NATA Releases Recommendations For Student Athlete Mental Health Outreach

The National Athletic Trainers Association came to Indianapolis Wednesday to announce a new effort to address student athlete mental health.

Researchers believe what is done could be the difference between life and death. The association released a consensus statement for how colleges and universities can better address psychological issues among student athletes.

Margot Putukian is the former president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

She says giving more attention to the problem will help break down stigmas of seeking treatment.

"You have athletes that have an issue as it relates to performance with a back problem or a knee problem or they have a cold, they seek help," said Putukian.  "But, for whatever reason with mental health, often times, they don't want to seek help.  I think a lot of it is getting in and talking about it and getting it out there, realizing that those stressers are pretty prevalent within our student athlete population."

The plan outlines nine initiatives to recognize and refer students with mental health concerns. Former University of Michigan football player Will Heiniger experienced problems during his playing career and thinks the initiative will make a difference in getting athletes to open up and face their struggles head on.

"There is so much on your mind and so much going on that you rarely have the time to stop and think and when you do, you might not know how to.  You might not have the skills to do that," he said.  "So, addressing these things up front and letting your athletes and anyone in the world know that these are normal things that can happen and there are normal fixes for them, it's as simple as that."

Researchers found suicide is the third leading cause of death among student athletes.

NATA president Jim Thorton says the more aware people are of the issue, the more can be done.

"We do all kinds of things to help prevent death for cardiovascular issues and heat illness and concussions," he said. "This is just one more thing we need to be doing everything that we can."

Thorton expects to release findings for dealing with high school athletes psychological concerns in the future.