Mental health becoming a focal point in high school athletics

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health has become a strong area of concern in high school athletics. Last week, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) hosted three webinars, "Taking Care of You, when Your World has been Turned Upside Down."

The webinar featured JC Pohl, a licensed therapist, author and advocate for improving school culture, and Caleb Campbell, a former NFL player and mental health speaker. Student-athletes were given self-care strategies and advice on managing mental and physical health.

Niwot High School counselor and head cross country coach Kelly Christensen said he has seen an uptick of students reaching out to him for help. With SVVSD shifting to remote learning, students are missing out on social interactions and forming bad habits, according to Christensen.

"Even when they have a chance to come back to the school for a lot of them it's not just a fear of COVID, it's just they don't want to be around people," Christensen said. "They forgot how to socialize. I'm curious (to see) the waterfall effect to this because even when you go through all age groups, it's affecting everybody a little bit."

Christensen believes that SVVSD had been "ahead of the curve" in terms of mental health resources with Superintendent Don Haddad approving the addition of a counselor to every school about the time the pandemic began. Although Christensen believed that more could have been done earlier in the pandemic, he was pleased with the efforts being made to help students.

"I definitely feel like everybody is learning from this on what could have been done differently and where we failed in," he said. " It's definitely encouraging because I think even from an athletic standpoint, the fact that they're pushing out communication on mental health, normalizes mental health."

On a statewide scale, CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green was hopeful that the webinar series could be a step in the right direction:

"We, as educational leaders, need to provide our students with coping strategies and resilience in navigating their current world that has been turned upside down by decisions out of their control as a result of the negative impacts of COVID-19. We are excited to offer this webinar series that complements our current mental health initiatives."

For students who are struggling, Christensen recommends simply beginning the conversation and reaching out to support outlets.