College Athletes and Mental Health Treatment
Depending on the young adult, the sport, and the reason for treatment, where they go and what happens next really matters. Will they be returning to their home institution and team? What is their eligibility within the NCAA? How long will they be away, and will the program have true discretion when it comes to clients? In the age of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) it’s even more important now that our student athletes get the correct care, as we want to make sure this experience only helps their image (and overall health), not harms it.
Googling “college student treatment program” is dangerous. What will you find? Hopefully this article, honestly. Mainly because it’s meant to educate you to not get sucked into the hidden search engine optimization (SEO) marketing that some treatment programs lean on for enrollment. Be wary. Those programs may say they work with college student athletes, and they might. But are they the best fit for your young adult? There’s a strong possibility it’s not a match.
Here's things you want to think about:
Have there ever been complaints for breach of confidentiality in the past? Famous people do go to treatment too. Some the world hears about it, and others you’d never know because the program was lock-tight in protecting this client. I would want to know if this program’s reputation is that they truly keep the anonymity of their patients are the forefront.
Is the program more young-adult-only focused? If not, I’d consider looking at a program that has a cohort of 18-30-ish year olds-only. Why? Because the treatment focus will most likely include family therapy, and they will have familiarity in helping young adults who are college interrupted.
What types of physical activity is included in the program? If they say they go to the gym in town one a week, this might be a concern. Some programs are experiential and/or adventure-based so there will already be a lot of physical activity. For a more brick & mortar-type treatment program, you would want to ideally have a gym within the facility. It gets a gold-star if they have a personal trainer to individualize for each client too.
Ask them for a parent reference. Most programs will accommodate this. If they say they can’t, I’d be hesitant to continue pursuing the enrollment process. You want full transparency. That needs to come from other parents. Keep in mind any parent reference they’ll give will most-likely have had a positive experience. What’s important to know about this though is that those parents also tend to talk about the friction points too, they just talk about it candidly since no treatment program is perfect. Additionally, if the young adult also wants to speak with a current or former client who is also a student athlete, I’d request that as well. Student-to-student they get a real sense of what to expect and if the program truly is helping.
Who on their staff will collaborate with the coach and/or student-athlete academic services department. If they’ve never done that before or are scrambling to answer because they don’t have a dedicated person to do this, I’d read into that that they aren’t familiar with NCAA eligibility after all.
We often hear about professional athletes who go to treatment for mental health or substance abuse, but we rarely read about student college athletes who are taking a break to get help during their college years. Sadly, we do read a lot about collegiate athletes and suicide. I want to change that narrative to make it more public to take a break and normalize for student athlete’s that it’s okay to get help. I also want them to know that they will want to find an independent consultant to help them navigate finding the right treatment program, rather than just going with what they find online or what someone may have mentioned in passing about being a good program. I’ve worked with numerous college student athletes over the years and I treat each young adult client with the utmost respect and care not just around their treatment, but their wishes to return to sport. Treat getting mental health care like you did the college admission and athletics process – with time, intention, assessment, information gathering, and tours. Once it seems like an overall fit, then commit.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
