Supporting Student-Athletes: Mental Health, Collaboration, and Care Strategies - Episode 3

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Transcript

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You're listening to Vital Signs, a podcast for Sentara providers. Welcome to episode 3 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, and Vonchell Lewis,

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licensed clinical social worker. Before we turn things over to the team, here are a few important CME announcements.

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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 Sentara providers. I'm your host, Tommy Bateman, and part 3 of our discussion on student-athletes

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and counseling them. I'm here with Monchell Lewis again, and today, today is the same day as the other two sessions,

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so we're just going to keep on going. In part 3, we're talking about collaboration and integration with athletics staff.

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So, Montel, I mean, we've hinted at it before, um, but You know, you came in new.

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This is a newer program for Hampton University, newer, it's been 3 years, so we have a, have a, you know,

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some time in. But what's it been like building the trust in how you communicate with the

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staff who are, who are very unique individuals in the academic world? Yeah, it's been interesting.

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Um, like I said before, when I first came on, um, my director, she introduced me to the athletic director.

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Um, Anthony Henderson, and so he was just like, hey, I wanna come in, do my,

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my thing, and he was like, OK, whatever you want. And so initially it was come in and do whatever you want,

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and that was what I did, trial and error. Um, it's new.

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Mental health is not just new for the student athletes, but also for the coaches, right? Because they're from a generation like us where it didn't exist.

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Um, and so just Randomly popping up and appearing um at practices and things was what I did.

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Um, AD Henderson said, hey, come to the department meetings and make me a part of his,

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um, leadership board was also very helpful because that meant that I got to talk during department meetings and provide updates

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and so I have always led with the approach of let's be, um, proactive, not reactive,

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and he has supported that. Um, and so through and through, um,

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his support and his continuous plugging me into the department, um, has kind of helped.

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Bring some of those walls down. I, I really think that's something we, we need to pause on, right,

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because, um, in every organization, I mean, we say mental health matters, right, but oftentimes we are,

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um, we're the support off to the side, we're the guides on the side, and in this case, it sounds like,

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you know, your director, Mr. Henderson, they were saying. No, put

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Ms. Lewis is on the board because your mental well-being is a core part of the mission, you know,

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not just for the sake of your mental well-being, but if we're going to have a successful athletics department,

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the mental well-being is going to have to, it is part of it. It's not just lifting weights and running fast and making sure your academics are on point

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so you can be here to begin with and hiring the best coaching staff. It's, you all need to make sure that you're well.

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And that's just as important as everything else. Is that, is that what's what you're feeling there? Yes, absolutely.

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Um, every year student athletes have to go through a Title IX training,

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um, and so one year we went through a Title IX training and a lot of things were exposed and so I said,

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well, let's see if we'll have pushback from coaches this time. And he said, you know what, forget about it being optional,

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we're gonna make it mandatory. And so it was great. So we went in and last academic year I started doing 30 minutes per

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team once a month. Whether the coaches liked it or not, it didn't matter because the athletic director said,

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this is what we need to do, right? These These were brought up, um, at an important time and Ms.

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Lewis is here to support through and so let's have her here and we're gonna make it mandatory.

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So having him have my back and support, um, has been extremely helpful.

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Um, and then coaches got to see too that it's not just like females, it's also our males too.

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They were very, um, transparent. And honest and open. I mean you had tears from guys,

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football players, and so they're like, wait a minute, something's happening here. And so that has really forged a way,

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um, and created these relationships that I now have with, um, my coaches where they're like,

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hey, we're having a team bonding, come on over, um, hey, this is going on, can you check on this person?

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So. And so if, and what's your opinion on this, and I, I can guess, but

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When

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Something, someone like you or a program that like you is going to be brought into an organization,

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not just for student-athletes, let's just say a medical office, um, a hospital, um,

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It sounds like you really need leadership buy-in,

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yeah, like it can't just be a from the ground up like, all right, uh, we'll bring her in to see how it goes,

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um, and then maybe the coaches will warm up to, no, this has leadership. You,

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you need someone at the top to go, this is what we're going to do, um.

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I am I, am I correct in, in,

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it's from the top down, right? Because our leadership, they, they're our image, right?

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They're, we're gonna follow their lead. And so it started with President Williams and trickled down to the athletic director and then to

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the counseling center director. So it starts from the top down. I mean, even now. When I see the president,

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he'll ask me about any team, any given day, any time, and that's the president of the university. Um,

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so it starts there and being that, that person that we can guide and follow and see and model the behavior that we want,

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you know, within our students is very important. Um, and so having that.

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Support behind me is very helpful and allows me to um do my job without um any pushback.

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And so, you know, of course, the hierarchy helps, um, but what also helps with that is we have the top down,

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but having a bottom up is also ideal as well. So we have the top down. Ms. Lewis is here,

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we're going to work with her, we're gonna work with the uh the counseling department, um, this is the way it is,

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go. But then, Yeah, and I'm not saying anybody grumbled or anything like that, but maybe there was doubts,

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maybe there wasn't efficient use of you, right, at first. How does that change as you've been there?

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Uh, how have coaches and trainers bought in more and participate and and learned how to work with you better?

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What's that been like? They have, they have bought in more, um, and have participated more.

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Um, so last year I became a mental health first aid trainer. And so over the summer,

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I trained all of the athletic trainers in mental health first aid, um, because they're the first line of defense.

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The athletic department welcomed it. They paid for the materials, made sure we had snacks, um, so that has been very helpful,

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um, along the way. Um, when they, when coaches reach Out to me and say, hey, I'm concerned about this,

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um, or this person, and my ability to just jump into action quickly,

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no questions asked, and be able to be a support, that too has allowed me to build that trust with them,

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even if it's a crisis after hours and their ability and ease to be able to reach me, to be able to support someone in crisis.

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You have to, athletics, like you already know, it's a family, right? If that family member is dependable,

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I can trust them, then I'm, I'm going to. And so being able to be that person that they see,

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they know, they can trust, um, has been very helpful and instrumental. And like I said before,

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like I'm I'm transparent to a point, right? Um, so I'm, I'm here and I'm supporting them.

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I'm a mom, I'm a wife, and so my kids come and they support as well. So being able to see that as well,

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I'm like, OK, she's human like us. Yeah, OK, I see her, I see her, um,

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that, that has helped. And allowed me to come in and to be a part of their space. Um,

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coaches just come in and talk to me about their team dynamics. How can they, you know, build team bonding,

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you know, build relationships amongst teams, um, that, that has been helpful. We talked briefly about like grief and loss,

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and so I said like resources. on campus. Coaches knowing that if a student-athlete loses a family member,

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they can go to Ms. Lewis, not just for like the the mental health support and counseling, but also to be able to um excuse them from class because they

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need a day from grieving. Um, we have a bereavement services program on campus in my office,

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um. And Ms Cooper, she runs it, but, uh, we're able to help financially with students who need to get back home,

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you know, so being able to be like, OK, well, she's not just doing therapy, but she's also can help with the academic side,

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right? They're going through some things. She can help them a little bit financially when they got to get back home to that funeral.

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So it's just showing them a different side of what mental health looks like, um,

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and how, um, it can be integrated, um.

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Two weeks ago, track and field travel, uh, I sent them some grounding techniques. Nice,

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um, and that next day, uh, we had so many people hit their PRs that weekend.

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And I was like, I'm so proud of y'all, and they were like, we use the grounding technique and I talked to a couple of coaches.

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I was like, yeah, we've seen them walking around with no shoes on. We've seen them just sitting, so them being able to see that mental

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health, wellness is not just sitting in my office talking about therapy, but I can. Give you some coping skills to help you with that anxiety on the field,

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on the court, that they can engage in briefly before going to compete and then you get to see the outcome of it.

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That has also been very helpful, seeing what I'm saying put into action and then the results of it has been helpful.

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I'm going to go out on a limb. So you, you, you described, you do one on one counseling, OK.

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Then you do psycho education.

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Also you do collaboration with staff.

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Also, you do, did I say case management already? You know, you do a little bit of case management.

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You have to do some, find some funds. You have to work. With their teachers to as as almost building a treatment team or academic

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treatment team, um, there needs to be another Miss Lewis, it sounds like that's a lot of hats. I know,

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I know. Um, I agree, uh, but you know,

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LCSW we wear a lot of hats, right? And

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we learn a lot in our Um, studies and our academics and so we learned that case management piece and part of it.

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Mental health is so new in athletics, I can imagine that it will continue to grow and there'll be more than,

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you know, one M. Lewis on campuses. Um, some universities have a, a full department just for athletics' mental health,

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um.

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And others are just kind of starting out. Uh, like I said, like the NCAA mental health wellness is,

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um, a part of the best practices. And so it is coming into the space of being mandatory,

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how they're going to Manage it and rule and regulate it. I'm not sure yet, but it is becoming one of those things that is

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moving towards mandatory

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in some, in some ways I'm more structured, and everybody's gonna compare best practices and,

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yeah, I, I see that. And so there's, I think there's a lot of opportunity

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and you know what I'm envious about your position right now is that you have a lot of opportunity for innovation right now before things are fully

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solidified, I guess, for lack of a better way of putting it, right. Yeah, you do. Mhm.

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So

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room for research, for sure. Yeah, uh.

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So,

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What, what is it

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No, I don't think I need to go there yet. So what, what does a crisis look like? So I mentioned all the other things you do,

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the one on one counseling, but

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Student athlete, OK, is kind of struggling with thoughts of wanting to harm themselves.

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What happens? Yep, so, um, obviously that's a crisis, right? Harm or someone knows,

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um, and so.

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I immediately go into crisis mode, um, I'm thinking about everything. Do you have a plan?

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Do you have intention? Do you have means, access,

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location, safety plan? Um, can I contract for safety? If I cannot, then my next step,

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you know, is hospitalization, right? Um, if they're not on campus,

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uh, we, you know, the, the university has their, their local address. Um,

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and so it's definitely doing a lot of

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Crisis work. Um, the, I wear a lot of hats too.

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Um, so with enforcement absolutely.

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And what, what helps with that is that, um, I, I do work in crisis work part time.

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So the criteria.

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So I'm already knowing and um I created a emergency action plan for the athletic department for in case crisis happens,

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the steps that coaches should take, athletic training should take, and not just that, but also how to care for themselves too,

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um, after the crisis occurs. Um, so I did create that, it's like a three-pager to help them along the way,

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um, but

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Our team, our all of our sport teams use an app called Teamworks, um, and so if a crisis happened,

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um, they can reach me on Teamworks. About almost every single coach, head coach on campus at the very least has my phone number,

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and so they have that, um, they can always reach me and The counseling center as a whole,

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we see students between 9 and 5, Monday through Friday, but um there are 7 of us here and so we take turns and we

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rotate each week at 5 o'clock for somebody to be on call in case a crisis occurs,

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um, on campus and so we're here to support students, um, regardless. Student athletes are not,

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um,

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24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if a crisis occurs. Right, right. Yeah, and, and by the way,

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I, I, there are not many people in my experience. I used to do crisis work myself for a CSB in Blacksburg

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and um.

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You know, some of the younger clinicians that worked on campus for like Virginia Tech or something like that,

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um, weren't ready for some of the things that happened, you know, having that pre-screening background kind of, I bet that takes a,

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a, a, a load off in your heart knowing like I know what the criteria are and I don't have to guess.

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So, yeah, it does. It takes a load off to know what the criteria is, to know. What's going to happen next.

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Um, it helps not just me, but to be able to educate that student that's like scared and doesn't know what's going to happen next.

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Now I'm able to educate them on what to expect, um, educate parents on what to expect,

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right? Um, I'm a, like I said, I'm a parent, so I can't imagine my baby being in the hospital,

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no one calls me and tells me anything. So being able to educate parents because it's unfamiliar.

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They don't, they're not a lot of parents, students aren't from here, so they're not familiar with CSBs or any of that.

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So being able to educate a parent that's coming from out of town, um, for their child who's in crisis on what a crisis looked like,

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the next steps to follow up and everything, and then coaches as well too.

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Because it can be traumatizing on its own because the process for that includes handcuffs sometimes. Even when the person's calm,

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it may involve handcuffs just because of the law. So that's, uh, that's awesome that you have that background because I,

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I just can't imagine how

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Now, sometimes the person that doesn't have ready for that as a clinician could be really um.

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Really, really caught in a bad way, you know,

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I, I for them too. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, um, so I think we're going to wrap this session up on,

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on, on that note, um, and the next one we're going to talk about strategies and best, best practices.

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I can say that for supporting student-athletes, so stay tuned. Thank you for joining us.

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Be sure to keep an eye out for episode 4 of the Supporting the Student Athlete series.

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You've been listening to Sentara Vital Signs, a podcast created for Centera 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.