Supporting Student-Athletes: Mental Health, Collaboration, and Care Strategies - Episode 4

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Transcript

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You're listening to Vital Signs, a podcast for Sentara providers. Welcome to episode 4 of the Supporting the Student Athlete

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Series. In today's episode, we're joined by Tommy Bateman, director of Clinical Practice Management,

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and Vonchell Lewis, licensed clinical social worker. Before we turn things over to the team,

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here are a few important CME announcements. This episode is accredited for AMA PRA Category one

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credits. For full accreditation, designation, and disclosure information,

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please refer to the show notes. And now, here are Tommy and Vonchell. Hello and welcome back to Vital Signs at Podcast for Sentara

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Providers. We're continuing our talk with Vonchell Lewis about student-athletes and their mental health needs.

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And this part, the final part, we're talking about strategies and best practices for supporting student-athletes. So,

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uh, let's talk about that. So

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you described a lot of the ways you do interventions. We ended on crisis, but you do one on one counseling,

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you do psycho education, you do a little bit of case management type stuff, um.

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What, what type of interventions do you do? So, is is there a particular bent? So like I'm an REBT therapist,

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so I like the cognitive behavioral stuff. I like the rational mode of stuff. Is there something that works or doesn't work,

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or how do you approach? What, what, what do you do? Yeah, my favorite, um, is solution-focused.

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Um, this generation, this, this population is very much, this is my problem.

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I need a solution right now. Um, and so I I like to be very um client-centered and give them that empowerment and be very

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solution-focused.

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The the student athletes are not saying that they are not ready to, but a lot of times they're coming in the moment and they're not thinking about I want

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to process my childhood and things like that. They want to process here and now. And so I do the solution-focused approach mostly um

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because it is very

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Let's get through this. Um, that's what I do the majority of. Second to that, I do a lot of mindfulness.

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Um, things we talked about before when we said there's this stigma, you have to be strong,

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and so athletes, they don't like to talk. So I'm like, OK, Ms. Lewis has to figure this out.

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So, um, I was, like I said before, I wear a lot of hats, so I became a certified yoga instructor

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and so I incorporate. Mindfulness into my practice.

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I mean I can't necessarily always get you to talk, but I can show you how the mind is connected to the body and how these,

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we can't walk without a brain, right? And so I have to show them how if I am taking care of my mind and my body in an intentional

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and mindful way, whether it's through yoga, breathwork, meditation, um,

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That is very helpful and so I've added those to my toolbox and my resources to be able to really capture

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the attention and um get closer to my student-athletes.

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What, what has been, you know, you mentioned the yoga and the mindfulness cause I can, you've already talked about anxiety being one of the big,

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biggies for, for this population. Um,

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Can you give me a success story about a program that you've done that, uh, you mentioned the grounding for the track and field,

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like, give me another. Another? Oh, sure, um, I have my softball coach is very,

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um, intentional as well.

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So we introduced some yoga before some of their games last season, and that has been very helpful.

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Um, I had a, a young lady, um, who

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She couldn't get out of her head. Oh man, I messed up that play and I, I just want this ending to hurry up and end.

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I don't want it, I don't want no balls. He been hit at me, thrown at me like I just messed it up.

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And so, um, noticing that the overwhelming thoughts, the anxiety was like really plaguing some of her players,

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we introduced, um, yoga, meditation, or breathwork before some of their games to help them be more like centered.

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More focused, more present, and, um, that has really been helpful with the softball team.

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Um, and so we've, we did things over the summer, we did journal prompts over the summer via Zoom and then when they came back,

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we did beach yoga and meditation. Um, so I've been able to really introduce it a lot with the,

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um, this women's softball team, which has been great. Um, I've done it recently with,

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uh, lacrosse, um.

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I, I tell them all the time, you guys have sticks, you should hit people, but um, I'm like, well,

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let's also think about being present, right? And so we talk about communication and then I, I did a session and I introduced meditation to them.

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Um, and as we know, meditation can be a challenge, uh, to sit in, in quiet can be a challenge.

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So I added in R&B music with no lyrics, um, they love that.

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And then I guided him through a mindfulness meditation for about 5 minutes. And I was like,

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how was that? And they was like, it was great, but it should have been longer. We needed like 15 to 20.

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Can we do it again? And I'm like, absolutely, absolutely. And then they had a scrimmage, um,

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2 days later and they won their scrimmage. Um, so they're out of season right now and they'll start season in the springtime and so I told them we'll,

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we'll do it during game days. Um, when The spring semester starts back in January,

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I, I will go to the track and field track meet and we'll do it on January 9th.

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I'll do the grounding with them on the track so that they, they can have it with in person with me,

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um, and not something they have to do by themselves. So I've been slowly introducing it in small spaces,

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um, and the teams have really gravitated towards it and learned the benefits. When I get to highlight a professional athlete who does

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it, that also helps too. Like that they're like, really? I'm like, yeah,

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this person does it. Here's a picture, and they get to see it and that person talks about it, um,

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that also helps them like, OK, well, you're on to something, Ms. Lewis. Yeah, yeah, there's some,

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there's get some buy-in because

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he's doing it.

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Yeah, yeah, like JJ McCartney, he, he would do it when he was at Michigan. He would sit in the end zone at the goalposts,

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and he would meditate,

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and I'm like, now he is an uh NFL quarterback.

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There, there's some, some goodness to this, guys, and they're like, OK, you're on to something.

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You know, um. As you were describing all this, I was struck by a similarity to,

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have you heard of the STAR military program?

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Yeah, they do resilience, mindfulness, and a lot of what you're describing for our service members and,

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you know, who are in high performance, high, high anxiety inducing situations,

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and sometimes dealing with the aftermath of those situations afterwards, and I'm hearing a lot of similarities there.

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What are your thoughts on that? Uh, yeah, absolutely right. Um, like I said, being a military spouse myself,

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um, having to like experience firsthand, um, pre and post-deployments,

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um, pre and post trainings, um, so being able to incorporate that, my husband hates it,

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he's like, don't treat me like I'm a patient, um, but sometimes I have to incorporate that, right? Because,

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you know, we, we need our husbands. Being our dad back, right? And so it is very,

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it has been very like impactful and helpful personally, um, in our home and our lives and I do think that it should be utilized

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a lot more in a lot of spaces, um, but for sure.

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I'm, I'm, I'm just, I was just hearing the crossover there that there's, there's something, something related, so I don't know if there's something there,

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but maybe our listeners can make the connection for me besides the similarity, so yes, they should

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absolutely, absolutely, and

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So

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You know, we talked about some of, some of the interventions you do. How accessible are you to, um, to these,

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these folks? So I know you have a life, right, um, and you're just one person.

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You're not, you know, a crisis is a different story. OK, we'll talk about crisis, but like, you know,

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if someone needs to see you, can they get to you quickly, or you know tell me about that.

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Yeah, I'm probably too accessible, but,

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um, I do have to, um, be intentional, right, with my own boundaries.

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Um, I, I'm a mom through and through. I'm, I'm, I'm a super planner mom.

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You should see my elf on the shelf calendar. Um, so. I, I do put myself in this space of where I'm in mom mode

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and if it's not a crisis, you, you're not gonna reach me because I do need to be present for my children.

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I need to be present for my husband. So I do have my own personal boundaries that I implement.

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Um, outside of those boundaries, times and dates, um, I'm pretty accessible. I do try to leave spots open available

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on my, um,

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Daily calendar where a student athlete is able to come in. Um, I do block myself off when there are games to make sure that I can

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get to those games. Um, the Teamworks app, they're able to reach me on Teamworks.

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If I don't have the availability right then and there that day. They will see me before the week is over.

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Um, so I do make sure that I incorporate time where they can come into my office. So I always try to leave pockets in my schedule to be accessible,

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even if it's not a crisis, but maybe it's just a general supportive, um, individual session.

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So, and, and yeah, and we definitely have time accessibility, um, but I'm wondering,

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is there a point where a professional accessibility, and what I mean by that is, is there a time where You have to say,

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hey, this isn't appropriate for me anymore, you know, but, but we have a deep sexual trauma among this one student-athlete that's

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going to need some daily, not daily, but Very high intensity work. What's your,

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what's your, what do you do at that point? Because you're just one person. I'm

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just one person. You're doing a lot of things, especially focusing on student athlete anxiety. So

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absolutely. Um, I think that also comes with just being like a clinician in general, right? Knowing that,

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um, something is out of your scope of practice. So for instance, eating disorder, um, being able to connect,

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yeah, with a community provider who offers, um,

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Individual session, group session, and support for someone who may suffer from

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anorexia or bulimia. So being able to build those community relationships to say this is beyond my scope of practice,

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um, and I think it is best that you see a subject matter expert. I'm still here to support and be a case management on the back end,

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but this should be your front end person. And I think that that just speaks to like the clinical training and education.

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And knowledge, you know, that you have as a clinician. If it's beyond your scope of practice,

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don't, don't be out there trying to do it, right? You want to protect.

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So what I'm here for the providers and others, we don't just, you know, more people than just providers listen to this,

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but I'm hearing that, hey, perhaps you should build relationships with your, uh, uh,

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student-athlete counselors at your local college and university.

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uh. Um, yeah, that's, again, I'm not an eating disorder guy. Uh,

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I'll need help with that. And, and at the same time that we have expectations, you have expectations from your school to do,

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well, more than just one on one counseling. I don't mean to diminish the one on one, but you have to do a lot of different things.

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So having.

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Um, um, I'm, I'm, I'm hoping our providers will help start plugging into our, our, our universities more than they already do.

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Yes, there, there is room and opportunity for it, absolutely. Um, if you have a specialization,

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even like you said, you, I love my men, my men's mental health, if you have that expertise,

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absolutely, because not only is it important for me to like refer individuals. But having that partnership,

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I can bring you in, right? And we can do a workshop, that psycho education

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course for a whole team or a department, um, that would really be helpful as well. So,

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yes, please tap in if you have any, any specializations because it is very needed,

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absolutely. Yeah, your contact information is gonna be in the description of the podcast below.

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Moll, before we sign off, uh, this has been so much fun. Um, we have a couple of minutes remaining.

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Do you want to give us any parting words?

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Oh,

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well, one, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for having me on and being able to shine some light into a,

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a new world, a new population that's, that's growing, um, and

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For anybody who's out there who wants to support, um, athletics, please tap into any college,

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like they need you, we need you. The, the opportunities are out there, the research is needed,

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the space is there, um, and I'm I'm more than happy to connect with anybody and share as much as I possibly can.

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Montel, it sounds like you're doing a lot of really fun and very important things. Um, I, I'm so interested.

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I wish we could talk more and we will talk more, uh, if not on here elsewhere. So thank you so much for joining us and uh I hope,

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I hope some care providers heard, heard what you're saying because it was good stuff. Thank you so much.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for joining us. You've been listening to Sentara Vital Signs, a podcast created for Sentara providers.

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As a reminder, please check today's show notes for details on how to claim your continuing education credits.

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That's it for now, but we'll be back soon with another episode of Vital Signs, the podcast that delivers evidence-based education for physicians

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and healthcare providers on the go.