The Washington Wizards do it up right w their events – this time hosting a Mental Health Awareness Night.
The pregame panel was led by NBC Washington’s Julie Donaldson & included NAMI’s Katrina Gay & Georgetown’s Early Childhood Development Expert, Neal Horen.
After each of these events, I try to take something I learn from the experience, to share:
No question it’s great that sports leagues & teams are becoming more comfortable talking about “it”…even hosting nights about “it.” We just have to get to the point where the “it” is clearer.
Players who share their battles in tweets, articles, even documentaries like Headstrong on NBC are moving us forward – but we must get beyond the 1:1 nature of labeling when this topic is discussed. It’s not about player/celeb xyz having disorder abc. It’s about how we all have a story & all have been affected.
It could be that genetics are at play. It could even be someone’s been effected the level of disorder…but it doesn’t HAVE to be that – exclusively. We ALL have faced challenges that put us on a mental health continuum, disorder or not. It’s a topic for #5in5, #SameHere .
Sorry to the Wiz for breaking your Gavel in the opening game ceremony (see the hilarious video on our social media pages @weareallalittlecrazy on IG…but they deserve it for referring to the Movement as the Same “Over” Here Movement in the graphic ;)).