By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – Perhaps a great indication of the changing perception of mental health issues occurred this spring on the Virginia Tech campus when a group of Tech student-athletes approached staff members in the Office of Student-Athlete Development.
Wanting to have a dialogue about mental health with other Tech student-athletes in a group-like setting, this small cluster of student-athletes asked Natalie Forbes, Senior Director of Student-Athlete Personal Development, how to go about developing something like this. Forbes was excited at the student-athletes' proactive nature, and more importantly, their courage to tackle a sensitive topic.
These initial conversations led to the formation of "THRIVE" – a program formulated to let student-athletes not only survive, but thrive, regardless of where they resided on the mental health spectrum.
The foundation of the program is the student-athletes. Forbes met with Lauren Naldo, a Counseling and Athletic Mental Performance staff counselor within the Virginia Tech Athletics Department, and they helped form a focus group of 10 student-athletes, meeting with them to get feedback on topics to be discussed and how to structure events.
They then decided to create a THRIVE ambassadors group, which consists of one student-athlete from each of the Hokies' 22 varsity sports. Together, with occasional guidance from Forbes and Naldo, this group planned THRIVE programming, selecting topics, dates, giveaways, food, and promotion of the events.
"Lauren and I felt it was vital to have the THRIVE ambassadors play a major role in the planning," Forbes said. "They can provide input and feedback not only on mental health topics that are most affecting their peers, but also the best messaging and how to approach the event in a way that the student-athletes would respond to."
The group has held two workshops this fall, both for freshman student-athletes. The rationale for focusing on freshmen first made sense – the transition from high school to college is often hard for freshmen, as they attempt to balance the demands of academics and athletics. In some cases, that transition can be overwhelming.
The first THRIVE workshop took place Oct. 14, and was for female freshman student-athletes, hosted by the female THRIVE ambassadors. The group heard from senior women's swimmer Hannah Wilding and former women's swimmer MJ Ulrich, both of whom have been public about their mental health struggles, especially related to trying to be perfect academically and athletically.
The ambassadors encouraged discussions in small groups by relating their own struggles and how they coped. There were activities to encourage student-athletes to share their challenges, and the event ended with a "victory" lap in which each person shared a victory, or win, she has achieved. The group then celebrated each person's victory with her, and each attendee received an aromatherapy candle, which allowed the workshop to end on a positive note.
"As a student-athlete myself, I struggled on many occasions," said Kanajzae Brown, a senior track and field student-athlete who serves as a THRIVE ambassador. "Being a part of the planning was an amazing experience and seeing it all come together was very rewarding. Mental health is an important aspect of life that can sometimes be overlooked and unaddressed in many circumstances. I'm so grateful for the Student-Athlete Development team for understanding and valuing the importance of mental health in athletics and creating an open platform for it to be addressed."
"I really enjoyed talking and listening to older girls who have gone through the same experiences of working to balance school and their sport during the busy transition into college," Tech women's tennis freshman Sophia Mitchell said. "Opening up about mental health is so important, and THRIVE is a great resource for student-athletes to connect and support each other."
The second THRIVE workshop took place Oct. 21, this time for male freshman student-athletes hosted by the male THRIVE ambassadors, and this event took on a little different format. The event consisted of a short video about NBA star Kevin Love's struggle with mental health and how teammate Channing Frye helped him, and then there was a panel discussion with Dr. Gary Bennett (Tech's associate athletics director for sport psychology), Ty Walz (a former Tech wrestler and current director of performance for the wrestling program), current football redshirt junior Austin Cannon, and current track and field senior standout Jaelyn Demory.
The panel addressed various issues, such as meeting expectations when one is physically and mentally run down, remembering one's "why," strategies to help with the transition to college, finding one's place on the team, etc. They fielded questions, drawing from their own mental health journeys and experiences as student-athletes.
Just like with the women's event, the men's workshop ended with a victory lap, and each attendee received a stress ball.
"I attended THRIVE to see if there were any other athletes going through what I am," Tech football freshman Jaden Payoute said. "After the event, I realized I wasn't alone in the process of adjusting to the student-athlete life."
"I wanted to be a part of THRIVE because I felt that I could use my experience to impact and benefit younger student-athletes," said Tech senior swimmer Aaron Boyd, who serves as an ambassador. "I feel that it is important because all student-athletes experience similar issues throughout college, and THRIVE provides a safe place to recognize and express these issues with other athletes in a healthy manner.
In all, 65 freshmen participated in the two workshops – an incredible number considering the newness of the initiative. More importantly, these student-athletes broke down barriers, opening the doors for future discussions on difficult and even somewhat sensitive topics.
And there will be more discussions. THRIVE ambassadors plan to hold two more events during the spring semester – again, one for male student-athletes and one for females. This time, they want those events to be open to all student-athletes.
They are currently in discussions with both Forbes and Naldo to determine topics, formats, and promotion of the workshops. Rest assured, they understand the importance of their work. Futures are at stake.
"THRIVE opened up doors for relationships to be built and not only gave us all an outlet to talk about our struggles, but also provided solutions on how to deal with them," Brown said. "College athletics is such a rewarding journey because it allows you to dig deep and find yourself on a different level. I'm so glad we learned the importance of not just surviving, but thriving!"
