Article from SIRC (October 21, 2024)
By Heather Wheeler
A coach’s influence
In recent years, the mental health of athletes has garnered significant attention, both on and off the global stage. With young athletes and parents talking more openly about mental health, coaches are now finding themselves at the forefront of this discussion by being held responsible for recognizing and addressing mental health issues among their athletes. While progress has been made, many athletes still struggle in silence, hiding their mental health challenges out of fear of judgment and rejection. Victoria Garrick aptly refers to this as the “hidden opponent.”
Coach trainingOpens in a new window programs, Game PlanOpens in a new window, and offerings through the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN)Opens in a new window are working to address the need for professional development in this area. However, questions remain about how much coaches need to know about mental health. What falls within the coach’s responsibilities, and what should be left to therapists, parents, or sport organizations?
Bryan Dubeau, a coach and former Technical Director for Nordic Skiing Ontario, emphasizes the significant influence coaches have on their athletes. “We are placed in a position of great influence,” Dubeau says, noting that coaches often become trusted figures for their athletes. He identifies 3 essential elements that athletes seek from their coaches: trust, care, and the ability to improve their performance.
“If we get that people side of our work right, we can have it all,” Dubeau believes, highlighting the interconnected nature of the coach-athlete relationship with athletic performance and mental health. He believes that a coach’s role is not to provide all the answers but to ask the right questions and offer appropriate support.
Coaches are finding that they need new skills to keep up with the changing demands of athletes today. Navigating the pressures of sport and life today is different than when most coaches were athletes themselves. They are also trying to lead a generation that likes to lead themselves and who need to know the “why” behind the training program in order to stay engaged.
Angela Whyte, an Olympian and coach in Athletics, acknowledges that approaches to coaching have evolved significantly. “Times have changed,” she says, emphasizing the shift from the traditional “suck it up” attitude to a more nuanced understanding of athletes’ needs. She stresses the importance of individualized coaching, recognizing that each athlete’s journey and motivations are unique.
As such, coaches play a crucial role in recognizing and addressing mental health issues. Because of the frequency and consistency of training regimens, the daily training environment is where coaches can pick up on subtle mood and energy shifts in their athletes. Behaviours that seem out of the norm can be early warning signs, allowing for early intervention and proper support.
How can you create a safe environment to promote and enhance athlete mental health?
1. Ensure basic needs are met
There are a few key psychological needs that all humans have and that coaches can attend to as part of a culture that supports mental health and development. According to Ryan & Deci’s (2000) self-determination theory, all athletes need to feel a sense of:
- Competency (mastery, progress, achievement)
- Relatedness (belonging, mattering, care)
- Autonomy (choice, control)
Coaches play a significant role in their athletes’ development, including interpersonal skills and healthy habits. This responsibility means paying attention to and effectively responding to their athletes’ needs.
2. Foster psychologically safe environments
Athletes need to feel comfortable being themselves. Psychological safety, defined by Edmondson (2018), is “the feeling that one can give feedback, raise concerns, or admit mistakes without fear of intimidation, humiliation, or other negative outcomes.” Creating a culture of psychological safety in the daily training environment, where athletes feel respected even when they share vulnerable emotions, is linked to positive mental health outcomes, such as self-worth, confidence, and resilience. There is growing evidence that perceived psychological safety is a predictor of performance-related outcomes (Vella et al., 2022).
3. Be proactive, not reactive
Have key conversations early in the year with athletes and their parents or guardians (if athletes are minors). It’s important and relevant to pay attention to mental health, both as a path to best performance (for example, in goal-setting sessions) and to ensure healthy training environments for everyone. Helpful tips to guide these conversations include:
- What parents and athletes can expect from you when mental health concerns are brought to your attention
- What should be included in a mental health emergency action plan (in times of crisis or emergency), including while at training camps or competitions
- Roles, values, expectations, and acceptable behaviours in the daily training environment (do this collaboratively to promote psychological safety)
It’s also important to have regular and open communication with athletes and their parents or guardians and to work as a team. This might include:
- Regularly checking in with athletes (following the Rule of TwoOpens in a new window)
- Asking about their life outside of sport and encouraging discussions about their thoughts and feelings.
- Modeling open discussions about your own thoughts and feelings to create a comfortable environment for athletes
Dubeau believes that modeling vulnerability encourages athletes to be introspective and open about their own experiences. “The trick with authenticity and vulnerability is to be able to exhibit those qualities without making it about you,” he notes.
Planning regular mental health education sessions is another way to be proactive. These sessions, led by qualified sport-minded mental health practitioners or mental performance consultants at key points of the year, should touch on essentials for mental health and physical health, such as sleep, eating and body image, mental recovery, social support, stress management, and emotion regulation.
4. Invest in trust-building behaviours
Building trust with athletes is essential. Trust is like a muscle that requires consistent training through “rupture-repair” cycles. Brené BrownOpens in a new window, a well-known researcher and public speaker, outlines a framework for building trust using the acronym “BRAVING”:
- Boundaries: Hold them, be clear about expectations, limits, and roles
- Reliability: Do what you say you will do
- Accountability: Take responsibility for your actions and repair ruptures
- Vault: Keep confidential information private, be transparent, and avoid talking about people behind their backs
- Integrity: Do what’s right, not what’s easy
- Nonjudgmental: Keep an open mind and avoid making assumptions
- Generosity: Give people the benefit of the doubt and be kind
5. Get feedback early and often
Creating a culture where you are not only willing to receive honest feedback but proactively request it can build trust and provide valuable insights. A simple question like “How are we doing?” during check-ins can show athletes that you are open to hearing concerns they may have about how you are relating, and that you recognize how important your relationship is to their success. Addressing misunderstandings or conflicts directly, with a focus on finding win-win solutions, helps maintain a healthy coach-athlete relationship.
How can you address mental health concerns with your athletes?
1. Listen and refer
Listening is a core skill in good coaching, especially when addressing mental health concerns. There is a saying that good listening involves playing catch rather than ping pong. It includes validation, where even if you disagree with the athlete’s perspective, you accept their experience as valid for them, being sure to “catch” what they are saying before responding.
Validation means being intentional (choose the right time and place to chat), checking in with yourself before responding (to your reactivity, mood, assumptions, body language), listening carefully, and adding empathy (“It seems like things have been tough lately”).
Validation is NOT about providing reassurance (“I’m sure you’ll be fine”), giving advice (“This is how you need to handle this”), offering platitudes (“Focus on the positives”), or dismissing concerns (“This is the life of a high-performance athlete”). It’s about understanding and accepting the athlete’s experience without trying to fix the problem or hijacking the conversation to make it about you or someone else.
Part of being a good coach means knowing your limits. Whyte echoes this statement saying, “it’s super important to know where the line is, [and] where to hand it off to another resource person.” Blurring boundaries and trying to be everything to everyone is a risk for Safe SportOpens in a new window concerns to arise. Referring athletes to professionals when necessary is crucial to maintaining safe boundaries and ensuring that athletes receive the help they need.
Resources: Do you know how to be there?Opens in a new window and Game Plan sport factsheetsOpens in a new window
Following up with athletes after referring them to professional support is important to show that you care and to discuss any obstacles they might face in getting help. In some cases, placing boundaries on training until an athlete receives “clearance” to return can be an effective way to ensure they get the help they need. If willing, with consent from the athlete or parent, also having a discussion with the athlete’s doctor or mental health provider can help you find out how to best support the athlete in the daily training environment.
2. What can you do to support athletes who struggle in silence
Coaches often notice nonverbal and behavioural changes in athletes that are concerning, such as showing up late, being less social, skipping practices, or appearing less energetic. Yet waiting until they come to tell you what’s wrong can lead to more entrenched problems. For athletes who seem reluctant to share their struggles, it’s important to consistently offer opportunities for them to open up. Asking gently and expressing concern regularly can encourage them to share when they’re ready.
It normalizes the process of seeking professional help when you ask athletes directly if they have a therapist and, if so, checking in on how therapy is going. This can make them more comfortable sharing details with you and getting the support they need.
3. Managing 2 goals: Balancing mental health and training goals
Deciding whether to continue training in the face of mental health challenges can be difficult. While sport can provide structure and a sense of mastery that supports mental health, sometimes athletes need a complete break from training to address their mental health concerns fully. Collaborating with parents and professionals to develop pause-play and return-to-play plans is crucial to balancing these competing needs.
4. Put your own oxygen mask on first: The importance of coach mental health
One of the most effective ways to create a positive training environment is for coaches to take care of their own mental health and model it for others. Research suggests that coach burnout and mental illness are strikingly high, yet the number of coaches seeking help is low (Pilkington et al., 2022). When coaches are burnt out, they become less effective and engaged, which athletes notice, leading to increased anxiety and decreased confidence (Price & Weiss, 2000; Vealey et al., 1998).
Since good performance relies heavily on the coach-athlete relationship, self-care should be a non-negotiable part of the coaching role. Managing your own reactivity in stressful situations and modeling self-awareness are key to success. When under stress, it is most helpful to learn how to Breathe-Rethink-Respond instead of React (look for a new workshop coming to the LockerOpens in a new window, the Coaching Association of Canada’s coach education platform, in the fall for more on this).
Coaches should consider having their own coaches, whether an executive coach, leadership coach, mental performance consultant, or mental health practitioner, to support their well-being and performance.
Whyte highlights the importance of having this type of support network. “For me, I think one of the biggest game-changing things that’s happened recently is identifying a couple of key people in my sphere that are close to me, that can be sounding boards,” she says.
How is the sport system responding?
At the national level, Game Plan, in collaboration with the Mental Health Leads from COPSIN, offer education sessions for coaches on mental health. These sessions are available online via the Coaching Association of Canada’s Mental Health and Sport Resource HubOpens in a new window and Game Plan’s mental health resourcesOpens in a new window. Additionally, Mental Health First Aid coursesOpens in a new window are available through the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Some sport organizations are taking the lead by hiring mental health practitioners in leadership roles or as part of their support teams. Others, including coaches like Whyte, have built relationships with people they trust and develop a list of go-to professionals so they can quickly find support for athletes when needed.
Beyond what has been done so far, it’s clear that much more is needed to promote and protect the mental health of high-performance athletes and keep people in sport longer. The research indicates that too many athletes drop out of high-performance sport before they get to their peak potential (Gadient et al., 2020), which could be mitigated by making more subsidized sport-minded mental health supports available for younger athletes, coaches, and teams. Safe Sport concerns are more common at the recreational and provincial and territorial level (Parent & Vaillencourt-Morel, 2021) but very little, if any, funding and resources go below the national sport organization level (Strashin & Ward, 2023), and so the system is not set up for us to have a meaningful impact at all levels of sport until this changes.
Conclusion
Coaches are the gateway to keeping their athletes mentally healthy. Mental health concerns are on the rise, and coaches need to know how to respond, regardless of where their athletes fall on the mental health spectrum. Knowing the resources available, regularly checking in, creating a culture of trust and open communication, and taking care of their own mental health are essential steps in fostering both the mental well-being and performance of their athletes.
Thank you to Dr. Leann Lapp, C.Psych., for her contributions to the above ideas via previously-written shared pieces of work.
About the Author(s)
Heather Wheeler, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist and the Mental Health Lead for Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) – a member of COPSIN, Athletics Canada, and Swimming Canada. She is the Mental Health Practitioner for Swimming’s High–Performance Centre – Ontario (HPC-ONT) and provides evidence-based psychological treatment to high-performance coaches and athletes at all levels in her private practice. She is passionate about optimizing the performance and mental health of coaches, athletes, and organizations.
