UNA includes mental health screenings for student-athletes

FLORENCE — As more athletes acknowledge the toll that school, sports, and life in general take on their mental health, colleges and universities are stepping up their game when it comes to providing help and resources for their student-athletes. May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

There is major headway with student-athletes being able to discuss mental health, but still a long way to go. The demands of being a student-athlete is a lot and can affect their mental health greatly. 

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, approximately 30% of female and 25% of male student-athletes report having anxiety. While just 10% of all college athletes with known mental health conditions seek care from a mental health professional.

An NCAA Student-Athlete Well-Being Study from May 2022 reported that 38% of female  and 22% of male student-athletes said they felt mentally exhausted constantly or most every day. The same study found that student-athletes report mental health concerns at a 1.5 to 2 times higher rate now than before 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The University of North Alabama is working to change those statistics.

This year, as part of its annual student-athlete physicals, the university’s Health & Well-Being department has partnered with the Department of Athletics to also screen student-athletes for mental health concerns.

“The Mental Health Screening Tool is for any UNA student and was developed through collaboration between Athletics, Student Counseling Services, and Health Services,” said Sheena Burgreen, executive director of UNA Health & Well-Being. “With annual athletic physicals beginning, spring was the perfect time to launch this new tool.”

Sports physicals started in April for all returning student-athletes and extend throughout the summer to include incoming athletes as they arrive on campus. 

“With the addition of this new tool that specifically targets mental health, any student who presents to the Health Services clinic for a physical exam will also receive a mental health screening,” Burgreen said. “This screening tool allows University Health Services staff to evaluate and discuss the results of the screening during the physical exam and offer resources, education, and referral to Student Counseling Services, if indicated.”

Anna Milwee, North Alabama assistant athletic director for Compliance & Student Success, spearheaded the initiative with Burgreen. 

“Mental health is a major concern in college athletics and we are trying to do what is needed to help our student-athletes,” she said. “By doing this screening we are able to assist student-athletes better and hopefully be proactive. 

“We see that in these screenings student-athletes are willing to be more open to what is going on in their lives. These screenings are one more layer of support that we, as a university, can provide them. Some student-athletes can be really good at hiding their mental health concerns, so, honestly, we may not know anything is going on, so this screening helps with that as well. The fact that these student-athletes are receiving resources and attention before leaving the facility is going to make a huge impact.”

As Mental Health Awareness month comes to a close, UNA continues to work to close the gap between student-athletes’ mental and physical health concerns to ensure success in all aspects of their lives.

“We are very grateful to Sheena and Health Services for their efforts in this initiative,” Milwee said. “We believe this could make a major impact in our student-athletes’ lives and how we support them in mental health.”