Trends are important to take note of, & bring attention to: especially when we’re trying to change a narrative.
If you remember, months ago, I was upset that we were seeing a string of college athlete suicides, & there were very few national networks tying these threads together: college students, athletes, suicides, only weeks & months apart, & the local papers were covering each individual tragedy, but not many on the national level were showing the trend.
The Today Show, to their credit, began to do that work – specifically w the parents of the athlete’s who’d passed, they brought many of them together to show that these were not isolated incidents.
I don’t typically choose to do two posts back-to-back on almost the same topic – but when we’re trying to show trends (positive or negative) for the sake of change, it’s impt to point it out.
The head coach of Ohio St Football, Ryan Day, made some bold statements early this yr in support of MH – making donations to research being done, & talking openly abt the suicide of his father when he was just a little boy.
Last post was abt how Bama’s Nick Saban is addressing the topic, openly & publicly. Now, Dabo Swinney, Clemson’s head football coach (another national champion like Saban), is speaking up on the topic.
Swinney approached it from the angle of the transfer portal & NIL (not saying they are bad or we should do away w them, but) saying the current lack of rules & regulations are having a negative impact on student athlete MH. That’s a bold & impt statement. He’s in the trenches seeing it. We need more big time coaches speaking up like these folks: men’s & women’s coaches, right @rachelbaribeau @drbhrettmccabe @slivingstn @rwalk56?
Next slide➡️ awesome to see a school like Oklahoma St. U, starting a MH initiative. Slide after that, pics of implementing the apps: SameHere Teacher & SameHere Student in schools.
Let’s continue to talk…continue to provide tools…continue to make change happen, together.
WE need to show the trends & share widely so that many others can see them too…