Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Stony Brook’s Student-Athletes

Danielle Merolla, inaugural director of Athletics Mental Health Services.

Student-athletes often face unique pressures that can significantly impact their mental health. Balancing the demands of academic schedules and commitments, intensive training, games and competitions, and maintaining a social life can be overwhelming. The mental health needs of the more than 500 Stony Brook University student-athletes are distinct and require targeted support systems to ensure their well-being.

To help provide that support, in November of 2022 Stony Brook appointed Danielle Merollaas the inaugural director of Athletics Mental Health Services. Previously, Merolla served as the associate director for the Center for Prevention and Outreachoverseeing the mental health and suicide prevention programming for the Stony Brook community.

"Generally speaking, about 34 percent of college students have some sort of mental health issue or struggle. Out of that 34 percent, 30 percent will say they're comfortable reaching out, and know how to connect to resources," said Merolla. "When you look at student-athlete populations, the percentage of identified mental health struggle is the same, 34 percent, but the percentage of student-athletes who feel comfortable reaching out and connecting to resources is only about 10 percent."

One of Merolla's initial goals was to speak to student-athletes to find out what gets in the way of reaching out for support particularly with mental or emotional concerns. In her conversations with the Stony Brook teams, students cited ingrained ideas about "mental toughness," beliefs that they cannot show pain or express struggles because it would be viewed as weakness, the challenges of time and feeling that they should be able to handle it themselves. Merolla noted that for some student-athletes, various deeply ingrained stigmas can be reinforced by a longstanding culture in sport.

Her work became clear: remove the stigma of asking for or receiving assistance with mental health, increase mental health literacy while promoting the strength of reaching out early, educate on the mind-body connection and the necessity of taking care of both.

Student athletes, coaches and staff are trained to recognize the signs of mental health struggles before it becomes a crisis and how to bridge to care. It is clear she has been successful; in the past year, she has had individual contact with about 20 percent of the student-athletes on the Stony Brook campus, developed and oversaw an internship to educate and empower student athletes to take care of themselves and their peers, and supported spaces for athletes to connect and know they are not alone.

Scheduling care is often a barrier for Division I athletes who experience tremendous demands on their limited time. Prior to Merolla's arrival, there were documented instances of student-athletes who attempted to make a connection with a mental health professional on campus, but were unable to connect with care due to limited options within their schedule.

With Merolla's arrival in the Department of Athletics, she now has a home in the Sports Complex, attends some practices and games, and meets with each team as they arrive on campus for summer training in order to break down those barriers to connecting with care. Student-athletes may connect with individual care, or take part in group sessions, some open to the campus and some specific to athletes.

The fear of re-injury or not returning to peak performance can be mentally taxing.

"We will bring back our hurt and healing group to support the mental and emotional challenges of having to step away from a sport that your body and mind has relied upon," explained Merolla. "Young adults do not always realize how much having their body in motion is essential to the maintenance of their overall health and well being, no less how it is woven into their sense of self and developing identity. Having a space where they can hear from other athletes at different parts of their recovery process is both normalizing and reassuring."

This past year the NCAA reported that suicide is now the second leading cause of death for college athletes, surpassing cardiac deaths. While contending with stressors within their sport, academics, and personal lives, social media also contributes to the added stress for student-athletes.

"Prior to social media, when you would have a bad game as a student athlete, you would have a bad game and move on, but now people are posting about it and saying negative comments about the athlete online, and student-athletes don't necessarily have the skills needed to sustain and maintain mental health through these challenges," said Merolla. "And all of this comes with the added pressures of navigating a very, very full schedule with sport and academics, navigating relationships with constant scrutiny on performance. That's where we come in, helping to support their identity, by holding a mirror so they can see, know, embrace and capitalize on all their strengths, because no one becomes a Division I athlete by accident, while drowning out the noise that interferes with continued growth and conscious living even in the midst of failure."

Merolla noted that Stony Brook Athletics remain ahead of the game in its continued commitment to the overall health and wellness of student-athletes. This past June, Merolla was joined by Lara Hunter, the new assistant director for clinical services, who will also provide counseling for student-athletes. As a national expert in alcohol and drug prevention on college campuses, Hunter brings with her a breadth of knowledge on the physical and mental health impacts of alcohol and other drug use. Not only does this allow for the continued expansion of the prevention and intervention efforts started, this adds more focused outreach on alcohol and other drugs, and fortifies the message of how at Stony Brook mental wellness is seen as essential.

"These student-athletes are incredible humans. They work so hard, are resilient, committed and persevere," said Merolla. "They truly embody all of what it means to be a seawolf. Treating their mental health the same as we treat their physical health, especially at such an influential age and stage of identity development, has the potential to support sustained success long past their time at Stony Brook."

- Beth Squire

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