While the concerns around athlete mental health and wellbeing continue to garner national attention, the youth sport landscape lacks clear direction for coaches, parents/guardians, and athletes as to how to respond to those challenges. Use the resources below to explore mental wellness through the lens of youth sport as discussed at the TrueSport Talks Symposiums.
Trigger Warning: The following resources discuss mental wellness, mental health, and mental health challenges. Some people may find this content triggering and some content may not be suitable for all ages.
Use the buttons below to jump to the various sections of this mental wellness resource page.
To visit our Mental Wellness topic page, click here.
TRUESPORT TALKS: RECORDED SESSIONS
ARTICLES
How Sport Can Help Athletes Cope with Community Trauma
Unfortunately, the world of sport is not without risk: Even the most highly monitored athletes can fall victim to illness and injury. When Buffalo Bills
Is Your Student Athlete Overscheduled this Summer?
Is your athlete juggling a summer job, training camps, off-season competitions, summer classes, volunteer hours, and maybe some down time with friends? It’s easy for
How Parents Can Manage their Own Sport Anxiety
If you’re an athlete’s parent or guardian, you likely feel the same pre-competition nerves and jitters that your athlete does. You may notice that in
How to Cope with Disappointments in Sport
Maybe you’ve heard your coach tell you to ‘walk it off’ or ’shake it off’ when something went wrong during a game, or you lost
Is My Young Athlete Mentally Well? When and How to Intervene
Mental wellness can be difficult for parents, coaches, and other guardians to cope with when it comes to young athletes. Is a bad grade on
TrueSport Expert Series: ‘It Takes One to Know One’ with Kevin Chapman
Dr. Kevin Chapman explains that knowing one emotion means knowing them all. In this episode of the TrueSport Expert Series, he offers guidance on how
VIDEOS
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Humanizing Sport: Best Practices Guide to Support Student-Athlete Mental Wellness and Resilience for Anyone with an Athlete in their Life
The purpose of this report is to highlight current challenges in sport that hinder student-athlete mental wellness, and to provide human-centered, values-based opportunities for growth and improvement for all stakeholders across sport. These recommendations are evidence-based and prioritize the development of mental wellness and resilience in student-athletes across ages and competition levels, in public and private, and community and school-based sports. Challenges and opportunities are outlined according to levels of influence present in sport culture today.
ADDITIONAL EXPERT RESOURCES
LINKS
U.S. Center for Mental Health & Sport: https://mentalhealthandsport.org/resources/
National Center for School Mental Health: https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/
National Alliance on Mental Illness: https://www.nami.org
National Child Traumatic Stress Network: https://www.nctsn.org/
Apps for Smart Phones
- The Safe Place – Free smartphone app focused on psychoeducation and self-care for minority mental health, geared towards the Black community.
- Liberate – Free meditation app designed specifically for the BIPOC community and led by BIPOC teachers.
- MindShift – Free “cheerleader in your pocket” for teens and young adults with anxiety.
- Happify – Free games, activities, and gratitude prompts to help overcome negative thoughts and improve mood.
- Breathe2Relax – Stress management tool to decrease “fight-or-flight” stress. response.
Content is inspired by the 2021 TrueSport Talks: Mental Wellness & the Young Athlete: The Path Forward, with media support from Sports Engine.