Rose Table Dialogues: Mental Health of Athletes
The Rose Bowl Institute Center on Innovation will address issues of athlete mental health in a Rose Table Dialogue to be held December 5-6, 2022.
While physical injuries can be easily detected with X-Rays or other diagnostics, mental health ailments often exist without proper recognition. Even when there appears to be something wrong, athletes often feel they just need to push through it, or that it signals weakness. Yet, the stresses of athletic competition, paired with athletic drive (or a striving for perfection) create many opportunities for mental health issues to arise. In this session, participants will identify the problems inherent in mental health issues with athletes such as reluctance to admit to problems, the appearance of weakness or non-athleticism, lack of recognition by coaches and parents, and other ways that mental health issues play out in sports.
Once problems are identified, athletes, coaches, and parents need to move toward the resolution of the problems. The stigma of mental health issues needs to disappear, recognition of signs of mental health issues needs to increase, and solutions adopted. This session will explore how teams, parents, coaches, and athletes can move to address mental health issues in ways that are most conducive to resolving issues and improving the athlete’s health.