America East Strengthens its Commitment to Mental Health
BOSTON – Already committed to prioritizing mental health on its campuses, the America East Conference took an additional step on Wednesday as the conference’s Board of Presidents voted unanimously to adopt NCAA autonomy proposal 2018-118 aimed at improving student-athletes’ access to mental health resources.
The proposal, which was approved by the autonomy conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) last month, mandates an institution make mental health services and resources available to its student-athletes through the department of athletics and/or the institution's health services or counseling services department. America East is the first non-autonomy conference to adopt this proposal.
“The mental health of our students is a priority on each of our campuses,” said Binghamton University President and America East Board of Presidents Chair, Harvey Stenger. “Our conference has been at the forefront of prioritizing this important issue and this action is just another step towards providing more resources and services to America East student-athletes.”
The approval affirms recommendations put forward by the conference’s Mental Health Working Group that were adopted in June, 2018 and will be implemented by the fall of 2019. Those measures, which align with the NCAA’s mental health best practices, were made to ensure the education of key athletics constituency groups and to create and implement proactive and reactive best practices for student-athlete safety and well-being, all with the goal of destigmatizing student-athlete mental health issues.
“I commend our membership for embracing and becoming a leader on student-athlete mental health,” said America East Commissioner, Amy Huchthausen. “This is the latest of several steps we have made over the few years to increase mental health awareness and education within our conference and on our campuses.”
America East has proven to a be a leader in emphasizing mental health, wellness and safety since establishing its Health & Safety Summit in 2016. The 4th annual summit will take place in late May at UMass Lowell with a portion of the program focusing specifically on mental health.
In December, America East and its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) took the next step towards destigmatizing mental health through the establishment of its #BetterTo9ether campaign. The initiative focuses on creating more mentally healthy environments for student-athletes across all nine America East campuses through education, outreach, events and more.
At the forefront of the initiative will be the #BetterTo9ether Games. The Games, which will take place on all America East campuses this spring, will have student-athletes of all class years, genders and sports compete against each other in activities that will promote a fun, positive and inclusive environment. Select games will focus specifically on educating student-athletes about mental health, teaching mindful and gratitude practices and reinforcing where and how to access resources available on their campuses.
#BetterTo9ether and Health & Safety are two of the many America East programs under the conference’s #3Pillars “leadership” umbrella aimed at making a difference for conference stakeholders, on league campuses and within their communities. Other initiatives include #SpreadRespect, the America East Alumni Network and the #3PAcademy, which focuses on providing professional development opportunities to America East constituents through its digital series and in-person programming.
About America East: The America East 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 –