SEMI-OT: Will Heininger interview on mental health issues and athletes

From the Ohio State campus?

SHould have interviewed Will Hagerup...

What would be nice is if all facets of the University had these same types of folks who were trained in how to tell if students are having these kinds of issues, in order to make the same kind of interventionary measures that helped Will Heininger. And have it backed up with student services that are equipped to quickly and effectively help students in the same way the Athletics staff was able to quickly intervene here.

When I was at Michigan, getting an appointment at CAPS was something you had to do a few weeks ahead of time. And when you're in need of non-suicide, yet still serious help from a mental health professional, that's just not a valid or helpful option. The worst thing is to make a kid wait and force them to deal with issues on their own in the interim.

I'm now at a university that had three student suicides last year, and is now coming to terms with the fact that there are a lot of students having psychological crises that aren't always being adequately dealt with. This stuff is real, and is a lot more out in the open than it ever was. I'm glad Heininger is so brave in talking about these issues, because not everyone is.

Awesome interview.  Thanks for linking to it.

Heininger is completely right (and remarkable good at expressing himself.)  There remains a stigma against mental health issues in a lot of places in society and I can only imagine its even worse in sports.  Even if a student is aware that they are suffering depression or an anxiety disorder or something else, and even if they know that resources are available to help, they may not seek it out.  I'm glad the UM trainer helped Will to get that help (and I hope this is something that all of our trainers and athletic staff more generally are aware of and do as needed).  Hopefully Will and the campaign he is a part of can make the process even easier for athletes (and college students more generally, as the massive changes that come with going to college often contribute to mental health issues) to seek the help they may need.

Thanks for the post. I never knew the heininger certainty principle applied to mental health too!

No, but in all seriousness. I went through a bit of a mental lapse, per se, while I was at GVSU. I hid it pretty well. At least from my family. Thank god I started doing terribly in school, forcing my mom to force me to go see a counciler about why my academics were struggling. I never would have gotten it straightened out if it wasn't for being able to go sit down and talk to a perfessional about everything.

Just to be able to open up is very helpful. It allowed me to clear my mind, set some obtainable goals, and drag myself out of whatever funk I was in. This is a very awesome thing Heininger is doing. And something I never knew about the guy.

Here's a column written in the Times of Northwest Indiana (?  Is that a real paper?) on the announcement in Indianapolis where the initiative was unveiled:

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/columnists/john-doherty/john-doherty-ignored-aspect-of-health-deserves-more-thought/article_f95625b8-b16c-5114-98dc-d50c8d6da32d.html

The columnist says at the end that next week he'll be telling Heininger's story, so hopefully more good stuff about Will is coming soon.

Props to Will. I can say that other athletes speaking out about their own issues was essentially the sole motivating force behind my decision to seek outside help for my own mental health issues, so any athlete opening up about their own experiences means a lot. 

after helping with some research on a neurology unit and digging deeper into the neurophysiology of habit forming i am convinced that mental health issues can only be exacerbated by the head trauma sustained in contact sports

This is great. I had my own struggles with mental health during my time at UM, and am doing much better today thanks to the help of some great people. You don't have to do it alone, and I'm glad Will was so open about this.

This is great.  My own two cents is that the world could well be a significantly better place if people were better educated about mental health and if there was no stigma to suffering from mental health problems.  A hell of a lot of bad things arise from failing to recongize one's own mental health troubles or the mental health troubles of others. 

a lot better at facing mental health issues.  Instead  we destroyed it so a few people can enjoy a bigger home, nicer car, fancier vacations.   Its nuts.

I've watched first hand how people use stigma and fear  to make a person in need of help feel even worse and nearly go off the edge.  Its a helpless situation to see that person not be able to deal with those issues themselves and realize that if society could give him just a little bit of help, even as little as just love and understanding, he might be better.