May 14, 2020OSU’s sports psychology department engages student-athletes
The recently expanded sports psychology department at Ohio State University is using its newly added staff to expand its services to more student-athletes.
While part of the department’s job is dedicated to the counseling of athletes — accounting for roughly half of their workload — the rest of their time is spent increasing its visibility to the student-athlete body.
In a recent story published by Ohio State University’s school newspaper, The Lantern, the Buckeye’s lead sport psychologist, Jamey Houle, highlighted his team’s effort to expand their reach.
“One of the things that’s truly changed over time is our access — student-athletes’ access to us, and then also our visibility,” Houle told The Lantern. “So, we were at many, many more practices this year. We were in team meetings. We were in meetings called athletic performance team meetings that would have coaches, athletic trainers, nutritionists, student-athlete support services.”
Houle estimated that about 20 to 25 percent of student-athletes are coming to see one of the staff members. The statistic is similar to other student-athlete and student populations throughout the country, Houle said.
The hope is that with extra exposure comes the ability to combat the stigma around mental health. In order to reach student-athletes and create a level of trust comfortability between the athlete and the sports psychology department, it’s important to build a foundation of care rooted from an athletic perspective.
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“If talking about performance is our in, it also allows us to uncover things that kids maybe haven’t felt comfortable opening up about or they just haven’t been in that space yet,” OSU sports psychologist Chelsi Day said to The Lantern.
To read the full story on Ohio State’s sports psychology department making a greater effort to reach more students from The Lantern, click here.
