In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month 2020, this May, ESPN highlights the stories of athletes, coaches and other sports figures managing their mental health and well-being. These stories reflect a broad range of subjects and experiences, including new challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing. The hope is that these stories help raise awareness, provide information and improve understanding about mental health, how sports figures seek treatment and the approaches that work for them.
Making mental health a priority during the pandemic
ESPN spoke with Rebecca Colasanto, a licensed clinical social worker and the system director of behavioral health for Bristol Health, about how to manage and respond to the anxiety and stress that come with these rare times. Colasanto shares how athletes, coaches and sport fans can cope and manage anxiety and stress during the outbreak of COVID-19.
Olympic champion Michael Phelps on seeking care
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Decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps joins SVP to discuss what it will be like for the athletes this coming year after the 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021.
For more information: The National Institute of Mental Health
Vols QB Brian Maurer shares story to help others living with depression
“My goal was not to bring attention to myself, but to bring attention to mental health,” Tennessee QB Brian Maurer told ESPN’s Chris Low. “It’s something a lot of people struggle with. And not only younger people, but all people. They battle it every day and keep it a secret. My thinking was that if a college athlete can come out and speak about how seeking help is the most important thing you can do, then maybe all those people out there struggling will reach out to somebody and know that there is always hope.”
Mental health and the NBA
ESPN senior writer Jackie MacMullan explores mental health and the NBA in this five-part series that first appeared in August 2018.
Oh yes, there’s Laughter Permitted
In a special episode of the Laughter Permitted podcast, mental skills coach Colleen Hacker joins Julie Foudy and Lynn Olszowy — at a safe social distance via Skype — to share strategies used by elite athletes that can be applied to dealing with the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Hacker, an expert on the psychology of peak performance, works with professional and Olympic athletes in a variety of sports including the NFL, MLB, PGA, LPGA, U.S. swimming, U.S. speed skating, U.S. track and field, U.S. soccer and U.S. hockey. She offers her unique insights on how we can positively frame our mindsets, use laughter as the antidote to stress and view social distancing as an opportunity.
‘We have to try to help each other’
How NHL goalie Robin Lehner used his platform to drive a conversation about mental health. ESPN hockey reporter Emily Kaplan explains.
Mental, physical health key during shutdown
With on-field action shuttered for the foreseeable future, the AFL’s Gold Coast Suns have turned their attention to ensuring players are in the best possible physical and mental shape ahead of a competition restart, Matt Walsh writes.
‘I was just in a real bad place’
Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Randy Gregory sought help for depression, drugs and other issues. In this story by ESPN senior writer Elizabeth Merrill, which originally posted Dec. 4, 2018, he was playing football again, fighting to stay clean and trying to help his team to the playoffs.
After the hashtags, are you ready to listen?
In this first-person essay marking World Mental Health Day in 2018, former Oregon State volleyball player Lanesha Reagan shares how she started a movement at school with her candid blog about mental illness.
Megan Anderson: ‘I was just so scared to do anything’
UFC fighter Megan Anderson discussed her 2010 suicide attempt and subsequent depression in an interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show in late 2019.
Divided we dance, united we move
You see them everywhere, homemade workout videos of people missing their long-lost classes now dancing or spinning or exercising alone. Living in the age of the coronavirus feels both hopeful and hopelessly lonely. Still, as ESPN senior writer Allison Glock shares in this essay, we find a way to dance together.
The story of Madison Holleran
On Instagram, Madison Holleran’s life looked ideal: star athlete, bright student, beloved friend. But as Kate Fagan wrote in this 2015 story for espnW, the photos hid the reality of someone struggling to go on.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
Solomon Thomas passionate in his fight for suicide prevention
NFL defensive lineman Solomon Thomas is now a distinct and important voice in shining a light on the issues of mental health and suicide, writes ESPN’s Nick Wagoner in May 2019. Ella Thomas, Solomon’s sister, died by suicide on Jan. 23, 2018. She was 24.