Transcript
Oh, everyone.
It's a pleasure to have you on here, and I've got a tremendous pleasure to welcome Lovey Tadron talking about mental health emergency plan.
So just briefly on a couple of quick housekeeping items, Before we get started, number 1, in the chat area, let us know make sure you select everyone.
Let us know where you're from.
We've got a great group on here this morning.
Also, making sure you enter your evaluations.
We've had some great feedback on the symposium so far and how we can continue to even improve little things as well.
So without further ado, I know we're running a mend behind or so.
And, again, thanks so much.
We're not gonna go past the hour.
But we'll make sure to answer all your questions at the end.
Or during the session, if you want to make sure your first time on here, enter your questions in the q and a session.
Other just click on the button.
And then if you want to actually talk to Lovey, then just raise your hand, and I'm gonna unmute you an audio when get to the q and a session.
So we'll hold all questions at the end, and welcome to see everybody here as well.
And with that, it is a tremendous pleasure have you here this morning, lovey.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great.
Right?
How are you this morning?
I'm doing fantastic.
So real quick introduction.
And briefly, and Lovey, you can add in some more as well.
So Lovey for the I first met Lovey when she was the director of sports master here at Southern University.
We've done a lot of work together over the last several years, and it was for 5 years, I believe.
Is that correct?
You were at University of Georgia.
Is that correct?
6 years Mhmm.
As overseeing their mental health and wellness program and as of last week.
Is that correct?
Fairly.
Is now with the Atlanta falcons.
So you can probably tell a little bit about your role for a minute.
And with that being said, I'm gonna hand it over to you, Lovey.
And thanks again for being here.
Yeah.
Thanks, Ray.
Excited to be here to share this space with everyone near and far.
Please, please, I know Ray mentioned raising a hand for questions, for a discussion.
You know, we are all learners of of them from each other.
So please let's have the dialogue at the end, and and I just I hope and look forward to hearing about your experiences.
I think, you know, one of the largest things in the middle of the space.
Is that things are so new, especially when you're looking at the sports side, and it is our duty to one another to to share the things that we seen the things that have worked and the things that have not worked so that we can better serve our our athletes and the populations that we work with.
So as Ray mentioned, I started my career as a traditional athletic trainer.
When I got to Georgia 6 years ago, I really moved to focus as the 18 in the middle wellness space, which is very, very different.
You know?
I I viewed my best day prior to that being the day that I saw an athlete return from an an injury that they viewed as season ending.
But, you know, There's there's an insurmountable feeling to see an athlete go from the day that that they don't want to live to the day that that they're they're healthy and thriving.
And I say that very lightly because there are so many losses that people are see anything in the world right now, and it doesn't mean that your conversation wasn't enough.
If you've lost a student athlete or a friend.
I would like to believe that you made some of their darker days brighter and sometimes that that's the best that you can ask for in that moment.
So, yeah, I started with the falcons 3 weeks ago.
In the player engagement space, which is very similar to the evolution of my role at Georgia.
I'd started working with student athlete development and programming, just building our educational side on the mental health piece, and really just kinda infusing mental health all over the athletic association because we all have mental illness.
Right?
You know, we look at mental health disorders, but Everyone has mental mental wellness, and we we all have to do our part as stakeholders.
So excited today to talk about managing mental health emergencies.
You know, the first thing is to have any emergency action plan.
You just as we have emergency action plans for spine injuries and things of that nature, heat illnesses.
You have to know what you'll do when a mental health emergency arises.
Oh, sorry, I guess.
I don't know why they did it.
I guess the technical difficulties that are in today.
And so, you know, one of my number one things with an emergency action plan, and I I don't care if it's for an injury.
Weather, mental health, practice, rehearse it.
Now on this side, obviously, it's not you're not taking out equipment onto a field of clay, but you are familiarizing yourself with common things that come for mental health disorders.
You are practicing having empathetic conversations and listening.
I recently completed a a mass in clinical mental health counseling.
And when I started that degree, the first thing I asked myself was, How in the world could you consider being a counseling?
You don't listen.
And listening is just so hard.
Like, I found myself at times listening to respond, but when you do that, you've shut out being receptive to a lot of what that person is trying to tell you.
You know?
So how can I put myself in a position to be able to hear what they're trying to tell me?
And, I mean, there are so many different cues that that you can get from a person that lets you know that the conversation is more serious than your athlete that comes in.
And jokes every day.
You know?
So that that should trigger you then to put on your better listening ears and to to focus in on them and really to find out what they need in that moment.
But let's start with just understanding some common mental health disorders.
Alright.
So mental health disorders really any condition characterized by cognitive and emotional disturbances, abnormal behaviors, impaired functioning, or the combination of these symptoms.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 in eight people live with the mental health disorder.
This and this was written in 2022, I remember when I started at Georgia, and we were reading statistics and talks.
And it was 1 in 5, We know that in 2020, the number of people specifically with anxiety and depression rose significantly because of COVID.
Right?
That showed, like, a 26 to 28% increase for anxiety and major depressive disorders.
But I think, you know, this is also an alarming number just just to alarm us that We have to prioritize mental health and just increasing our knowledge base around these things.
So, you know, one thing that I I want to preface This with is there are treatments.
There are preventative things that we can do on the mental wellness side education being one of them, just letting people know what things look like.
Even this past weekend, I was spending time with my brother, and he was telling me that his ex girlfriend was sick.
So, you know, I thought she had a cold.
But then a little while later, I got a call from her, and she was kind of been panicked on the phone and saying that she was having an anxiety attack.
And when I got to where she was, what I saw with my my eye that has been in a psychiatric hospital and a mom that has been reading books and been studying for this degree, as of psychosis, as dilated, uncontrollable emotions, I mean, crying one second, and then hallucination's the next.
And I'm like, wow.
He really just told me she was sick as if she honestly, I thought she had COVID or something.
You know?
So it it's so so important not just for our work life, but for our families also that we just have a better knowledge base.
So if we look at anxiety disorders, They're typically characterized by excessive fear and worry, and sometimes I have related behavioral disorders that accompany them also.
And these symptoms may get so intense that they exhibit significant distress or or an impairment infection So, like, for her in that moment, with this psychotic episode driving brought her so much anxiety.
That's what brought about the the emotions, the uncontrollable emotions in that moment.
You know, I think that depression Where's a lot of faces?
I know for me, I've seen situational depression in myself when it comes to grief.
And losing people that I've been close to, but there are I guess we would say levels to depression.
Right?
So but a depressive episode that person is experiencing an extremely depressed mood.
Maybe you see that they have lost pleasure or interest in activities.
For most of the day or nearly every day for at least 2 weeks, poor concentration, fillings of excessive guilt or a low self worth and just kinda hopelessness, which may be express about the future.
You hear that and things about, you know, Do do I do I have a place here?
Would I what would would anyone miss me?
Or what is my purpose, things of that nature, thoughts about suicide or dying?
Maybe they're they're not sleeping well.
Maybe they complained of it changing appetite or weight or just always having extremely low energy.
And and people who are experiencing a depressive episode are at a higher score, so is that?
So bipolar disorder is another they're common disorder.
In these this group of people experience alternating depressive episodes with periods of manic symptoms.
And that mania could look like euphoria, irritability, maybe an increased activity, level, or energy.
And it it's a marked increase.
Right?
You can you can see that they have an abnormal amount of energy and they are sometimes it's kind of all over the place with their grandiose ideas or plans.
They also may have, like, increased talkativeness and racing thoughts.
And I know this may sound a little weird.
I understand that your thoughts are in your mind, but it's almost as if you can see those thoughts racing.
Right?
Because Their eye their eye movement is is also kind of racing and and all over the place with those thoughts of again, just really paying attention to everything that's in front of you that that this person is presenting with They may have an increased self esteem.
They believe that they can go out and move the brick building.
And I know that's a little sounds that sounds dramatic, but you will experience that that the things that they think they can do are extremely it's just not possible.
Right?
So, again, another decrease need for sleep, which continues to amplify their symptoms.
Very distractible and impulsive breakfast behavior, which is is very serious because this could put them in danger or others that are around them.
PTSC is another common illness or mental health disorder, and it's really characterized by exposure to an extremely threatening or hurt the event or serious events.
Schizophrenia is characterized by significant impairments and perceptions and changes in behavior.
So they may be experiencing persistent delusions or hallucinations disorganized thinking, highly disorganized behavior, and they they might become extremely agitated or combative.
Eating disorders is another common thing that we see in sports as well.
And I mean, honestly, I think they're all very common in sports, and we'll continue to get more common as people get more comfortable disclosing these diagnoses.
But eating disorders like inorexia, or bulimia, typically involve abnormal eating patterns and maybe some sort of pre acute patient with food, body weight, and body shape concerns.
These these disorders can cause significant risks or damage to their overall health, significant distress, and impairment of their their normal functioning.
So the next step in creating this EAP framework is being able to identify a mental health crisis.
So, you know, what is this What does this look like?
All cases are different.
The most important thing for us in our space is that we get to spend so much time with the population that we serve, and we typically know what their their norm looks like.
Right?
So if I come in tomorrow and I am just extremely agitated and and extremely negative, then I would hope that my the people around me would say, you know, this not Libby.
What's what's going on?
I wonder what is going on at home or, you know, has has something happen in her personal life that is causing this.
And we should be able to identify these things with our student athletes or athletes or patients and be able to ask some questions to seek help.
I'm sorry.
So we know that mental health crises occur when acute disturbances bring about safety concerns for the individual athlete or to others in the vicinity of the athlete?
And that safety sometimes is perceived safety.
Right?
So if they feel like they are in danger, then that could bring about an acute disturbance.
And sometimes that may be a financial danger or in our space that could be a death chart danger.
Right?
Because we we also understand that any threat to their athletic identity can bring about a mental health crisis because they they have so much tied into their identity.
There's absolutely no time or place that defines when a mental health crisis occurs.
You know, we've at my previous institution, seen Sundays within the academic space where athletes may be presenting in their study session and just kinda talking about hopelessness in in maybe they're extremely agitated and that a specialist that's working with them needs to be able to identify this mood swing and how to help them with it.
So when managing the crisis, the number one thing is just to remain calm, The person that you're trying to help is already in a in a state of emergency and probably a very unknown state for them.
Calm can be seen through all of your actions, your voice, your tone, your posture, in in how you are approaching them.
Right?
So it's it's imperative that you exude confidence in yourself and calmness in this situation.
And that's not easy.
It's mental health crisis are typically very scary for yourself and for the person that's experiencing there.
But remember that even in the midst of their chaos and confusion, you're still a known face.
A known hopefully a welcome voice.
And if you're calm, that might help to calm them down to get them the proper help that they need.
You always wanna leave with compassion and empathy.
Express genuine concern Again, we we don't know what's going on outside of our space.
So asking them you know, how are you feeling today?
Is there anything that you would like to share?
Is there someone else that I could find that you may feel more comfortable with talking to, making sure that you're focusing on them, it's it's not many times that we are not looking at our cell phones or, you know, checking a message.
I've got so many thin and vibrations that is ridiculous.
But in these moments, it's imperative that you provide that person, that patient with a unilateral focus.
Focus on them in that moment their illness, their needs, and just making them feel like they are what matters in that moment and that you're you're, again, listening Listen is hard.
It is so hard.
And and often, not only do we have devices, but there are things going on around you.
I was telling my my new boss that at some point, sometimes in the day, I I get to the space where I'm seeing squirrels.
Right?
And when I say that, if if the squirrel runs by the window, then I start wondering where the squirrel is going and where the the next one is, just my mind isn't present.
So do what you can in these moments to make sure that your mind, your body, everything is present focus on the individual that is in need.
The air things that you can do to make sure you're listening, like, paraphrasing what they're saying.
And also repeating it to them so that you can get clarity because sometimes maybe what you heard them say is not what they intended to relay.
There may be even situations where you you heard them express suicidal ideations, but that's not what they were trying to express.
You know?
So listening in paraphrasing paraphrasing, getting that clarity is extremely important in these conversations.
So, you know, another piece is that we are not trained mental health providers.
It's imperative that we have a core group of people no matter the setting that you work in, that you can make referrals to.
So what I like to call a warm handoff, you already have a relationship with that person.
So you can let This person know that you're you're patient that is experiencing mental health symptoms, you can tell them about the provider that you're referring them to.
And then that way, it it feels more warm and less cold, you know, is that they're just googling a provider You're letting them know, hey.
I know this person.
Maybe you know a little bit about their counseling there, and you don't have to get better in debt either.
But you're just able to tell them what type of person they are.
Like, I I know the x is up here.
Right?
So if if x was a mental health provider that I was referring to, I would tell my athlete that x is kind.
X is a caregiver for her her children and and, you know, her household.
And so she's very empathetic and loving.
And that I believe she's a good listener and that they may enjoy her.
You know?
So just giving them a little bit of background And tying in the things that you know are important to your patient, your athlete, and providers will allow you to make those warm handoffs.
So activating emergency personnel is extremely important.
In my time at Georgia, we were able to create a relationship with a local psychiatric facility.
And I cannot express how helpful that was.
Again, it it goes back to rehearsing your EAP.
Right?
The first time one of the first times we had an emergency, and my time there, I spent over over 12 hours between the emergency room and intake at the hospital.
That wasn't about me.
However, you have an athlete that's in crisis that, you know, needs to be stabilized and kinda place in a place of of comfort.
So sitting in those spaces is is not comfortable, and it just kinda to me heightened say symptoms because they're they're on alert more in these unknown spaces.
Now once we created this relation it with the hospital the psychiatric hospital.
We were able to do direct admits because we had a psychiatrist.
And I understand that every setting is not able to do that.
However, every person is able to create a relationship with someone else that just opens the door so that they know, hey.
If somebody's calling about a a patient, let's figure out how we can how we can help them.
And those are all, you know, no financial gain for that hospital in our relationship other than the patient's bills being paid.
But it was just literally making a phone call, sitting down with their administration, letting them know who we were, what we may need from time to time, and that just turned into such a a great relationship over the years.
Extremely helpful.
Again, we just talked about warm handoffs.
Well, going into a psychiatric facility can be extremely scary.
Right?
You know, just being transparent, I thought that it was, like, TV.
Prior to my time going in to visit patients, in there.
But it is it's not like TV.
It's it's a hospital.
Different types of illnesses, but there are people that are inland that are trying to get better.
So being able to describe that to a patient that you're referring is important also.
You're not gonna walk upstairs and in the hospital that we utilize and see a group of people in shaped jackets, you know, diffusing those those kinda miss, I think, is is important for us to do when we're talking to a FDA or a patient in crisis.
Another thing with the emergency personnel, and maybe this is a test for Ray as he can things to build his education series, but there are middle some offices that are trained for mental health emergencies.
So that's another thing when we make those phone calls.
Right?
So when you're on the field, and you're calling for an ambulance, you know, to let them know which gates to come through and things of that nature.
But when you're dealing with the mental health emergency, It's very important that you let the dispatcher know.
This is a mental health call so that they can make sure to send the right personnel out.
So then there's the country, the in house culture that's important.
We had a lot of back back and forth at a previous job recently just about making sure you have lenient see in what's written.
My thing what what I think is very important is positions that are utilizing this culture will not change.
People may change.
Right?
But to there there will be something that the head coach is not a thought about even if it's just that such and such will be out, the the team psychiatrist in my tournament.
Georgia, the sport administrator was not a because they're making approvals on if they what we can do to bring up here in the athletic trainer is helping to coordinate things, the academic counselor and student care and outreach are ensuring that the the teachers know that the student athlete is out.
And, again, you will change this to match the positions that you have at your university or within your setting.
You wanna make sure you have the key personnel that are responsible for the athletes, mental, physical, and emotional health.
I think I mentioned earlier, just that everyone within your department is a stakeholder when it comes to mental health.
I don't know what my athlete was experiencing prior to their arrival to me.
But if their academic count they saw them earlier that day, and they noticed that their mood was off, then it's still responsibility of the academic council to share that.
With the rest of this wellness team so that we can huddle around this athlete.
Also, I think, you know, it's important that all needs are addressed within the crisis team sometimes.
Just people have different levels of institutional knowledge and may know where they can help or or just be a resource in this situation.
Now once the athlete is coming out of the crisis, Then they also become a member of this crisis team.
And it's important for them to feel autonomy in the space and to know that Well, it's a lot of people in the room.
All of these people are here, you know, for your betterment and your driving the boat.
Obviously, with the guidance of the mental health clinician.
So what happens once we activate the EAP, whenever a student athlete is experiencing a situation where their their life is threatened and that is there any immediate danger, and the EAP must be activated.
So if there if there are If there are suicidal ideations in there as a plan, that is an example of immediate danger.
Okay.
Alright.
So, again, let's just go back over the components of the EAP.
You want to and and I'll say this also.
So when we created our mental health EAP or it's it, Georgia 6 years ago.
I ended up changing it to the name being a guide, right, because it became a much larger document than the EAPs that I worked on previous it wasn't just a one sheater or a 2 sheater.
It became a guy because some pieces in it are education pieces because you have to define and describe situation symptoms that might be considered an emergency.
But within that, You also have to break down what is maybe you have red light, green light, yellow light.
Right?
So red would be something that is an immediate 911.
This is an emergency.
This is a mental health emergency.
This is a mental health situation.
Maybe that's yellow.
And who do they call?
What does that look like in terms of sides and symptoms.
And then what is an everyday, which will be a green, what is an everyday mental health issue look like where I don't need 911.
This person is not in immediate danger, but maybe they just want to start counts or you think that it would be good for them.
So you have to define each of those situations, written procedures again and all how to how to manage the different severities.
Again, just that's where that that calmness contagious comes into play.
And making sure that the the person who is making that call is equipped to stand in until the qualified provider is there.
So the side of ideations must be pulled out, and so is that a period?
To have a separate section and and dive in deeper on what those conversations look like, what that verbiage looks like.
Again, providing clarity is very, very important when it comes to suicide because you need to be clear that they are saying that they want to in their life.
And do they have do they have a plan?
Do they have access to the needs?
To complete this action.
Again, show different situations where you may need law enforcement versus medical services, and then what athletic personnel should be contacted.
So, you know, another very important piece, like we mentioned earlier, is identifying local inpatient facilities.
I highly recommend reaching out just having a conversation with them so that you can better get to know their operation Some of us deal a lot with parents, and it goes a long way to be able to explain to a parent why you think they should take their child to this place.
What I've seen a lot when it comes to parents in this space, and I think maybe personally, I'm drawn to parents on this side because I come from a single parent home, and and my mom is very active in my life.
Right?
So I know that if I was experiencing a mental health emergency, I can imagine the toilet that would take her.
What I've seen with a lot of parents is this is a side where they don't have an answer for this child that leads the world to them, and that's very hard fit in their I said it's awesome.
So I think at some point, there becomes a a piece where you're kind of acting as a support lien for them as well.
But, again, we've identified local inpatient facilities, local providers, like the example I use with X so that you are able to make those warm handoffs and able to know where you're sending your patients.
Roles should be defined very clearly.
In the EAP of Georgia, there is a flowchart there is a bulleted list.
Both of these share the same thing, but just, you know, just we wanna make it very clear.
What someone's role is?
Should the emergency start with them, or should they just be a part of the treatment?
Team, but it's it's very clearly defined where where your role is in any mental health situation.
And then a post crisis plan or at least a mention of creating such because we understand that if a student athlete goes to the hospital appointment on a healthy emergency, things aren't fixed or, you know, they're not a 100% healthy when they leave out, but we wanna make sure that we continue to have supports in place to get them towards that direction of healthy.
And and very important piece that I think will continue to evolve is identifying culture in this space.
So environmental environmental culture, we must do our part to these stigmatized efforts in all communities.
Most of our populations are not just one culture or one one race, So we we must identify what that looks like within the the the backgrounds that we serve.
Cultural confidence should be a major tenant of all of our practices.
It's imperative that the treatment of mental health crisis acknowledges cultural differences.
Effective effect is causing mental illness of the comfort to discuss and the cultural impacts of treatment plans on our patients.
Our goal should be to have culture specific plans versus universal plans.
I think about an example, We mentioned earlier the term panic attacks.
Right?
And looking at anxiety emergencies, So did you know that a tech day in Neubios is a cultural syndrome That means attack of the nerds in Latin America, and it's characterized by uncontrollable shouting, attacks of crime, trembling, heating the chest, rising into the head, and verbal or physical aggression.
But just educating ourselves on what something may look like or be termed as in different cultures will absolutely help as we continue to these things with housing grow at efforts on the middle of what was that?
Now I think we have time for some questions and discussion experience sharing.
Great.
Thank you, lovey.
We already have a couple of questions.
And and, again, if you'd like to, you know, just raise your hand, if you'd like to just I can unmute you and is ask your question and have that conversation with lobby.
I think that was this is definitely a topic that is we've all had difficult situations in our life, both may either personally and or professionally.
And this starts out, I think and love you.
I think you you hit on this or ownership performance.
We're we're developing the plan as we're working on this.
It doesn't cost money.
It just requires some time, but also you're planning because you may actually utilize that plan.
And and also developing cultures.
Let's go ahead and get to a couple of the questions.
And we have first one is from Beyond, and it is We have emergencies that happen after our school based mental health teams operating hours.
How do you deal with mental health crisis during after school activities.
Yeah.
So, again, you know, I think that's where identifying different counselors and different facilities that can help within those hours is extremely helpful.
So, you know, once you have the EAP, where is this falling in?
Is this a conversation that you can help to let the athlete know that you can get them help tomorrow, and they'll be safe at home tonight.
Or is this a situation where you question safety and need to immediately refer them to an ER or a psychiatric facility or even maybe the 988 line or even the NFL lifeline because both of those are are 24 hours, and they can connect that person with a mental health provider.
Great, great question there.
Paul has this question.
What would you recommend for additional education in the mental health field, mental health 1st aid, QPR training, etcetera.
Absolutely.
That wouldn't be me if my first recommendation wasn't ICISF, IT's care training.
You know, I I talk a lot about listening, and my first lesson in listening came from the training from AT's Care.
So under the international critical incident stress foundation.
There is a a certification for critical incident stress management that in ATA, let's say, Paul, I don't know where you work.
I'm just throwing something out there if you work at a hospital system.
Right?
And maybe you guys have a a group of ATs that serve the community, then you could ask an ATA about hosting, attending at your hospital.
It's not very expensive, and we could come in and teach you guys assisting an individual or assisting a group in crisis.
And, you know, just me transparent, I've been on the receiving end of both of those services as a group and an individual, and it's extremely helpful.
I do think mental health first aid is helpful in QPR.
So with my ICI said training, there's not a lot of focus on suicide, and they do have a separate model, but QPR is extremely helpful when it comes to suicide prevention.
You can also look on SAMSA.
It's a government website, and they offer a lot of educational opportunities.
I'm big on Middle Hope America as well.
I like the information because it's digestible.
And they have a a great partnership with us as athletic trainers as well.
Great question there.
The one thing, I guess, Lavi, I got I have question for you.
And I guess as with the audience as well is, would you say that it's fair to assume that regardless of your level of training because there may be a time you may get even experienced person can recognize they're getting over what this is a very intense or they're over they're overloaded, so to speak.
Is first being able not trying to necessarily have the solution, which we we as health care providers, we wanna we wanna provide that solution But getting them to the point, you're kind of the conduit to get them to the endpoint solution.
That's that's the most critical thing.
I would I would think is that a pretty good a pretty good assumption there is being is recognizing that what within the situation, what the issue is, and what the capabilities are available they are we need to move it to somebody else's will.
Absolutely.
I always say, you know, our role is to be a vehicle.
You are already a a trusted individual within the wellness team of your athlete.
So being a vehicle, but to me, one of the most important pieces is that it's already having relationships or building relationships with the providers that you're being a vehicle to get them 2.
My first job as an athletic trainer at A and T.
I worked check-in field, and those athletes were very, very smart.
So whatever I treat whatever treatment I did, they wanted to know what was the science behind it.
Why was I doing this instead of doing something else?
And for me, we should be able to explain that that depth of information.
Why are you referring me to this person?
What is it about this person that you think can help me?
And you should also be able to explain to the provider the things that you saw that alerted you to seek help for this patient.
Great.
Thank you.
Any other questions, feel free to ask.
We still got a couple minutes left in the in the in the call.
I I do have one other, I guess, would be is if you would kinda share your thoughts on the just the developing the culture and and making that shift in culture for having mental health and wellness.
I know that we and during my 20 years at Elau was at fur it it took it took some time to build that.
Now Shelly Mullenix did that over a long period of time And now, eventually, they have a we have a full they no.
We and now they have a full team with Laquita and Bruce and Christina, And, you know, it just it changed the probe.
I I saw it as the the shift from, well, some skepticism to now It is you know, it's the the everyone is involved in that process, but also they utilize that process as well.
So if you can kinda share what your your experience has been and how that cultural I I mean, the it's a shift within an organizational cultural shift and what that looks like.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think part of it is also the shift of the world right now.
Right?
Because the conversation is getting louder outside, I think when it comes to our athletic spaces, you have to be cognizant of the different groups that you're trying to impact.
So when it comes to our coaches, I always talked about this thing called Balan Trust.
Our coaches are used to getting a lot of information on everything.
If that's a return as we go in and get injury reports, you know, that explain what is going on with every single athlete that is injured.
But when it comes to the mental wellness side, the information that you're receiving is not that detailed.
So, again, so much of it goes back to building relationships, making sure that your coaches know your providers so that they can trust them to do their job and not being malicious in a sense, you know, against their mission and understand that they're a teammate for them also with our athletic trainers, you know, again, making sure that they have relationships with the providers so that they're comfortable to make those referrals.
Allowing the providers to share your athletic space is very important too.
I've heard people say that the provider should be like a fixture in the facility.
Right?
They should be like a a layer.
So that they and what they mean by that is just it's not abnormal to see them in that space.
They're just a a normal piece.
So I think when you do things like that, you build relationships.
You have open conversations.
Like, if you educate the coaches on listening, and having open conversations with their student athletes about how they're doing.
It's such a simple question, but when you say it in a manner that someone perceives, you actually need it, it goes a long way.
So I think it's building those foundational pieces to create a culture of care.
And then you're able to open up doors and use words like mental health and mental wellness and therapy and and things of that nature are are okay because you've built that culture of care.
You know, I think the one I'm a ask I'm not I'm not one statement, I guess.
I'm waiting on the questions to came in.
I think you brought up one statement to stand.
It's like, how are you doing is you have to be aware as health care provider you know, who you're asking that to in the context of the timing and recognize that they're having something.
So we get and say, hey.
How Hey.
How's it going?
How are you doing today?
And the question is whether or not you want and I've and I've said this before, at least I've talked to other colleagues.
I may have to talk to you about it.
Love you is Well, do you want you're asking me how I'm doing, or do you really wanna know that I want my I wanna cut my ankle off, or they wanna do something that's just real I wish my you know, they're so frustrated with an injury.
They they're they're they're not expressing that.
So it's really important.
Like you said, if they if you show you care, that and how you do that with the intention that goes a long way, but they didn't basically begin to open up.
And and I think it's one where Banjo's Aflac friendors.
Oh, so Eric has this question.
So move on.
So that was the excellent point you made about that and how how to interact with over time.
So Aircast, I'm in large high school over 3000 and want to develop a mental health EAP.
Do you have any resources or recommendations for writing that plan.
Trying not to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
Mhmm.
I am typing in the name of an article that was written by Doctor Lawrence and Doctor Gunson.
Doctor Lawrence is with the neo at Giantson.
Doctor Gunter is with the NBA, but they wrote a great article, considerations for developing a mental health emergency action plan.
And it has the outline that you're looking for.
If you can't find it, just shoot me an email, and I'll find it and send it to you.
So it says for our high school football program, but, you know, you can amend it and mold it.
For your for your score as a whole?
I was gonna add to that love you.
So you're typing and I'll share this out with everybody.
Love you.
I'll get that when I send the next email out.
As well.
I'll send that.
I've done this a a daily reminder of a couple of key points.
This is definitely one of those example resources, is if you're writing an EAP regardless of what it's for, whether it's for mental health or something specific to that, just start with a basic outline of things that you know that you need and and let me just provide some examples of that and just start writing with it, and then you could start benchmarking of what that does.
You know, it's gonna it's gonna be simple.
And you're gonna think you have all this.
Just start with, you know, 3 or 4 different things you're writing down.
Like, how are you you know, what's the general process?
Or who's involved in that process, and or contact information for, as Lovey mentioned, you know, who's your local on campus resources, who's off campus, or whether your you know, obviously, the hospitals or mental health facilities are gonna be part of your may be part of a venue specific EAP, but you have that as well.
So something real easy that would be just a start point, and then it continually evolves and and having stake holder input and multiple eyes on it.
Make sure because you may be trying to write something that's already out there.
You just didn't realize that.
Like, in, like, in schools, they may have that already.
Especially for, you know, critical incidents and things like that.
This is already part of the AP.
It's just you gotta adapt it to the and the same thing for schools as well.
So
Absolutely.
NATA also has a good EAP outline for mental health emergencies, but Ray made a very good point.
About, you know, this is a continuously evolving document after every situation, after every emergency, it should be reevaluated and changes implemented where you need to make things flow better.
I think with if you're riding your EAP, I think just something for everybody to kinda keep in mind, and it's always for us as well is is that You can't there's only so much cookie cutter cookie cutting you can do with an EAP.
You have you know, I can get the outline and, hey, there's a start point and look at but you still have to write it.
You have to massage it out for what works best.
And then as you move along, you may realize that something is too untenable to to manage that.
So or what what you put in your it may be overwhelming.
So for example, yesterday, we're talking about concussion management and or at least Jeremy was is writing that plan.
Some schools can do a they may do some type of testing.
Others based on the on the on just because of how long it takes, it may not be able to do that in full.
So you have to know that that's gonna make some give and take down the line with that.
And getting resources there.
So excellent.
We got about time for one other question, and I think we're getting up on finish up by 11:30.
So is anybody having other questions?
If not, I'm a wait on for one second or so.
Lovey, thank you again so much for taking time.
I know that and you don't know that she'd started a new job a week ago.
So she's already going a hundred miles an hour and and then something I'm sure.
I appreciate you for your patience.
I literally, everyday is new here, and we're in the middle of this little small thing called the dress.
So just figuring that out and and moving forward.
It's exciting.
Good.
You you got a great group of work you're working with as well.
With Absolutely.
With Jake and oh, no.
Cheryl's not there, but Jake is there and at please tell so so he tell them hello as well.
So Absolutely.
Well, great.
Thank you again, lovey.
You're wonderful.
Well, I always love getting a visit with you, and and I hope you all enjoyed the session as well.
I'll share that information.
We'll get with you, Lovey, to share that on the to everybody who attended.
And even though those who didn't attend, you'll get that email with a a nice little resource about developed starting point for developing your mental health, EAP, and other resources.
Thanks again.
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Mental Health Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
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Updated Jan 22, 2024
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