Athletes Connected caught up with women’s gymnastics national champion (2021), AAI award winner (2022), and Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) Mental Health Liaison Natalie Wojcik. Natalie is a 5th-year senior in the School of Social Work and graduate intern with the Athletic Counseling Team. Natalie shares her academic and athletic journey and how she got involved in mental health initiatives at U-M.

The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many factors that may influence student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected shares how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers, and other staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health and well-being.

See our previous Q&A posts:

• Former U-M senior associate athletic trainer Jeremy Marra
• Rower Ally Eggleton
• U-M head diving coach Mike Hilde
• Runner Ben Flanagan 
• Gymnast Polina Shchennikova 

Q: What was your introduction to mental health?
A: I remember in high school science class we had a unit about the brain and a very brief introduction to psychology. I just remember thinking how cool it was to learn about the way our brains control our experience of life and I was really intrigued by that. It ultimately sparked my interest in pursuing a psychology major as one of my undergraduate majors.

Q: What made you want to go into social work for graduate school and pursue mental health even further through an internship with the athletic counseling team?
A: I think it’s a pretty natural progression for a lot of people who major in psychology to then go into social work. I felt like a lot of my classes in undergrad were focused on cognitive psychology, which was my favorite thing to learn about, but I also didn’t get as much of the social side of things. I wanted to learn more about systemic impacts on human experience in addition to the cognitive side of things, so I feel like my graduate degree coupled with my undergraduate degree helps give me a better understanding of the human experience. Also, as a student athlete myself, I’ve always been really passionate about student athlete mental health and that’s what led me to pursue an internship with athletics counseling.

Q: Since being at Michigan, how have those around you supported your mental health?
A: I think there’s kind of two sides to it. One, the resources that are available to me as an athlete have been really helpful. There isn’t just one way to go about taking care of your mental health here and I love all the options that are offered. And two, I feel like as a fifth year I’ve seen a significant decrease in the stigma surrounding mental health. I remember as a freshman, it was something that I didn’t hear get talked about very often and now I hardly go a day without having a conversation about mental health. So, it’s been really cool to see it become something that’s normalized and talked about and I think it makes seeking help or aid for mental health a lot easier.

I would say to intentionally prioritize your mental health. It’s going to look different for everyone. It’s something that you’re always going to have and is always going to be with you throughout your day, throughout your week, and throughout the rest of your life.

Q: How did you become a mental health liaison?
A: I joined SAAC my sophomore year and as a part of joining you’re required to join a subcommittee. I immediately knew that I wanted to join the Mental Health Subcommittee. It was something I was really interested in learning more about and getting hands-on experience with. After a couple of years in SAAC, I submitted an application to be one of the mental health chairs. We have two chairs because it’s a role that comes with a lot of responsibility, and so I’m a chair member alongside Clare McNamara where we’re in charge of the subcommittee, making us mental health liaisons.

Q: What are some of the goals that you and your fellow SAAC members have for mental health for the 2022-2023 year? Upcoming 2023-2024 year?
A: We’ve been working really hard again this year just to reduce the stigma. Something I really enjoyed this year was setting up a table at the volleyball mental health awareness game where we were able to pass out flyers and talk to people about what we do for mental health with SAAC. We also recently provided a QPR suicide prevention training for student-athletes. In addition to that, we’re trying to implement some events for student athletes that can serve as more of a mental health break as opposed to being informational. We’ve been working on finding some ways for student athletes to connect and talk about mental health in a more casual setting.
We’ve also been trying to do a board game night series at the AC where athletes can come and play games. We’re going to do a hot cocoa and coloring day as well as therapy dogs.

Q: What do you like to do to stay mentally well?
A: I think the biggest component of mental wellness for me is finding a balance between all the aspects of my life and doing my best to not get consumed by any one thing, whether it be school, athletics, work, or my personal life. I really try to take things as they come, have a very neutral sense of things, and intentionally schedule my day to make time for the things that I want to prioritize.

Q: In terms of performance, how do you get into a good headspace for competition?
A: I’m really big on visualization. I spend a good amount of time the night before competition as well as the day of visualizing routines. In addition to that, I use a lot of mental cues when competing, which kind of go hand in hand in helping me feel my best when going into meets.

Q: Having been a Michigan athlete for five years now, what piece of advice could you offer to current or future student-athletes?
A: That’s a tough one. I guess I would say to intentionally prioritize your mental health. While I wish it was something that came without work, it definitely requires putting in work whether that means finding personal balance, joining groups, meeting with the counselors, etc. It’s going to look different for everyone. It’s something that you’re always going to have and is always going to be with you throughout your day, throughout your week, and throughout the rest of your life.

Athletes Connected caught up with rower and Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) Mental Health Liaison Ally Eggleton. Ally is a senior and shares her mental health story, how she got involved with SAAC and what she does to stay centered.

The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many different entities that factor into student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected shares how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers and other athletic staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health.

See our previous Q&A posts:

• Former U-M senior associate athletic trainer Jeremy Marra
• U-M head diving coach Mike Hilde
• Runner Ben Flanagan
• Gymnast Polina Shchennikova

I’m so lucky because through athletics, the mental health resources are superb. The Athletics Counseling Team (ACT) has been so crucial to my success. Whenever I need something or I have a bad day I can shoot my counselor a text she gets right back to me, either to schedule an appointment or with words of encouragement.

Q: What was your introduction to mental health?
A: My introduction to mental health in the 8th grade, I stumbled across Goldberg’s depression test online and took it because I feel like it might be something interesting. It came back that I was severely depressed. I knew the way I was feeling wasn’t very normal to feel. So I’ve been struggling with depression since before the 8th grade, but that was when I first found out.

I didn’t tell anyone until junior year of high school. That’s when I started getting help. Through that process and in college I developed a passion for helping kids who are like me. That’s where my interest in psychology has come from and my interest in the mental health field and why I want to become a clinical therapist.

Q: Since being at Michigan, how have folks aided your mental health for the better?
A: I’m so lucky because through athletics, the mental health resources are superb. The Athletics Counseling Team (ACT) has been so crucial to my success. Whenever I need something or I have a bad day I can shoot my counselor a text she gets right back to me, either to schedule an appointment or with words of encouragement. My coaches and trainers and counselors have been good if I’m scared about something. Michigan Athletics really prioritize the health of its athletes in every sense of the word. It’s been so nice to have that support network behind me and that I can reach out if I need anything.

Freshman year, the Athletes Connected wellness group was an amazing resource. I was always a big participant. Knowing I had that support put me at ease. It made it so that I was willing and able to put myself in position to reach out and get help.

Q: How did you become a mental health liaison?
A: I know that the two SAAC mental health representatives graduated so I saw that there was an opening for it. That was when Rachel Amity (Athletes Connected program coordinator)  reached out to me, and told me that I was recommended for the position. It was something that I knew I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how to get into it. I’m glad that I’m able to do it.

Q: What are some of the goals that you and your fellow SAAC members have for mental health for the 2020-21 year?
A: We have a lot of things in the works that we’re trying to do. We want to continue spreading the awareness for athlete mental health. I partnered with Hidden Opponent, founded by former USC volleyball player Victoria Garrick, which is a large mental health advocacy group. They have great ideas, resources, panels and talks. We really want, depending on how games and meets and races go, to do some mental health dedicated events sponsored by SAAC to push that mental health awareness. Things like wear lime green ribbons, t-shirts, etc. 

UNCut, which was started at UNC, is another really cool sub-organization that I’d like to start through SAAC to tell athlete stories about mental health and wellbeing. I want people to know that it’s really OK to struggle, that we all struggle in different ways, that you’re not going through it alone and to try and make you the best person you can be.

Q: Obviously 2020 has been thrown for a loop. What are you doing to stay mentally well?
A: I’ve been leaning on my teammates and my housemates and best friends. We talk E + R = O.

Event

Response

Outcome

The only thing I can control during COVID is how I react to it. It’s really what I’ve been doing as an anchoring part. The power is in my hands even when it feels like it’s so out of my hands.

Q: Are there any other ways you’ve been helping others during the pandemic?
A: A big one I’ve been trying to reach out to those who are closest to me, especially when on campus. I’ve continued training with my team. We don’t have captains, we have senior leaders where we split the team into smaller families and reach out to freshmen and help them out. Really, just trying to spread awareness that E + R = O, making sure that we’re all being kind to others and kind to ourselves.

Q: In terms of performance, how do you get into a good headspace for competition?
A: The biggest thing for me is to have fun and remember, rowing to me is such a cool sport to me. We use “Why” statements. The reason I row is that there’s no better feeling than being at the start line with 4 or 8 other girls and putting it all together, going through 2K meters of pure hell. I do it for my team, for the girls around me. Whenever I remind myself of that, it just soothes me a bit.

Q: What has been your proudest achievement at U-M?
A: I think the obvious one is my sophomore year our team won Big Tens and placed 3rd at NCAAs. Building off that, the reason we did so well that year was the team culture that our seniors built. My proudest achievement was being a part of a team that loves each other so much that even when we’re not the fastest on paper, we can still win championships together.

The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many different entities that factor into student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected shares how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers and other athletic staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health.

To continue the series, Athletes Connected caught up with women’s gymnastics student assistant coach Polina Shchennikova, who medically retired from competition in fall 2018. Shchennikova graduated from U-M this spring with a bachelor’s degree in sports management.

See our previous Q&A posts:

Q: Tell us about yourself. Where are you from? What did you study?  
Hi, my name is Polina Shchennikova. I’m from Denver, Colorado. I’m a gymnast. I studied sport management and graduating earlier this month. I’m still unsure what I’m doing after, but I’m hoping to stay in the gymnastics world.

Q: Outside of school & sport, what are your other passions?
A: I would say focusing on mental health and helping people in whatever ways I can. That’s how I came up with the idea for FLY (First Love Yourself), and it’s directed toward athletes who are currently facing or have overcome challenges, whether it be injury, managing school, or body image.

Q: Why did you create FLY? Was it something that worked well for you or because you felt something was missing while dealing with your own mental health issues?   
Definitely because of things that were missing. Growing up I had a lot of personal struggles, and they ended up taking a downward spiral, and I really don’t want kids to feel the way I felt when I was doing athletics. I want them to all have a better experience. I was so invested in gymnastics – to the point that it ended my career.

I really don’t want kids to feel the way I felt when I was doing athletics. I want them to all have a better experience

That was one of the most painful things I think I’ve felt. Gymnastics was my whole life. I did online school so I could have more time to do gymnastics. My coaches were my parents, my family going back many generations were gymnasts. I was willing to give up just about everything to do it, and that wasn’t the healthiest way for me to think about things.

Q: Was there anything else specific missing in terms of mental health as an athletes?
I didn’t know how to take care of my body, either. I was raised in a “this is how you should look” mindset. If you don’t look a certain way, you won’t be able to perform a certain way; the lighter you are, the better you’ll perform.

That impacted my mental health as an athlete, and that is still stuff I struggle with today. There’s so much with body image and body shaming. My junior year, we went to one of our team retreats and it was very emotional because we had a team presentation about body image. We all cried, we all opened up and shared our stories and it was amazing and inspiring to see what everybody else was keeping inside and how much it impacted them. But no one knew until we sat down and had that conversation.

After that, we became a lot closer with ourselves, our teammates, and even our coaches. I wish I would have had an experience like that earlier, while growing up. If we can do this with this team, imagine what we can do with a bigger group of people and a bigger group of athletes if we can get them to open up and share their stories, whether it’s body image or any other mental health issue. That is where it really sparked the idea that FLY could really be something.

Q: What is your vision?
When it comes to mental health, I know how hard it can be to speak up about your struggles, and I know how hard it is to come face to face with those issues, so for me, at first it started as wanting this symbol we can all wear together to unite us.

In this case, the symbol is a butterfly. The body of the butterfly is a semicolon, which represents suicide awareness. The wings represent the feeling of anxiety, because a lot of people say it’s like getting butterflies in your stomach.

In the wings, I also included a yin and yang symbol to represent depression. It shows that there is good in the bad and bad in the good. The color scheme is black and white; the absence of colors symbolizes a loss from a struggle that–for example–ended your sport.

Q: Do you have programming yet?  
No, mostly because I want it to be perfect. That’s why it’s taken so long even to get the symbol out there. I started this two years ago, and I still haven’t had a moment of “this is perfect” yet. But I’m hoping that by sharing this symbol, it will start to take off from there.

I have a bunch of ideas swirling in my head, and I want it so badly to be perfect, but I need to take a leap of faith and then keep building on it. It’s hard for me to open up about these things and it’s a work in progress, but I just want to help people get through their struggles.

In the future, I envision sharing ideas for things like trying to find yourself outside of your sport because, as athletes, we’re so ingrained in it. Who am I? Well I’m Polina, I’m a gymnast, and these are my accomplishments in gymnastics. But who am I outside of gymnastics? It’s learning to find different ways to be a person, and not an athlete. For example, it might be, go out and volunteer, walk your dog, or get coffee with friends and talk about anything besides sports.

I have also thought about starting my own gym and combining it with mental health–possibly a psychology clinic–so my athletes can work with trusted clinicians. Having access to Athletic Counseling has been great, especially to my team. I feel like many people miss that opportunity growing up.

Q: How can people get involved or in touch with FLY?
I have a website in progress, which will start as a blog that people can write into.

I’ll continue to work on it post-graduation either way, so hopefully I’ll keep finding more people who want to help and be involved. In the meantime, I think the most important thing is for athletes to speak up about their struggles.

The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many different entities that factor into student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected shares how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers and other athletic staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health.

To continue the series, Athletes Connected caught up with long distance runner Ben Flanagan of the men’s track & field/cross country team.

See our preview Q&A posts:
U-M senior associate athletic trainer Jeremy Marra
U-M head diving coach Mike Hilde

Q: Tell us about yourself.  What are you studying?  What are your passions?  What do you do away from your sport and school?   
A: I am currently a graduate student in the School of Social Work, studying interpersonal practice with a focus on mental health. I am also a senior on the men’s track & field and cross country teams. I have always been passionate about finding ways to positively influence the lives of others and make meaningful contributions to my local communities. When I am outside of the classroom and off the track, I enjoy spending quality time with my closest friends, catching up with my family back home over FaceTime, and dedicating time to volunteering.

Q: What is your role within SAAC?
A: I am a co-representative for mental health along with Mira Shane, as a member of the executive board for SAAC. Mira and I mostly act as liaisons between the student-athlete community and the Performance Psychology and Athletic Counseling team in the athletic department. We also help with organizing events related to advocating for student athlete mental health support and self care.

Q: What it is like to be a student-athlete at Michigan?   
A: Being a student-athlete at the University of Michigan is a truly humbling experience. It presents academic and athletic challenges that are meticulously crafted to unveil one’s true potential.

Q: Have you seen a that shift in the way mental health is talked about among student-athletes?  
A: We are heading in the right direction. I think the importance of mental health is becoming more recognized in the student-athlete community and coaches, athletic staff and faculty members also seem to be becoming more accommodating. I think time is still a limiting factor and can be difficult to overcome considering how booked student-athlete schedules tend to be.

Q: What barriers do you see as to reasons why student-athletes are reluctant to reach out?
A: In my opinion, both academic and athletic settings can have the tendencies to overemphasize the importance of independent work, independent responsibilities, and at times, independent success. As student-athletes it can feel like codependence is a sign of weakness, despite the value it can serve in terms of reassurance, emotional wellbeing, and overall productivity and success.

Q: What will help break down some of those barriers?  
A: Continuing education about support networks. The more student athletes know about the resources available and the benefits of using them, the more likely that they will be utilized.

Q: What do you think would be most helpful in breaking that barrier?
A: Empathy. Learning about relatable mental health experiences within the student-athlete community is a humanizing experience that serves as an important reminder that you are not alone.

Q: What advice can you give other athletic departments, from a student-athlete perspective, surrounding mental health support?
A: To faculty members, continue to be understanding when it comes to student-athlete’s concerns. To student-athletes, utilize the resources available to see how they work for you. The hardest, but most important step is the first.

The Athletes Connected program recognizes the many different entities that factor into student-athlete mental health. As part of our Q&A series, Athletes Connected will share how coaches, administrators, athletic trainers and other athletic staff approach their roles in the lives of student-athlete health.

To continue the series, Athletes Connected caught up with senior associate athletic trainer Jeremy Marra, who currently works with the men’s lacrosse program. [See our previous Q&A with U-M head diving coach Mike Hilde]

Q: What role do you see yourself playing in the lives of the athletes you work with?
A: In college, we are building a performance based mindset. Our goal is to help improve athletic performance, help athletes stay on the field, reach their academic and athletic goals, and reach their highest potential both during and after their collegiate career.

I see my role as an athletic trainer as being the point of contact for all health-related services, whether that be athletic training, nutrition, counseling, performance, exercise science, or physicians. We are the ones most integrated within the team. People look to athletic trainers to bridge the gap between injuries and illnesses and our health and welfare services. From there we really take on the individual care of musculoskeletal injury and health-related issues, both through rehabilitative services and referrals. We are fortunate to have the staff and resources that we do and can help student-athletes navigate the health system.

There is no shame in talking about anything. That is the biggest piece…There is no shame in bringing it up or asking the question.

Q: You spend a lot of time with many of your student athletes, how do you see mental health affecting them both personally and athletically?
A: Because we have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with our student-athletes, athletic trainers get to know them in a different way than other support staff. It is the athletic trainers job to develop a professional, trusting relationship with our student-athletes. Because of these relationships, student-athletes may feel more comfortable sharing personal information with their athletic trainer, some of which may include mental health concerns.. I believe it is important to help them figure out how to share these same challenges with their coaches. It is important that when they are ready to share those struggles with their coach, that they feel comfortable doing so. If the coach doesn’t understand where an athlete is coming from, how can they coach them effectively, or how can they be a mentor to them? We also want to make sure student athletes are prepared to have those communication skills for when they leave Michigan and need to speak with their boss, a coworker, or partner.

Another advantage of our athletic training role is that we are able to see individuals over time. Our relationship grows over the four to five years we know a student athlete, and can sometimes notice when something isn’t quite right. If I am doing my job as an athletic trainer, I’m not only physically helping to heal them, but also serving as a sounding board and assisting with proper referral so they can get the support they need. This skill does not just come naturally; every athlete and athletic trainer does not have a trusting relationship.Some, and maybe this is the definition of success in our field, are able to develop those interpersonal relationships that have a healthy balance of professional respect and trust. If we can develop a healthy relationship with our athletes, they are more comfortable openly discussing mental health concerns. Athletic trainers can then be their advocate to make sure that they don’t suffer in silence and know there are resources available.

Q: Do you think there is still a stigma around mental health and seeking help? If so, what do you think will help student athletes feel more comfortable seeking help?
A: Absolutely. We have done a great job as a department to try to break down the negative stigma of mental health over the past few years. I think Athletes Connected is an unparalleled program. I also believe in getting in front of the student athletes and making sure that they know all of the support staff. Putting things out in their face to normalize some of these feelings that everyone goes through is important. I still see the biggest challenge in this area with some of the male, testosterone-driven sports, where stigma prevents athletes from reaching out. I think that stigma still exists, that having a mental health concern makes you weak or makes you different from everyone else. You can see when someone has a musculoskeletal injury, but you can’t see when someone is struggling with mental illness. Even if an athlete is not struggling with mental illness but simply wants to improve their performance, I still think they don’t feel like they can say “yeah, I talk to Emily once a month about performance enhancement and how to make me mentally stronger. Why wouldn’t I do that?” We haven’t broken that barrier yet.

We are working on it, and the more athletes, especially men, that can come forward and really talk about their struggles or the services that they utilized to get them to where they are, will help. I think we still have a long way to go but have made significant strides in the last few years.

Q: How do you see the medical team as an integrated unit benefiting student athletes’ overall health and wellness, in particular mental health?

I talk with recruits about the performance team quite a bit. I talk about the athletic trainers, how we are the front line people there at every practice, we are traveling to all the competitions, we  probably develop a relationship with the parents. Once I discuss our role with the student athletes and team, I then talk about being a liaison to the other support areas: nutrition, PPAC, academics, medical staff, etc. That is how we are able to demonstrate that we are a team.  These resources are not only available if there is something wrong but also to help you perform at your highest level.  

Any time an injury occurs, it is never just one of the team members involved. For example, with an ACL tear, I am the first one to assess the student athlete and refer to a team physician.  Once the doctor diagnoses it as an ACL tear, we prep for surgery. Part of that conversation in prepping for surgery is talking about the post-operative care they are going to receive, which will be at least a 6-month rehabilitative process. We’ll then talk with our dietitian to discuss fueling changes pre and post-surgery. The student athlete will then meet with academics and get their schedules in order. We also want to make sure their professors know that they will have surgery and miss some class. There is also the psychological component and we almost always refer someone for at least one appointment. It is the athletics trainer, the physicians, nutrition, academics, psychology/counseling, and strength and conditioning all working together to provide the best care for the student athletes in conjunction with our coaches.  

Q: What is a common misconception about student athlete mental health, that athletes may think exists?
A: A lot of athletes believe it is a weakness if you can’t perform on the field due to psychological barriers.  They believe you just need to ‘Man Up’, handle it, and get over it. This is such a misconception. We should have conversations with student athletes who have identified histories of mental health concerns or who have experience working with sports psychologists or social workers for sport performance.  However, I still believe there is the stigma that people who struggle with mental illness are weak.  I see it more with male sports than female sports. This is where coaches can be impactful. It is so important to have our coaches be spokespeople for this initiative and create a more inclusive environment by normalizing concerns and help facilitate resources for mental health.  

Q: What is something you would like athletes to know about mental health from an athletic trainer’s perspective?
A: There is no shame in talking about anything. That is the biggest piece. Whether you did bad on a test, are stressed about your significant other, having suicidal thoughts, or simply looking for a competitive mental edge in sport and want to talk. There is no shame in bringing it up or asking the question. We try to instill the idea in our young athletic trainers that they really need to be the student athletes’ advocate. Our athletes cannot look at us as a coach. We work closely with our coaching staff, but we do not report to the coach. We report through the Student Athlete Health and Welfare team and our team physicians. It is my hope that no student athlete feels that they cannot talk to their athletic trainer.

Q: For athletic departments who may not have the resources we have here what would you recommend athletic departments do to support athletic trainers and their roles as gatekeepers?  What would you recommend athletic trainers do to find resources to help student athletes?
A: The NCAA has a great mental health website. In the last few years they have created documents such as the Mental Health Best Practices as well as Mind, Body, Sport for universities to use. Anyone has access to these documents.  It is a great resource for athletic trainers to reference.  The Athletes Connected website is another quick resource every support staff member should have readily accessible.

All athletic trainers are trained in base level triage of psychological disorders as part of our entry level training. Being able to recall this information is crucial, especially if mental health resources are not readily available.  However, most of our baseline training relates to psychological issues related to an injury and coping with a physical injury.  

The first time I lost an athlete to suicide I had to really think about how I was going to handle the situation; how I was going to respond. What was my role? I still had to be a medical professional, ensuring others affected by the tragedy had appropriate support, as well as figure out how to cope myself. It is our job as athletic trainers to identify those resources and have an emergency action plan in place.. If an athletic trainer is working at a school that has not identified support for their student athletes or developed policies and procedures related to mental health, then that athletic trainer should take the initiative. Every school and university has some resource for mental health, for example, counseling and psychological services. Understand who you can go to and then build relationships with them. Go and meet with area social workers and psychologists. Work with your team physician on appropriate referrals and psychiatry. Identify a referral pattern and work with your local community, with the approval of your athletic director. As the gatekeepers, we are our athletes best advocates.   

How we are helping our student athletes when they leave our university?  While in school we are supporting them to function at a high athletic level and be a champion in the classroom, but when they leave how are they taking care of themselves? Smaller institutions can prepare student athletes by teaching them about the importance of mental health care and direct them to community resources.  My hope is that athletic departments don’t have to wait for the worst thing to happen in order to make more resources available. We have come a long way from the past, but unfortunately it took a death by suicide to catapult mental health to the spotlight. Every athletic trainer works under a physician. Use that physician and their contacts to get the help that your student athletes need.