3rd Health & Safety Summit Highlights #AEThinksHealthy Mental Health Awareness Month Initiatives
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the America East Conference is doing its part by continuing to emphasize the importance of advocating for mental health awareness through several initiatives, which include the 3rd Annual America East Health & Safety Summit set for the end of the month.
The summit, which takes place May 30-31 at Binghamton University, will bring together over 65 attendees from all nine America East institutions and feature respected speakers in the field as well as discuss relevant issues and share ideas and best practices. Attendees will include member institutions' athletic trainers, team physicians, student-athlete services professionals and administrators and select student-athletes.
At the outset of Mental Health Awareness Month, the conference released its new mental health PSA featuring America East SAAC representatives:
All month long, America East and institutional SAACs have participated in the #AEThinksHealthy Challenge in order to promote healthy living and raise awareness about mental health by having every team in the conference participate in a self-care activity and post photos of the activity using the #AEThinksHealthy hashtag.
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. In addition to the formation of the annual Health & Safety Summit, the conference also formed a mental health working group in the fall aimed at creating recommendations for the conference and its institutions to support and combat student-athlete mental health challenges. America East also provided each of its member institutions' SAACs with $500 grants to start addressing issues associated with mental health and help create a more mentally healthy future.
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 -