ODU to Host Mental Health Symposium Designed to Encourage Student-Athletes to Seek Help

NORFOLK, Va. – Dozens of Old Dominion student-athletes will join athletes and administrators from other universities in Hampton Roads and mental health experts from around the state to hold a Morgan's Message Walk Wednesday night at 8:15. It will honor an athlete who suffered from depression in silence and eventually took her own life.
 
The walk, to begin and end at S.B. Ballard Stadium, will culminate the first of a two-day Student-Athlete Mental Health Symposium hosted by ODU to help increase awareness of mental health issues with athletes of all ages.
 
The symposium, to be held in the Priority Automotive Club on the second level of Ballard Stadium, is part the result of a regional effort began a year ago by mental health professionals in the area.
 
Will Driscoll, executive director of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Dr. Joel Brenner, a pediatric sports medicine specialist at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, joined with others a year ago to form the Mental Health Alliance. ODU, Hampton, Norfolk State and Virginia Wesleyan as well as most area public school systems have all joined the group to spread the word to athletes to get help when they need it.

Driscoll and Brenner began collaborating in 2019, just before the pandemic, and in the last year, have reached out to schools and other organizations in Hampton Roads.

The regional effort, said Dr. Ron Moses, ODU's executive senior associate athletic director for internal operations and student-athlete welfare, can save lives.
 
"This is all about prevention," he said.
 
The walk will honor Morgan Rodgers, who began playing lacrosse when she was a child and was set to play as a sophomore for one of the nation's top programs at Duke University.
 
Lacrosse wasn't just a part of her life. In some ways, it shaped her identity.
 
But then she blew out her knee, tearing her ACL and MCL and badly damaging her meniscus. Physically, she was never the same. She took a semester off from Duke before deciding to give up the game she loved.
 
Outwardly, she appeared to be fine, but inside, she was deeply depressed. Athletes, of course, are stereotyped to be tough, and many are too proud to ask for help.  
 
On July 8, 2019, she committed suicide. She was just 22.


Dr. Sonja Lund was hired a year ago to counsel ODU student-athletes. 

Her parents began an organization called Morgan's Message that has recruited more than a thousand student-athletes around the country to help spread the word that if you need help, ask for it.
 
Mental health issues with student-athletes, and students in general, have accelerated since the pandemic. Nationally, only about 10 percent of college athletes in need of counseling ever seek help. More than one third of female athletes report suffering from depression.

ODU moved to address the mental health needs of its student-athletes more than a year ago when the university hired Dr. Sonja Lund as associate athletics director for student-athlete mental health & well-being. She and her staff have been counseling ODU athletes since September.
 
One ODU athlete, in particular, can identify with what Rodgers went through and to the value of seeking health. Men's basketball player Jason Wade tore an ACL in 2020 and as he was preparing for the 2021-22 season, he tore his Achilles tendon.
 
He fell into a deep depression and at times began to wonder whether life was worth living. His parents, Ronnie and Linda Wade, encouraged him to get help and eventually, he did. He said mental health counseling may have saved his life.
 
"When you get injured, it takes away your sense of self-esteem. It hurts your pride and destroys your ego," he said.
 
"Everything you worked for is ripped into shreds. It's like the identity you've had all your life is suddenly taken away.
 
"As an athlete, it's definitely tough to ask for help. But that stigma needs to go away. If you need help, you should ask for it."


Dr. Ron Moses 

Moses said the regional group, which meets monthly at CHKD, has shared stories and strategies. Officials in Virginia Beach reported a large up-tick in mental health problems with not just with high school and middle school students, but those also in grade school.
 
"The sports coordinators have been dealing with some outbursts, some sportsmanship issues they haven't seen before," he said. "When they talk to parents, they're hearing that kids who are eight, nine, 10 years old, they're depressed. They have anxiety."
 
The symposium is in part a result of a series of mental health seminars begun by Dr. Brian Williams, an associate professor of public policy in the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He is married to UVA Athletics Director Carla Williams and formed The Public Engagement in Governance Looking, Listening and Learning Laboratory, which is in part focused on mental health issues with college students.
 
Williams and Lund will emcee Wednesday's event, which features presentations from former NFL players Tra Battle and Raymont Harris. Battle, a former Dallas Cowboy, dealt with severe depression after he retired and was suicidal before he got mental health counseling.
 
The event, which begins at 6, is open to college student-athletes and their coaches.
 
The evening ends with Morgan's Walk.
 
There are two sessions on Thursday, with the first held from 10 a.m. until 1:15 and the second from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Both are open to the public.
 
Lund, her staff, Williams and others will lead several discussions, including understanding the mental health needs of athletes, how to deal with athletes who need help and the importance of urging athletes to seek help.
 
To RSVP for Thursday's session, CLICK HERE.
 
Moses said the regional group will hold future symposiums at CHKD's new inpatient psychiatric care facility in the 14-story Children's Pavilion, which is located in Norfolk's medical complex adjacent to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and the Eastern Virginia Medical School.
 
ODU and EVMS have announced a merger that will bring closer cooperation and economies of scale to help improve healthcare throughout the region. Moses said regional cooperation on the mental health of student athletes has helped all involved.
 
"This is our first symposium, and we know it won't be perfect," he said. "But we really want people to hear some of our folks talk about destigmatizing mental health for athletes.
 
"Our main goal is to let everyone know we have resources. We're preaching prevention. We want to be proactive, and we hope that will save lives."