The Coaches’ Guide to Supporting High School Athlete Mental Health

Sports teams offer unique opportunities to create spaces where teens and young adults feel safe, seen, heard, and valued, and coaches are ideally positioned to provide that support. You can be the first to notice when an athlete is struggling emotionally, and the first person an athlete trusts enough to reach out to.

The JED Foundation teamed up with Positive Coaching Alliance to create this quick, easy-to-use guide to increase your knowledge and comfort in navigating these situations and conversations, and we want you to know:

• You don't have to be a mental health professional to support an athlete with mental health.
• You are never alone when you support athletes.
• You don’t have to provide care. You can be the bridge that connects them to it.
• You have the power to change—and even save—an athlete’s life.

This guide will walk you through straightforward—but significant—steps you can take to:

• Support mental health on your team.
• Recognize and reach out to a struggling athlete.
• Connect athletes to professional help, if and when it is needed.

Please download and share with colleagues and your community.

To learn more about our workshops and to partner with Positive Coaching Alliance, click here: https://positivecoach.org/live-workshops/