Supporting Student-Athletes: Mental Health, Collaboration, and Care Strategies - Episode 1

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Transcript

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You're listening to Vital Signs, a podcast for Sentara providers. Welcome to episode 1 of the Supporting the Student Athlete series.

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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 1 credits.

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For full accreditation, designation, and disclosure information, please refer to the show notes.

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And now here are Tommy and Vonchell.

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Hello and welcome to Vital Signs, a podcast for Centera providers. I'm your host,

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Tommy Bateman, and today I have Bonchell Lewis, a licensed clinical social worker out of Hampton University.

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Uh, she has an interesting position where she collaborates and works directly with the student-athletes at Hampton University and supporting them through their goals.

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So, Monchelle, why don't you spend some time with me, um, introduce yourself, and, and let's, let's talk this topic.

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We're talking about supporting student-athletes.

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Hi, yes, um, my name is Vonchell Lewis. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. Um,

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I work at Hampton University. I've been here,

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for 2.5 years. I'm in my 3rd academic year. Um, my position is stationed within the Student counseling Center,

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um, but I collaborate and work with the athletics department on a daily basis to provide wellness and support to all

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current student athletes on campus. I love it, you know, when, when I played, uh,

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you know, I was on the, on a team in my college and we didn't have this, so this is really cool.

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We had, of course, we had a, you know, student center for, for helping the kids, helping the kiddos, but I call them kiddos.

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This is what I'm getting. But we didn't have something dedicated to the student-athletes, which I feel do experience very unique,

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I think, uh, situations and experiences among the student body. So, you know, in this part one,

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and it's going to be a four-part series, in part one, I really wanted to talk about the role of a counselor or therapist in athletics.

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So first off, you already hinted, you're, you're, you're within the, um, you know, student health department or counseling department there,

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but How is it structured? Are you just under the student health and,

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but you're always working with the athletes, athletic department? What, what's that like? How's that set up?

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Yeah, so, um, the student counseling center is, um, on campus.

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It is available to all students that are enrolled here at Hampton University. Um, they're able to get individual counseling,

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couples counseling, group counseling. We also do outreach in our office where we go to different,

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um, departments. Like the the School of Psychology, um, and we just educate students about mental health and wellness.

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Um, my position is unique in that, yes, I'm in the counseling center and I get to do all those amazing things with our student body,

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but I get to focus a lot with just our student athletes. So that means, um, I have an amazing athletic director,

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um, Anthony Henderson, who said, come on in, you're the subject matter expert,

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do your thing. And so, um, he has graciously allowed me to be a part of the department,

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um, so that means I'm at staff meetings. Department meetings, team meetings,

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games, practices, um, weight room, athletic training room.

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So I get to be in and all around student athlete department, um,

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in their space. And so I provide wellness, yes, in my office, but also on the playing field,

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the playing court. Um, and then I get to give the leadership updates about,

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um, things that are happening with the department, with their players, um, and then I also get to collaborate with coaches as well.

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So it allows me to, yes, work with the student body, but I get to focus primarily on student athletes and making sure they're well,

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because you made a good point. This position wasn't always around.

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I did it show up?

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Yeah, so our president, um, President Williams, he's been here for,

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um, 3 years as well. When he came in, he decided that he wanted to have a clinician dedicated to student athletes.

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Um, so my director, Doctor Christy Norwood, said, hey, we need to get a clinician here.

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Student athletes and she put it out there and I applied and here I am. Um, we got ahead of the curveball because it is new and,

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and the NCAA has been looking more and more into the mental well-being of student athletes and they're gonna start making it mandated

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for, um,

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Universities that have uh mental health access for their student-athletes. Interesting,

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and you mentioned earlier, and I think you're about to, before I rudely interrupt you, kind of hint towards student-athletes experience unique things and I

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mean, what better way of understanding that than you don't just sit in your office at the wellness center,

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wait for them to come to you, you're in there

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experiencing the life with them.

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Yeah, I get to be all in their space. Um, one thing they will say, they'll get tired of seeing Ms.

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Lewis, but it's OK, um, because it is a unique experience and when we think about athletes,

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they don't, you know, they're supposed to be tough, right? They're not supposed to go through anything. So my office may seem like the space that they don't want to

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go to, but if I'm out there on the football field with them, then they'll engage in a conversation that opens the door for more wellness.

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Right now I imagine too, so you know I've worked in a school and I was Mr. Bateman in the school and there was a sense of hierarchy

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there, um, in college we're all, you know, adults. I said I already said kiddos early so you can tell where my bias is.

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They all look young to me still, you know, so what, what is that relationship like? I mean, I can,

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I know in the traditional counseling office, um, my client and I are,

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of course, there is a You know, there's a subject matter expert client thing there,

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but in the end we're on, we're on the same ground. We're trying to, you know, the client is the driver of the services.

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Is that the same for you or what, what is that relationship like? Are you're, you're part of the, the school,

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so that, that also has a different relationship feeling with student-athletes. So what, what's, what is your role according to the students,

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if you could, the student-athletes, if you could, uh,

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yeah. I, I do it the same way as I would with outpatient, where I let my student athletes drive,

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um, the focus of their session. I will admit, when when my role first started, it was new territory.

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How do, how do I introduce mental wellness within the athletic space where they are accepting,

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where it's comfortable? How, how do I do this? So it was challenging, and so Initially, it was a lot of me,

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clinician led. This is what the clinician's gonna do. This is what the clinicians feel like is best as the subject matter expert.

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Um, but as I've gotten to know teams and coaches and culture, I've had to let it turn into the traditional

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therapeutic space where it has to be client-led. So in this way, it's actually athletes led.

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In some instances, it's coaches led, um, coaches have a vision for their team and where they want their team to go,

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and so we'll sit down and we'll iron out a plan that works best for the entire team based off of like historical,

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um, issues that may have been. Within the team dynamics. So, it's transitioned back into that therapeutic model

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where it needs to be client-centered, um, and client-focused, and they drive the conversation,

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they drive how it should go, um, and it's worked out beautifully that way. I can imagine too,

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uh, and, and that sounds, that's really heartening to me that even the student athletes have kind of just brought it into their culture and as a resource,

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not as, as, you know, the coach going to, you know, James,

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talk to Miss Lewis right now, you know, how does that feel like and James is like, wait, am I messed up,

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you know, and so that must be it, it, it, I was almost imagining like you're going to go get counseling right now,

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you know, and, and, uh, because I, you know, I play football, that's My coaches were tough.

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So, uh, how is that? You might, the tough coaches, uh, I mean, OK, this is 20 years ago.

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I'm aging myself, but is that, has that changed? Is, is the relationship between, with coaches and the social worker and counselors,

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what is that like? It, it, hey.

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This has not changed. I would definitely say that. So coaches do want to, like, you know, force the therapy,

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but I have to put on my therapy hat and tell them that anytime you force an athlete to get therapy,

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you have to think about it like it's your child. They're going to give you some resistance, and so to have that natural therapeutic relationship,

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you don't want to force it. Um, yeah, you can. in that first interaction, but from there,

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we don't want it to be forced. Um, coaches typically have me come in during that first initial team meeting and say this is additional

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self-support staff and resource on campus that um you have access to. And so they do it that way,

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um, by bringing me into their initial team meetings and then throughout their season. Even in their offseason when they're having meetings or things like that,

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they always invite me in. So when the players see the comfortability of the coach welcoming me in and bringing me in,

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then they become a little bit more comfortable and, and open to talking to me. Well, I,

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I still see, I'm, I'm glad the coaches are keeping their aggressive, tough line, but,

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you know, it does sound like the uh stigma of mental health issues are starting to even dissipate among the toughest among us.

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Um, that is the thing. Yeah, yeah, it definitely is, it definitely needs to.

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Um, it's becoming very normalized that, uh, the things that you experience are OK and And that is very

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important, and, and being able to say things like, you know, grief and loss are are mental health,

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right? They're in the DSM 5. So being able to highlight and showcase those things by saying you can still go out here and be tough,

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you can still go out here and score. The points, but it's OK, you know, that you're a little sad that Grandma passed away.

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Yeah, yeah. And now I, I know I'm speaking from, you know, I'm a traditional masculine male guy that comes from the football

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background and all that, um, and, and

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What, what, what entthuses me because I love men's issues too and I'm not ignoring our, our,

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our ladies, female athletes, student athletes here, but I, I do know that that vulnerability and that reaching out for help is not necessarily something

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among student-athletes, at least in my experience. So it sounds like, has that been changing in your experience,

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uh, with, I'm, I'm going to speak for the males first.

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I love my football players, they come to see me, um, and it is changing. Me coming and talking to them on the football field,

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coming to practices, team meetings, team bonding, um, has really helped. I also try to travel with the teams if if it works

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in my schedule, so that helps. Being able to see them outside of the helmet with the shoulder pads and everything off has helped.

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Being able to this past weekend, talk to one of my um men basketball players after a play didn't go the way he wanted it to,

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has been really helpful. So they come into my office and they'll talk to me or they'll just come and see me if I'm walking around campus.

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So it is slowly breaking down. There's still some walls and barriers up for some, but I do see the change that is happening within

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others and To, to be able to have a male, um, athletic director who's like,

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you know, really nice to me and you see that public communication, like there is no shame in talking to Ms.

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Lewis publicly. Um, it has been really helpful as well with breaking down some of those tough barriers with my male student athletes.

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And And just because I've already said it, I, I, I have to give some love to our,

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our, our, uh, female student athletes. What is the, what's, what's the, I, I can only imagine because I usually assume that there's less stigma and

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less hesitancy. Has that been your experience as well? Um, no, they're just as hesitant as well.

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Yeah. Um, I think because when we think about athletes, we think that they are unbreakable,

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um, and No matter what sport they play, they're very strong, both male and female, and so it's still that stigma of I

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can't cry, I have to go out here and I have to be my best, I have to perform my best.

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So sometimes they are a little bit nervous about coming over, um, and talking about things.

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It's, it's not just for both male and female about being an athlete, it's also like their, their background as well,

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right? Um, being at Hampton is an HBCU and a lot of times in black culture and families it's what happens at home stays at home.

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You have that, and then we also have international students where Mental health isn't something that's talked about in their country or culture,

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so I have a lot of different things coming against me, but um I'm here and I'm trying.

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You're, you're here, and, and, you know, and, and, and.

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Yes, I, I think, I do think it's changing. I mean, I'm among cross-culturally as well, especially in America,

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I think, but yeah, uh, this is, I don't want to get too in the weeds. We've introduced the topic.

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I love it. So we have, we're going to have some more fun. We have 3 more parts to go.

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Listeners, stay tuned to Vital Signs. Thank you.

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Thank you for joining us. Be sure to keep an eye out for episode 2 of the Supporting the Student Athlete Series.

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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.