bechtel as its first counselor devoted strictly to the athletics department.
Bechtel, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from CMU and is a limited licensed professional counselor, spends approximately 80 percent of her time, she says, in direct one-on-one contact with student-athletes. The balance of her time is spent with department administrators, coaches, trainers and other personnel in identifying potential needs and solutions, both individually and collectively.
"Student-athletes are students," Bechtel said. "They come to campus with their own unique histories and experiences throughout childhood and throughout their upbringing.
"As a student-athlete, there are a lot of skills that come from that, but there are also a lot of challenges. We talk about pressure, both internal pressure and external pressure. My role is not to enhance sports performance, it's more life performance, more wellness performance. My goal is to make sure they're OK in every part of their world."
Bechtel said there are myriad factors, both internal and external, that can potentially affect a student-athlete's mental health. Expectations can be a major factor, as can the life change of leaving home and, with it, an everyday support system that a student-athlete has known since birth.
Injury, or the threat of injury, can weigh heavily on the mind of a student-athlete, as can the likes of a coaching change or the end of competitive athletics due to graduation.
"At some point, everyone will move on from being an athlete," Bechtel said. "That can be a huge identity concern. Whether that is something that is taken by an injury or whether it was planned, it's still really challenging when it comes time to step away from that role."
Social media can also be a factor in a student-athlete's mental health, said executive associate athletic director/sport administration Cristy Freese. Student-athletes are in high-profile positions, and the criticisms waged against them – so often in a vitriolic, personal manner from anonymous sources -- can be immediate and biting.
"It's different nowadays, for everybody," said Freese, who coached the Central Michigan field hockey program for 29 years and was herself a student-athlete at Ohio State in the late 1970s. "Technology has made our lives easier and harder. I think that's what everybody is experiencing."
It is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore the likes of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, et al. Learning to deal with the fallout is critical, and that goes to the point of the mental health awareness initiative.
"We care so much about our student-athletes as people and their development and their wellness that it's really important that we have the services here and the support and the resources here so that we can help them when needed," Freese said.
In that role, Love developed an expert perspective on the daily and long-term machinations of intercollegiate athletics, specifically the many pressures and stressors that are unique to the student-athlete experience.
"We ask a lot of our student-athletes -- elite athletic performance, high academic achievement, dedication to their sport," said Love, who in January relinquished the FAR position and remains with the university as a professor of human resources and organizational behavior. "This is a difficult balancing act.
"We as athletics staff members and coaches have an obligation to make student-athlete mental health as important as physical health and athletic performance."
More than a decade ago, Love started the conversation, both at Central Michigan and in the Mid-American Conference, about increasing awareness of mental health as it relates to student-athletes.
The MAC held its first Mental Health Summit in 2016 and its second a week ago. Each February, the league marks Mental Health Awareness Week, employing the catchphrase: It's OK To Not Be OK.
Central Michigan, spearheaded by its own student-athletes and its Student Athlete Advisory Council, according to Love, continues to be out front on the issue of student-athlete mental health.
Last summer CMU named Brooke Bechtel as its first counselor devoted strictly to the athletics department.
Bechtel, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from CMU and is a limited licensed professional counselor, spends approximately 80 percent of her time, she says, in direct one-on-one contact with student-athletes. The balance of her time is spent with department administrators, coaches, trainers and other personnel in identifying potential needs and solutions, both individually and collectively.
"Student-athletes are students," Bechtel said. "They come to campus with their own unique histories and experiences throughout childhood and throughout their upbringing.
"As a student-athlete, there are a lot of skills that come from that, but there are also a lot of challenges. We talk about pressure, both internal pressure and external pressure. My role is not to enhance sports performance, it's more life performance, more wellness performance. My goal is to make sure they're OK in every part of their world."
Bechtel said there are myriad factors, both internal and external, that can potentially affect a student-athlete's mental health. Expectations can be a major factor, as can the life change of leaving home and, with it, an everyday support system that a student-athlete has known since birth.
Injury, or the threat of injury, can weigh heavily on the mind of a student-athlete, as can the likes of a coaching change or the end of competitive athletics due to graduation.
"At some point, everyone will move on from being an athlete," Bechtel said. "That can be a huge identity concern. Whether that is something that is taken by an injury or whether it was planned, it's still really challenging when it comes time to step away from that role."
Social media can also be a factor in a student-athlete's mental health, said executive associate athletic director/sport administration Cristy Freese. Student-athletes are in high-profile positions, and the criticisms waged against them – so often in a vitriolic, personal manner from anonymous sources -- can be immediate and biting.
"It's different nowadays, for everybody," said Freese, who coached the Central Michigan field hockey program for 29 years and was herself a student-athlete at Ohio State in the late 1970s. "Technology has made our lives easier and harder. I think that's what everybody is experiencing."
It is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore the likes of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, et al. Learning to deal with the fallout is critical, and that goes to the point of the mental health awareness initiative.
"We care so much about our student-athletes as people and their development and their wellness that it's really important that we have the services here and the support and the resources here so that we can help them when needed," Freese said.
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