Author Archive: Stephanie Salazar

How to be Proactive in Helping Others

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Read the original story on SwimSwam.com

Close your eyes and picture this scenario:

You are walking down the street and you see someone with a broken leg, on crutches, trying to enter a building. There is a visible struggle as they try to balance on one leg while opening an impossibly heavy door. They may not ask for help, but you can see the struggle. What would you do? Would you hold the door open and help them walk through?

When it comes to mental illness, it can be difficult to help someone struggling when there is no visible injury. Many times, those suffering hide their mental illness, anxieties or struggles, not because they aren’t yearning for help, but because it is an isolating struggle. When there is no visible wound, how do we identify those who are struggling in order to open up the door to recovery?

We must become proactive instead of reactive in encouraging help seeking.

PROACTIVE VS. REACTIVE:
Tips on how to proactively identify those who may be struggling.

Tip 1: Trust Your Gut, Reach Out and Express Concern
If you see changes in a friend, child or athlete, reach out. Changes in mood can be attributed to many factors. Regardless of the cause, it never hurts to start the conversation. It is always important to remember that a person does not have to be struggling with a diagnosed illness to reach out or get help from friends, family or coaches. Reaching out to express concern allows you to proactively start the dialogue to promote mental health.

Tip 2: Take Notice of Small but Habitual Changes
We are human; we will all have bad days and occasionally struggle. When those bad days become a stretch of bad days or you see continual changes in a friend, athletes or child’s mood, reach out. See below for a few signs to look for:

  • Feeling hopeless
  • Change is sleeping behavior (lack of sleep or over sleeping)
  • Isolation
  • Loss of interest in activities that were pleasurable in the past
  • Impulsive, risky or hedonistic behavior
  • Irritability or irregular irritation
  • Loss of appetite or overeating
  • Difficulty remembering details, making decisions or concentrating

Tip 3: Have An Open Door Policy and “Judgment Free Zone”
Fostering an environment where conversations are judgment free and honest is an important component to helping those who are struggling. It is often hard to remove the stigma surrounding asking for help because those struggling often believe it is a weakness to ask for help. It is not a weakness to receive help and by letting those around you know the door is always open, you begin to establish a safe space to talk through struggles.

When you first reach out to someone you believe is struggling, there may not always be a positive response. They may want to continue to open that heavy door on their own. No matter what you are met with on the other end, knowing you support them, in a judgment free way, is the best way to create a safe environment. Persistence is key, so keep asking and keep supporting. Knowing you are there as a support system will make it easier to reach out when they are ready.

It may take time for those struggling to reach out. Keep opening the door for others, even when they don’t ask for help or seem as if they don’t need it. Knowing that someone is there and will continue to be there is the best way to foster honest conversations around the mental health struggles.

Read the original story on SwimSwam.com

Q&A With an Athletic Department’s Mental Health Counselor

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Resiliency is a skill used to describe student athletes. These athletes wake up before most ever want to. They train hard when tired, stressed and over worked, and are able to do this day after day after day. Being in a training environment and at a university with support staff that are professionally trained and ready to handle the struggles student athletes face is paramount to their success. Many universities have dedicated staff to work with these athletes. At the University of Michigan, where I am doing my internship for my graduate degree there are three full-time counselors dedicated to work with the student athletes. Barb Hansen, one of these counselors, has been employed at the University of Michigan since 2006. She has helped hundreds of student athletes not only perform better in their sport but also grow and develop into young adults. She has helped them navigate the stressors of college life, balance school and academics, work through very hard times of struggling, and understand the power of their own minds.

In this article, Barb talks about what it is like to work with the student athlete population and what to do if you or someone you know needs help.

1. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, WHAT MAKES ATHLETES DIFFERENT TO WORK WITH THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION?
Athletes are in a very competitive environment where “toughness” is valued. Athletes have significant additional demands on their time, leaving them very little time to fully experience college life. Because of the drive, determination, and competitiveness most athletes possess, they often achieve numerous successes. However, it is also stressful when they aren’t getting the results they are working so hard for and they can be very self-critical. Athletes may fear losing status on the team or playing time if they acknowledge they are struggling with something. As a result, many either don’t get help, or wait until it reaches a crisis to reach out for help. That “toughness” is a double edge sword.

2. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING WITH ATHLETES?
I really enjoy the athletes’ drive and dedication. They are excited to participate and improve. They are hungry and want to reach their potential. They certainly struggle with confidence from time to time, but they have a history of success and improving that they can look to in those more difficult times.

3. WHAT RESILIENCY FACTORS DO YOU THINK ATHLETES POSSESS AND HOW DO YOU WORK WITH THEM TO UTILIZE THOSE QUALITIES?
They really have many more skills and abilities than they are aware of sometimes. My work with them often is to help them uncover and recognize those strengths, add to their skills to manage disappointments and successes and manage pressure. Their ability to “bounce back” is impacted by a combination of life experiences, support systems and beliefs about themselves, as well as their ability to separate out each performance, race, game, etc. from every other one. If they can view each competition, moment in a competition, as another opportunity to improve, it helps set the stage for them to achieve the success they seek. Growth mindset is key to resilience. It can be learned.

4. WHEN DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST TIME FOR AN ATHLETE TO REACH OUT WHEN STRUGGLING?
It would be great if athletes reached out at the earliest signs of struggles but athletes, like most people, usually first try to solve things themselves. Sometimes athletes wait until things reach a crisis point.

5. WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO PARENTS, FRIENDS, AND COACHES WHEN THEY SEE SOMEONE STRUGGLING?
When a parent, friend or coach sees an athlete seeming to be struggling with something, don’t hesitate to express concern for them, identify what they are seeing that raises the concern and offer to help. They can help by listening and/or assisting them to find a mental health professional. They can offer to go with them to an appointment. That may be more useful coming from a friend than a parent or coach however.

6. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FIELD OF MENTAL HEALTH MOVING AND HOW DO YOU SEE THIS BENEFITING THE ATHLETES?
I think the tide has just begun to turn with increasing recognition that without good mental health, athletes will not be able to perform at their best athletically, academically, or in life. I am encouraged to see the focus the NCAA has been putting on mental health for student athletes and campuses around the country are beginning to do more with increasing awareness and services.

Athletes Connected is a program Michigan has created with the funding from a grant given from the NCAA. Last year the NCAA supported five universities with various grants, in efforts to look at the mental wellbeing in student athletes. This discussion is now being spoken about and addressed at all levels. Resources are available to you. Reach out to see what services are available to you. There is no need to suffer in silence.

Mental Health Awareness the Goal of the University of Michigan’s Athletes Connected

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Original story on University Herald

By Russell Westerholm

It was after a football practice one day that Will Heininger first let anyone know he was depressed.

His interaction with a team athletic trainer that day led him to seek help, but it was Aug. and the 19-year-old defensive lineman had been harboring a secret all summer. Will made the University of Michigan football team as a walk-on, but earned a scholarship going into his second season.

“He put his arm around me, and said ‘you’re going to be just fine, just come with me and we’ll take care of you,'” Will, 26, told University Herald of his encounter with the athletic trainer. “He walked me inside Schembechler Hall and into a woman named Barb Hansen’s office.”

Kally Fayhee, now 23, told University Herald she first noticed she was losing sleep sometime during her junior year at Michigan. The captain of the swimming team at the time, Kally would later identify what she was going through as bulimia.

Her grades did not suffer, but that only made hiding her condition easier.

“You can struggle internally with an eating disorder without anyone knowing and that’s the terrifying part of it,” Kally said.

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How The University Of Michigan Is Bringing Mental Health Care To Its Student Athletes

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By Alexandra Svokos

Will Heininger, a sport management major at the University of Michigan, was living what was supposed to be a dream. He was playing football for UM, a school that shapes the entire character of Ann Arbor, the city where Heininger grew up. But at 19, he found himself struggling with depression — not that he knew to call it that, at the time. What he knew was that he had “no motivation” and could find “no pleasure in anything,” as he would later describe it.

“It’s wonderful to play a sport collegiately, but only if it’s a positive experience in your life,” Heininger told The Huffington Post last week.

Ultimately, his athletic trainer realized that Heininger was struggling and set him up with a therapist.

“My life went from 100 to zero, and then to better than ever after getting help and understanding what depression is and how common it is,” Heininger said.

Heininger graduated in 2011. Three years later, he returned to UM to help develop Athletes Connected, a program that helps guide the school’s athletes to any mental health resources they may need.

Athletes Connected was created this past spring after the NCAA awarded the university an Innovations in Research and Practice Grant to create a “model program for supporting the mental health of student athletes.” The program is a collaboration between the university’s School of Public Health, its Athletic Department and its Depression Center, which specializes in depression research.

Although college athletes tend to receive good physical care, their mental well-being is not always seen as a priority.

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Mental Health Matters, Even for Tough as Nails Swimmers

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Mental toughness is a double-edged sword. As athletes, we learn from a young age that, if we put our heads down and tough it out, we typically achieve the goals we set. We see many resilient athletes who are successful because they swim through the physical pain. But when you apply the tough-it-out mentality to everyday life, it can be a dangerous combination. With mental health, toughing-it out is not always the best approach. Sometimes, you have to seek help. This doesn’t mean you aren’t tough, it means you’re stronger than you imagined.

MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS: ONCE A TABOO TOPIC, NOW MORE IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS THAN EVER BEFORE

Everyone struggles at some point, whether it’s dealing with the loss of a loved one, living with depression or experiencing anxiety before a competition. Yet, instead of feeling connected to others that struggle, we feel alone because of the culture we live in. This performance-based culture breeds the tough-it-out mindset and promotes perceptions that asking for help is a sign of weakness.

As a community, we have to change that.

The swimming world has been shaken with the tragic and untimely deaths of multiple young swimmers across the country. Mental health wellness and conversations about mental illness are more important than ever.

The most difficult part about initiating a conversation around mental health wellness is that many mental illnesses or struggles faced by athletes can be hidden beneath the surface. When a person breaks their leg, it is a visible injury, one that people not only see, but will force the injured to ask for help. Mental illness does not operate in that way: people can spend years hiding their struggles without reaching for help. This fact makes it necessary to foster honest conversations around mental health wellness, the pressures faced by athletes and the promotion of help-seeking for those who are struggling.

There are unique mental pressures that come with being a swimmer. Not only do we face a demanding practice schedule that we must balance with academics and family life, we also deal with the pressure of having an entire season come down to one meet in the spring and one in the summer. These pressures can be crippling for anyone, from an age group swimmer to an Olympic medalist. Regardless of age or skill level, we all face similar pressures to succeed in something we have devoted our lives to.

It is a reassuring notion to know that we are not alone, that swimmers of all levels are connected through pressures faced. The next step to breaking down stigmas surrounding mental health is to spark conversation, teaching swimmers that it is not a weakness to reach for help. Not only does reaching for help show strength, it also gives athletes the self-awareness needed to be successful in the pool and in life. It is essential to understand that you do not have to have a clinical diagnosis to reach out and talk about mental health. Speaking about pressures is a healthy discussion that will give you a better understanding and awareness both in and out of the pool.

Reaching out for help when struggling may seem frightening, but it is a weight off your shoulders to find that you are not alone. Similarly, reaching out to a teammate who is struggling can be a hard discussion to start, but there are resources to help with that process.

Swimmers know where to turn to when they have a physical ailment, but sometimes it can be hard to gather information on where to seek help for yourself or a teammate when it comes to mental health. Below are some warning signs around mental illness, coping strategies to help with anxiety and resources to help those in need:

According to the Mayo Clinic, talk your parents or a trusted adult if you are experiencing these symptoms:

  • Constant thoughts about performance or performance outcomes
  • Can’t eat or sleep
  • Don’t want to do things you usually enjoy
  • Feel like you can’t control your emotions and it’s affecting your relationships with your family and friends
  • Feel hopeless
  • Feel confused, forgetful, edgy, angry, upset, worried, or scared
  • Want to harm yourself or others

The Guide to Better Emotional and Mental Health provides examples of questions you can ask as friend:

  • I’ve been worried about you. Can we talk about what you are experiencing? If not, who are you comfortable talking to?
  • I am someone who cares and wants to listen. How are you doing?
  • Sometimes talking to someone who has dealt with a similar experience helps. Do you know of others who have experienced these feelings who you can talk with?
  • It seems like you are going through a difficult time. How can I help you to find help?

When talking to a friend, you may not always get a positive response at first. Regardless of your friends response, the fact that they know you support them in a judgment free way is the best way to create a safe environment.

The American Psychological Association is a great source to find additional coping skills:

  • Breathing Techniques: Breathe in slowly and deeply through the nose and out through the mouth releasing all the oxygen. It is important to be present and focus on what your body is doing.
  • Mindfulness: Being aware of your thoughts, if you are aware of thoughts you have the choice and opportunity to change them.
  • Journal: Write down your thoughts of the day. Be sure to end each journal entry with three things you did well that day.

Additional Resources:

Speaking up about mental illnesses is a difficult topic for anyone. Ultimately, it is the choice of those struggling to seek help, which can be a powerless feeling for those directly involved. Keeping an open dialogue with those around you, and having conversations about mental well-being, is the start needed to promote help seeking.

It is not always about toughing-it-out. It is about being tough enough to ask for help when needed.