The Coaches' Guide to Supporting High School Athlete Mental Health

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This Is Your Guide to Supporting Your Players

Teens are facing an escalating crisis in mental health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019. Nearly 20% of all high school students had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, a statistic that rises significantly for LGBTQ students and students of color. Sports teams offer unique opportunities to create spaces where teens feel safe, seen, heard, and valued.

A trusted, caring adult can be a game changer for young people, 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 (JED) and Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) created this quick, easy-to-use guide to increase your knowledge and comfort in navigating these situations and conversations. We want to help you feel prepared, and we want you to know:

You do not have to be a mental health professional to support an athlete with their 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.
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.
Photos courtesy of Positive Coaching Alliance and contracted photographers.

About The Jed Foundation

The Jed Foundation (JED) is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. We partner with high schools and colleges to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems. We equip teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge they need to help themselves and each other. We encourage community awareness, understanding, and action for young adult mental health. Learn more and access resources at jedfoundation.org.

About Positive Coaching Alliance

PCA’s vision is to build a world where every child benefits from a positive youth sports experience with a coach who inspires them to become the best version of themselves in the game and in life. We train coaches and partner with youth sports organizations, parents, sports leaders, and communities to make youth sports more positive, equitable, and accessible to all kids regardless of social or economic circumstances. For more information go to positivecoach.org.

How to Create a Community of Care in Sports

You can support your athletes’ mental health by talking openly about the importance of mental health, supporting help-seeking, and creating an accepting environment where athletes experience a sense of belonging and connection to something bigger than themselves.

Build Connection

Create opportunities for athletes to connect, such as a get-to-know-you activity like pairing athletes with warm-up buddies and having them ask each other non-sports questions during each stretch. Remind them that they can be supports for one another.

Talk About It

Begin practice with a check-in to see how athletes are doing. Let them know you are available before and after practice to connect when they are struggling, and reiterate that during high-pressure times, such as before competitions or championships. Let them know their well-being is important to you, and you are here to be a support if they need it.

Make a Safe Space

Start the season by telling players how you expect them to treat one another and letting them know your team is a safe space for everyone, including all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Encourage Self-Care

Consider incorporating mindfulness, deep breathing, or other calming activities into your practices, and encourage athletes to engage in self-care activities such as taking breaks from school and sports, getting good sleep, or talking with friends. You can model self-care by sharing what you do to manage stress, which not only benefits them, but also is critical to your well-being. You, too, are part of the community of care you are creating.

Establish Rituals and Routines

When athletes celebrate positive traditions and understand your team routine, they can feel safe and secure and focus on learning and interacting with teammates.

Focus on Effort

Encourage athletes to set realistic goals that prioritize effort and learning so they can experience improvement and the self-confidence that comes with it. Identify and emphasize their strengths, and frame mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve. Valuing effort and learning over outcomes helps athletes experience success, regardless of the score.

Give Athletes Voice and Choice

When athletes’ thoughts and opinions are encouraged and valued, they feel more ownership over their experience. In addition to developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, athletes will gain a sense of control that can help them feel safe within their team and comfortable reaching out when they need to.

Share Resources

Local and school: Find out what organizations exist in the community to support teen and young adult mental health, and compile contact information for them. If you are part of a school program, find out what support services are available to students for academic stress and mental health support. If there are specific colleagues who provide student support, invite them to come to a practice, introduce themselves, and explain the services they offer. That will help students feel more comfortable seeking them out if needed.

National:

• For a referral for mental health treatment, call 1-800-662-HELP(4357) to reach SAMHSA’s National Helpline.

For the Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741-741 for a free, confidential conversation with a trained
counselor at any time.
To connect with help and support during a mental health, substance use, or suicide crisis, call or
text 988 or use the online chat function at 988lifeline.org.
You can find additional crisis resources at jedfoundation.org/its-an-emergency.
Share all these resources verbally, and include them in team emails and communications using language like this:
“If you are feeling stressed, worried, or down, or if you think a friend may be struggling, please feel free to let me know, and I will help. Here are some helpful places to go: [list school and local resources]. If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone right now, text HOME to 741-741 for a free confidential conversation with a trained counselor at any time. If you are experiencing a mental health, substance use, or suicide crisis, text or call 988.”

How to Recognize an Athlete Who Is Struggling

You know your players. If something concerns you, trust your gut and err on the side of checking in. It may turn out that nothing substantial is going on, but showing athletes you care is part of supporting mental health. Athletes—like all of us—fare better when they feel seen, cared for, and part of a community.

The most important sign that something is going on for an athlete—or anyone—is a significant change in how they behave or function.

Here are some specific examples: