Indiana University, thank you for a great night. Derek Anderson and I were so impressed by your whole “team.”
Indiana has their students athletes with study centers, dining halls, training facilities, wellness centers, and as you see here – common meeting areas, all in the same building, connected to the football stadium, Memorial Stadium. The care that they give to their student athletes is first class.
Dr. Chelsi Day & her staff & colleagues have built a culture around wellness that is truly inspiring. They made this #SameHere Sit-Down part of a mandatory initiative they do for their freshman athletes, & invited upper classmen throughout the year.
What we’re finding is, bc of the way our society has interchangeably used the terms, mental HEALTH & mental ILLNESS are still seen by the masses as the same thing.
However, when you see the light bulbs go off in the eyes of students – that hey, this topic is for me too, it’s a beautiful & rewarding thing for our team. Being on the ground for this, let me say there is still a LONG way to go to get over these stigmas. But, when you see the students who “get it,” light up like that, you know that there are future leaders who will carry the torch of these messages and make lasting change happen. #SameHere Indiana!