Mental Health Workshop Highlights 4th America East Health & Safety Summit
BOSTON – After introducing its BetterTo9ether initiative and furthering its commitment to prioritizing mental health awareness on America East campuses earlier this year, the topic will be at the forefront of the conference’s fourth annual Health & Safety Summit, set for May 29-30 at UMass Lowell. The summit highlights America East's continued focus on student-athlete well-being across the conference.
Over 90 attendees from all nine America East institutions will attend this year’s summit, which will feature respected speakers in the fields of mental health, sports medicine and athletic training as well as institutional case studies and breakout sessions aimed to share best practices and promote conversations. Attendees will include member institutions' athletic trainers, team physicians, licensed clinician practitioners, student-athlete services professionals, administrators and America East SAAC representatives.
“We expect this Health & Safety Summit to be our best yet,” said America East Associate Commissioner, Kate Bergstrom, who oversees planning and execution of the summit. “We have an esteemed roster of speakers and our attendees are eager to learn and engage in conversations surrounding student-athlete well-being, particularly mental health. We are thrilled to add the mental health workshop on the second day as our institutions have fully embraced the importance of this topic.”
Full Schedule & Speaker Information
The second day will focus entirely on mental health, which will include a keynote session featuring Kym & Mark Hilinski, the founders of Hilinski’s Hope, a foundation they created in memory of their son, Tyler, which aims to raise funding for support programs that will help destigmatize mental illness. In January, the NCAA Sports Science Institute partnered with Hilinski’s Hope to support the foundation’s work to improve mental health screening and awareness among student-athletes.
America East has proven to be a leader in emphasizing mental health, wellness and safety since holding its first Health & Safety Summit in 2016.
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 are the #BetterTo9ether Games. The Games, which will took place on all America East campuses this spring, featured student-athletes of all class years, genders and sports competing against each other in activities that will promote a fun, positive and inclusive environment. Select games focused 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.
In February, America East became first non-autonomy conference to adopt an NCAA proposal that mandates each 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.
#BetterTo9ether and Health & Safety are two of the many America East initiatives 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 #3Pillars Academy, 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 –