America East Empowers Membership Through #AEThinksHealthy Mental Health Grants
BOSTON – The America East Conference is continuing to emphasize the importance of mental health awareness by empowering its institutions to create a ‘Mentally Healthy Future’ for all America East student-athletes. The conference is offering a $500 grant to each campuses’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) to start addressing issues associated with mental health and help create a more mentally healthy future.
“I'm really excited to see that the conference is taking further steps towards bringing attention to the issue of mental health,” said University of Vermont senior swimmer & SAAC representative, Kelly Lennon. “With mental health being one of the most important issues facing student-athletes today, it is important for us to keep the conversation going. I am proud that as a conference, America East has a collection of schools that are so invested in the well-being of its student-athletes.”
To receive a grant, the latest initiative of the conference’s #AEThinksHealthy campaign, each campus SAAC must submit an outline of their mental health initiative, which can be a program, event or project related to providing a more mentally healthy atmosphere for their student-athlete peers. Programming will be activated early in 2018.
“The overall health and well-being of our student-athletes continue to be of the utmost importance to us as a conference,” said America East Commissioner, Amy Huchthausen. “We hope these grants can help further the conversation surrounding mental health on our campuses and provide tangible assistance that benefits our student-athletes.”
America East has proved to a be a leader in emphasizing the importance of mental health since the advent of its #AEThinksHealthy campaign in 2016. The conference has held two Health & Safety Summits, bringing together medical professionals, administrators and select student-athletes to discuss a wide range of topics, and will host a third summit this spring. The conference also formed a mental health working group last fall aimed at creating recommendations for the conference and its institutions to support and combat student-athlete mental health challenges.
The #AEThinksHealthy campaign is one of several leadership initiatives under the conference’s #3Pillars, including its #SpreadRespect campaign, Alumni Network, #3PAcademy and the #AEFoodFrenzy.
About America East: The America East Conference provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field.
- #3Pillars – Building the Complete Student-Athlete -