Mental Health and Student Athletes

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between mental health and collegiate student athletes. The participants of the study were Merrimack College student athletes and those strongly associated with Merrimack. The purpose of this study was to educate and bring awareness to mental health issues in collegiate student athletes, as well as topics associated with mental health; such as social stigma, personal stigma, social support, referral skills and resources. Participants participated in an online workshop that included three activities focused on stigma, social support and help seeking. Student athlete participants were asked to complete a post workshop evaluation. The findings from this research provided insight on the quality of the workshop as well as Merrimack College’s student athlete’s attitudes toward the importance of mental health issues, help seeking, social support and stigma.