The Michigan Daily wrote a story about Athletes Connected & ACT supporting athletes during the pandemic.

By Jacob Cohen

March 12 — the day that the NCAA cancelled spring sports — was a sad day for many in Michigan athletics.

Amid the chaos of a world entering quarantine, student-athletes, teams and coaches all felt the specific pain of a sports world grinding to a halt.

We wrote articles specific to navigating the new normal of the pandemic, to creating a learning environment in this new kind of remote learning situation that most people were familiar with and an athlete guide to coping with COVID-19

Student-athletes found themselves without their sports and without their teammates, a foreign position that was as isolating as it was uncertain, leaving many with the need for new sorts of mental health and wellness support.

Athletics Counseling and Athletes Connected — a program run by Michigan athletics, Michigan School of Social Work and the Michigan Depression Center — began trying to fill that void. Athletes Connected has been working to decrease the stigma around mental health and provide mental health resources to Michigan student-athletes since 2014, but its name has become increasingly fitting since March 12 — a time in which Athletes Connected took on the challenge of keeping the community united during a time of great separation.

“We wrote articles specific to navigating the new normal of the pandemic, to creating a learning environment in this new kind of remote learning situation that most people were familiar with and an athlete guide to coping with COVID-19,” Rachel Amity, Athletes Connected program coordinator said.

With this shift to pandemic care came the expected shift to fully-virtual services, but Athletes Connected was ready. Student-athletes already have jam-packed schedules, juggling class, homework and practice. With this in mind, Athletes Connected has favored asynchronous content in the past, using short videos and written material.

Read the rest of the story on michigandaily.com.

NWI.com sports medicine columnist John Doherty wrote a piece about how routine is needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke with Athletes Connected’s Will Heininger for this story about the program, his journey, and advice for those seeking a routine.

By John Doherty

Michigan football fans may remember Will Heininger. A defensive tackle for the Wolverines, he was a four-time Academic All-Big-Ten winner and Distinguished Scholar, who graduated in 2011.

I interviewed him two years later at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis following a press conference sponsored by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association regarding mental health in college athletics. Heininger was the final speaker to come to the podium that day — to give a face to the problem.

His was a face and story you might not expect.

Near the end of his freshman year, his parents divorced and Heininger went into a deep depression. Initially, he shared his pain with nobody, except his mother.

One day at the end of a practice, though, Wolverine athletic trainer Lenny Navitskis noticed Heininger with tears in his eyes for no apparent reason. Navitskis pulled the athlete aside and asked what was going on. When given an answer, he immediately took Heininger to the office of athletic department social worker Barb Hansen.

“As athletes, we are so accustomed to routine. A lot of student-athletes thrive on the regulation that comes with that routine. Everyone is dealing with the (current) uncertainty and we deal with that in different ways, whether you are a senior and unsure whether you are ever going to get to compete again or if you are a freshman and this is not the experience you anticipated coming in.” — Will Heininger

“(Her) office was in the football building where I spent the majority of my life,” said Heininger, “and I had never known it. A combination of good therapy from Barb, the right medicine, and love from family and friends helped me climb out from the depths of this horrible disease.”

The appearance in Indianapolis was a life-changing moment for Heininger. He had spoken about his struggles publicly only two or three times previously but at NCAA headquarters, it was the first time with any media present. As a result, it was also the first time many of his former teammates learned of his difficulties.

Shortly thereafter, the University of Michigan Depression Center successfully applied for an NCAA grant. It was intended to improve mental health among student athletes.

“I got a call from them and they asked if I wanted to come work on this project,” Heininger told me earlier this month. “At the same time, I was talking to (then football) coach Brady Hoke and about coming back and helping out with the staff a little bit there. So, I left Chicago in 2014. The first year, I did a split of football and working on this program that would become Athletes Connected, eventually. I have since moved into working more with the Depression Center and working more on outreach and education programing.”

The Athletes Connected program is, according to its website, “a unique collaboration between the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Depression Center, and Athletic Department to increase awareness of mental health issues, reduce the stigma of help-seeking, and promote positive coping skills among student athletes.”

With all the uncertainty they are currently facing, athletes need positive coping skills more than ever. In the pre-COVID-19 world, Heininger reported, 25-33% of athletes could be expected to experience a mental health issue at some point in their college career. It is reasonable to expect even higher numbers now.

“As athletes, we are so accustomed to routine,” Heininger said. “A lot of student-athletes thrive on the regulation that comes with that routine. Everyone is dealing with the (current) uncertainty and we deal with that in different ways, whether you are a senior and unsure whether you are ever going to get to compete again or if you are a freshman and this is not the experience you anticipated coming in.”

Read the rest of the story on nwitimes.com.

U-M Athletics Counseling Team director and U-M School of Social Work clinical assistant professor Abigail Eiler, LMSW, was the June guest on The Mental Minute by Michigan Medicine. The Mental Minute is a podcast produced by the U-M Depression Center and hosted by UMDC education and outreach coordinator Will Heininger. Both Eiler and Heininger work extensively on the Athletes Connected project.

Abigail Eiler, LMSW — Clinical Assistant Professor, U-M School of Social Work, Director of U-M Athletics Counseling Team

Athletes Connected is mentioned and team members quoted in this story about how colleges are navigating mental health during the pandemic.

The Athletic

By Josh Kendall

Even as states slowly reopen, social distancing has become the reality of American life during the COVID-19 outbreak. That makes South Carolina head football coach Will Muschamp nervous for a lot of reasons, one in particular.

“I’m really worried about the mental health part of it right now,” Muschamp said Thursday on 1010 XL radio in Jacksonville, Fla. “College football is like a brotherhood. They’re used to seeing each other every day. Now that is gone. I’m concerned about that part of it for our guys, personally.”

College athletics health care professionals such as Josie Nicholson have been worried about it from the start.

“We want to socially distance and psychically isolate, but don’t socially isolate,” said Nicholson, a psychologist specializing in sports performance at Ole Miss. “We can stay distant and connected.”

Nicholson works closely with Mark and Kym Hilinski, the parents of Gamecocks quarterback Ryan Hilinski and the founders of Hilinski’s Hope, which has been seeking to raise awareness of mental health issues since the death by suicide of the Hilinskis’ middle son, Tyler, a quarterback at Washington State.

The Hilinskis are concerned that the cancellation of spring college athletics seasons, the uncertainty about fall seasons and the stress surrounding the coronavirus and its preventative measures will make athletes already working through mental health issues more susceptible to problems or even prompt mental health issues in others.

“After Tyler died, I was in such a fog and a blur and the world didn’t seem real to me, and it took a while to get over that. My feelings back then were much greater than they are now, but I almost feel the same way in this pandemic, and I’m 55 years old,” Kym Hilinski said. “I started thinking, ‘I have been through so much in my life. What are these 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids doing if they are feeling the same thing?’ That really makes me concerned for them and their mental wellness.”

At the University of Michigan, one of the NCAA’s leaders in student-athlete mental health services, there has been an increase in remote access to counselors, said Rachel Amity, a program coordinator at Athletes Connected and athlete counselor at the school.

Athletes Connected, a mental health awareness organization that is a collaboration of Michigan’s athletic department, school of public health and Depression Center, distributed “An Athlete’s Guide to Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

“I think it’s definitely a concern. How it’s going to play out? I don’t think anybody knows,” said Jeremy Fallis, a marketing communications specialist at Michigan’s Depression Center. “Much of their identity is tied into their sport, and how do you cope with that? We have been trying to deal with that even before this happened. We try to talk about who they are off the court or off the field as much as possible and reinforce the idea that you are more than just an athlete.”

South Carolina sports wellness coordinator Sarah Noll is using Skype for Business to reach out to Gamecocks athletes seeking counseling; however, licensing rules in her profession can make that difficult. Counselors are not legally allowed to provide counseling to an athlete who is in a state they are not licensed in. Collegiate mental health professionals have compiled a list of more than 300 providers across the nation in the last two weeks so they can put their athletes who may be in different states in touch with a licensed professional.

“The biggest thing is encouraging people to stay connected,” she said. “We can still check in with our student-athletes. We can still let them know that we care. We are emailing and texting, just trying to stay connected to make sure they are OK.”

Athletes should try their best to maintain their routines and reach out for help if needed, Fallis said.

“If you are struggling, you have a counselor back in Ann Arbor who will pick up the phone or answer an email,” he said.

Read the rest of the story on The Athletic.

The Detroit Free Press had an in-depth feature written on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020, about mental health and suicide in athletics and how it might affect schools in Michigan. Athletes Connected’s Will Heininger was featured prominently as were administrators from other Michigan colleges and the NCAA’s chief medical officer Brian Hainline.

Will Heininger at Mill Creek Middle School (Photo: Eric Seals, DFP)

By Jeff Seidel

Too many people are struggling in silence, dealing with depression and anxiety, living in darkness, unsure what is wrong or how to get help.

Too many young adults are killing themselves: Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students.

Zachary Winston brought it back into the national spotlight when he died by suicide at Albion College.

Today, the Free Press is taking an in-depth look at college athletics and mental health, using sports to shed light on a national crisis. The Free Press found a wide disparity in how Michigan colleges handle mental health issues, and athletic administrators at several schools admitted they fear they aren’t doing enough. These administrators should be commended for their honesty because it is time to talk openly about this issue — to talk about what is working, as well as what is not. This isn’t about casting blame or pointing fingers, it’s about trying to isolate problems and highlight solutions. The stigma has to be broken. And it starts with education and unvarnished openness.

This isn’t an athletic issue. It’s a societal issue. Too many counseling centers are underfunded and understaffed. Too many don’t take this seriously until there is a crisis. And it’s too hard to get mental health care.

We must get to the point where an athlete going for mental health treatment is no different than getting treatment for a sprained ankle.

But it’s not just athletes, of course.

It’s all of us.

Here was a college football player, stuck in the shadows of his own mind, on the brink of a tragedy. His thoughts kept racing, obsessing about death and dying, unsure what was wrong or how to make it stop.

This isn’t an athletic issue. It’s a societal issue. Too many counseling centers are underfunded and understaffed. Too many don’t take this seriously until there is a crisis. And it’s too hard to get mental health care.

“I was in a dark place,” former Michigan football player Will Heininger said. “The days felt miserable and long. I had racing thoughts, all day, every day, every 5 seconds.”

Heininger had just finished his freshman year at Michigan in 2008. He felt alone and didn’t know where to get help. He could have been any athlete, at any school. Research shows that about 30% of all college athletes experience depression, according to the NCAA.

“I couldn’t imagine living another 50 years like that, let alone another year,” Heininger said.

Here was a small college on the cusp of a tragedy. It could have been any college, at any level.

Before Winston died by suicide, the subject of how to handle athletes experiencing mental health issues was raised at an Albion College athletic department staff meeting, according to a coach in the room.

It is a topic that all colleges, not just the athletic departments, are wrestling with: one out of every eight college students (13.3%) makes a suicide plan, according to National College Health Assessment. Research shows that 65.7% felt overwhelming anxiety and 45.1% felt so depressed that it was difficult to function, according to NCHA.

Read the rest of the story on freep.com.