With OSU’s help, Granville takes a proactive approach with athletes’ mental health

From growing up in a pandemic to navigating the noise of social media, student-athletes are under more pressure than ever before. But at Granville, a new program is taking a more proactive approach to mental health.

Samantha Bates is the director of research at Ohio State’s LiFESports program, which partnered with Granville to address the mental health needs of its student-athletes.

“When you think about a high school student-athlete now, we’re seeing increased pressure to perform well in the classroom,” Bates said. “We know that 88 percent of student-athletes at the high school level nationally report feeling extremely stressed and overwhelmed. In the last year, going out to Granville and working with those student-athletes, that data was corroborated as we talked about ‘what are you dealing with’ and ‘what are you seeing’.”

Through a series of seminars and smaller group sessions, mental health professionals provided tools and resources for student-athletes, empowering them to deal with the growing pressures of competition.

“In some ways, we might be de-stigmatizing the environment because they’re certainly open and willing to have those conversations; they’re just looking for the adults to make the space for it,” Bates said.

Olivia McAulay, assistant director of school partnerships for Community and Youth Collaborative Institute (CAYCI), concurred, “Through this program, we’ve witnessed firsthand the positive impact it has on not only their mental health, but also on developing life and leadership skills through sport. We’re excited to continue this important work for a second year thanks to the generous support of our funders.”

The program was made possible through a $100,000 grant from Private Foundation to help support mental health training for student-athletes and coaches.

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