SEMI-OT: Will Heininger interview on mental health issues and athletes
This came out a few days ago, but haven't seen it posted here yet. This is an interview with Will Heininger on WBUR (Boston's NPR station) about his experience at Michigan, and his new role advocating that mental health services be available to athletes who need them.
I was basically impressed with how open he was about his struggles at Michigan, and am glad that one of the Michigan trainers saw what was going on and reached out to offer help.
http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2013/09/28/mental-health-will-heininger
October 4th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
From the Ohio State campus?
October 4th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
SHould have interviewed Will Hagerup...
October 4th, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
Beyond, "haha, mental health joke"?
edit: I'm genuinely asking. Not sure what Hagerup has to do with it.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^
If you wanted to learn about drugs would you interview Hunter S. Thompson or the local Walgreens pharmacist?
October 4th, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
What on earth does this have to do with anything?
October 4th, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^
So much, man. Like, you don't even want to know about it.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:22 PM ^
Got it.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^
I'm sorry. Are you having a bad day?
October 4th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^
Day is fine. Thanks.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
Im trying to make a funny actually. Will Hagerup was oft suspended for ALLEDGED things of ALLEDGED not goodness. I don't assume shit about shat. And DLine Will (interviewed here) may very well have been all mental if he says he was/is. That's totally cool with me, man. I didn't even read the thing to be honest. I was just trying to crack wise about the punter who was never there.
October 4th, 2013 at 8:57 PM ^
Seems like this might be coming from a raw place for you...
October 4th, 2013 at 3:16 PM ^
What would be nice is if all facets of the University had these same types of folks who were trained in how to tell if students are having these kinds of issues, in order to make the same kind of interventionary measures that helped Will Heininger. And have it backed up with student services that are equipped to quickly and effectively help students in the same way the Athletics staff was able to quickly intervene here.
When I was at Michigan, getting an appointment at CAPS was something you had to do a few weeks ahead of time. And when you're in need of non-suicide, yet still serious help from a mental health professional, that's just not a valid or helpful option. The worst thing is to make a kid wait and force them to deal with issues on their own in the interim.
I'm now at a university that had three student suicides last year, and is now coming to terms with the fact that there are a lot of students having psychological crises that aren't always being adequately dealt with. This stuff is real, and is a lot more out in the open than it ever was. I'm glad Heininger is so brave in talking about these issues, because not everyone is.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
I took full advantage of CAPS when I was a student (07-11). I don't ever remember a 3 week wait. It must have gotten better.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
Awesome interview. Thanks for linking to it.
Heininger is completely right (and remarkable good at expressing himself.) There remains a stigma against mental health issues in a lot of places in society and I can only imagine its even worse in sports. Even if a student is aware that they are suffering depression or an anxiety disorder or something else, and even if they know that resources are available to help, they may not seek it out. I'm glad the UM trainer helped Will to get that help (and I hope this is something that all of our trainers and athletic staff more generally are aware of and do as needed). Hopefully Will and the campaign he is a part of can make the process even easier for athletes (and college students more generally, as the massive changes that come with going to college often contribute to mental health issues) to seek the help they may need.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
Thanks for the post. I never knew the heininger certainty principle applied to mental health too!
No, but in all seriousness. I went through a bit of a mental lapse, per se, while I was at GVSU. I hid it pretty well. At least from my family. Thank god I started doing terribly in school, forcing my mom to force me to go see a counciler about why my academics were struggling. I never would have gotten it straightened out if it wasn't for being able to go sit down and talk to a perfessional about everything.
Just to be able to open up is very helpful. It allowed me to clear my mind, set some obtainable goals, and drag myself out of whatever funk I was in. This is a very awesome thing Heininger is doing. And something I never knew about the guy.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^
I think it's because so many people buy into the faulty idea that the mind is "something more" than the brain and that if you had enough willpower you can overcome things like depression. But in reality our brains are meat computers subject to the laws of physics like anything else.
Thanks, Descartes.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 4:25 PM ^
I think it's very troubling for some people to admit to themselves that they don't have complete control over the functioning of their brains. The existence of an unchangeable self becomes very tenuous if you accept this lack of total control as reality, for example.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:41 PM ^
But other people stigmatizing the disease...I just don't get it.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^
It takes a lot of courage to talk about your own struggles in this regard, so major props to Heininger here - if only more people would speak out on mental health issues like this. I think there is courage in trying to help in the fight to change opinions about this as well, so I think it is wonderful that Heininger has gone around and tried to encourage other athletes (and anyone else) to get help if they need it. Seeing the first steps in change - like having standards released for dealing with student-athletes with mental health issues - has to be gratifying when you've been there as Heininger has.
This is an excellent piece - thanks for posting it.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
Here's a column written in the Times of Northwest Indiana (? Is that a real paper?) on the announcement in Indianapolis where the initiative was unveiled:
The columnist says at the end that next week he'll be telling Heininger's story, so hopefully more good stuff about Will is coming soon.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:48 PM ^
Props to Will. I can say that other athletes speaking out about their own issues was essentially the sole motivating force behind my decision to seek outside help for my own mental health issues, so any athlete opening up about their own experiences means a lot.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^
after helping with some research on a neurology unit and digging deeper into the neurophysiology of habit forming i am convinced that mental health issues can only be exacerbated by the head trauma sustained in contact sports
October 4th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ^
This is great. I had my own struggles with mental health during my time at UM, and am doing much better today thanks to the help of some great people. You don't have to do it alone, and I'm glad Will was so open about this.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^
This is great. My own two cents is that the world could well be a significantly better place if people were better educated about mental health and if there was no stigma to suffering from mental health problems. A hell of a lot of bad things arise from failing to recongize one's own mental health troubles or the mental health troubles of others.
October 4th, 2013 at 4:39 PM ^
a lot better at facing mental health issues. Instead we destroyed it so a few people can enjoy a bigger home, nicer car, fancier vacations. Its nuts.
I've watched first hand how people use stigma and fear to make a person in need of help feel even worse and nearly go off the edge. Its a helpless situation to see that person not be able to deal with those issues themselves and realize that if society could give him just a little bit of help, even as little as just love and understanding, he might be better.
October 4th, 2013 at 5:01 PM ^
I an dubious about how much society can help these people. Outside of locking them up--an unattractive option-- I don't see how society can save people from these insidious diseases. You can't force people to take their medication or to see their psychiatrist.
October 4th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
there.
I'd settle for proper hospitalization for those that need the help and are beyond helping themselves. Right now society's answer is to wait for them to commit a crime and then incarcerate them in Prison, also not an attractive option.
October 4th, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^
God bless Mike Barwis and/or his staff if that is who got Will Heininger the help he needed so he could get better as a person and be an advocate for others with similar struggles.
October 4th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
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