Author Archive: Stephanie Salazar

Eiler Makes Guest Appearance on The Mental Minute Podcast

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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

The Mental Minute with Michigan Medicine; ABIGAIL EILER, LMSW

From Agony to Leadership: A Journey to Help Others

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By Sydney Wetterstrom, Outside Hitter, U-M Volleyball

During my time at Michigan I was surrounded by amazing athletes, students and leaders. Some were All-Americans or academic weapons, but most were just really pleasant people you wanted to surround yourself with.

Looking back now, that makes sense because the University of Michigan is known for bringing together and building the “leaders and best.”

The adjustment from high school to college can be a difficult transition for some athletes, especially at Michigan where we have come from being big fish in a small pond throughout high school to becoming a small fish in an ocean. This can be overwhelming, stressful and frustrating. For me personally, I stumbled, tumbled and fell hard. Very, very hard.

I ignored my stress, picked up poor coping strategies and reverted back to bad habits. My stress became a distraction and interfered with my performance on the court.

It was scary, but getting my diagnosis was the first time I did not feel like my feet were dragging cement blocks.

One day in a pre-practice session with my volunteer assistant coach, I broke down crying. An utterly beautiful mess of tears and snot came running down my cheeks and nose. She comforted me and recommended I use the resources provided by the Athletics Counseling Team (ACT).

But I did not listen to her advice.

I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I remember telling myself, “This is so silly, nothing is wrong with me. I am in the best shape of my life,” yet I still felt incomplete, broken and lost. I was so far in denial that it was not until I attempted to take my own life, did I get the help I needed.

Even then I was still against seeking help. It was not until a teammate said “If you do not get help for yourself, get help for me because I am worried for you.” I was hospitalized and treated for severe anxiety and major depressive disorder.

It was scary, but getting my diagnosis was the first time I did not feel like my feet were dragging cement blocks. Truth had lifted the 200 pounds of denial off my shoulders. I had no idea that the reason I had been feeling so poorly was because of my mental health.

I was honest with my coaches and created an open dialogue with my teammates. I let those around me know that I had been struggling with mental health.

I soon realized that many of my peers had faced challenges with mental health, too. This made me realize the importance of mental health, but also the stigma that comes along with it.

I wondered how many other people had been in my shoes? Who felt embarrassed, shameful and nervous for reaching out for issues related to their mental health? Who else had felt the fear of judgement, or felt that it was a sign of weakness?

All of these thoughts and experiences led me to the belief that it is necessary for all student-athletes to be comfortable asking for help before it is too late.

Mental health is equally as important as physical health. Through the resources in the athletic department, I found it not only easier for student-athletes to receive care for mental health, but also found it easier to remove the negative bias surrounding it. Supporting someone in their time of need, whether it is a sprained ankle or anxiety, is the only way a student-athlete will return to the competition in a timely manner.

My experiences showed me that support will enable an individual to feel confident and comfortable. This confidence and comfort will launch them into success. When someone feels supported they are more likely to succeed.

When someone feels supported they are more likely to succeed. I found community and support to be critical on and off the court

I found community and support to be critical on and off the court. With the help of numerous peers I was able to participate in and create a number of student-athlete organizations within athletics.

During my junior year, I created Student-Athlete Sexual Health (SASH) with fellow student-athlete Sam Roy, who is a member of the women’s gymnastics team. With the endorsement from the ACT, Sam and I established a support group for survivors of sexual assault. Individuals were provided a safe and confidential place to discuss their own personal story with emphasis on rebuilding and healing post-sexual trauma(s); along with ACT’s Abigail Eiler, we thoughtfully identified resources and skill-building activities focused on improving our overall health and wellness across each domain of our lives.

Sam and I were also both members of SAAC, and were the heads of the mental health subcommittee our senior year. As mental health liaisons, and with the help of the ACT, we had Athlete Ally come in for a two-day training with staff, coaches and student-athletes.

Athlete Ally is a nonprofit that advocates for the LGBTQ+ community in athletics. After the onsite training and student-athlete feedback, we structured an Athlete Ally chapter on campus, which has become a place for students that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community and allies to come together and support one another. The group is making strides to remove the stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ athletes in sport.

My way of leading this was to make sure everyone felt included and unconditionally loved and accepted. Additionally, as the mental health liaisons, Sam and I coordinated a mental health public service announcement to be displayed at all sporting events. I believe athletes can perform at their highest level when they feel comfortable in their own skin!

I plan to attend Florida State in the fall of 2020 to pursue a Master in Social Work (MSW). There, I hope to continue to break down the barriers that surround mental health.

Once I have attained my degree, I hope to implement SASH programs across the country at universities designated for student-athlete survivors of sexual abuse.

Currently, Sam and I are working towards establishing SASH as a nonprofit organization. We have also created a workbook for individuals or groups to use. My dream is for SASH resources to be utilized by survivors at all schools that have NCAA sports, in order to ensure they feel supported and to assist them in their healing journey.

Know that everyone is trying their best. Support your teammates and let them support you. We all have faced adversity.

Consequently, when a hand is reached out to pull you up, take it. It only makes challenges easier. Being a leader means to care for yourself and those around you genuinely; it means being the one to reach out to help pull others up, but also asking for help when you need it.

About the Author
Sydney Wetterstrom was a four-year letterwinner for the U-M women’s volleyball team. Wetterstrom garnered three Academic All-Big Ten nods and started all 32 matches her senior year in 2019. Wetterstrom graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in exercise science and Spanish. She is set to begin work on a Master of Social Work degree at Florida State in fall 2020 where she will compete on the beach volleyball team.

Q&A: Gymnast Polina Shchennikova

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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:

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

    • 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 Athletic: How schools have been navigating mental health matters during social distancing

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    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.