Student athletes at Holland College getting more mental health support

A coach or fellow player giving a teammate a pep talk or pat on the back when they're feeling down has always been part of sports.

But Charlottetown-based Holland College is taking mental health care a step further with the hiring of a new coach to help student athletes deal with the pressures of sports and academics.

And as a registered counselling therapist who is also a former athlete and coach, Lori-Beth Dwyer knows the importance of supporting athletes on and off the field.

"I was counselling long before I had the credentials to do so and so I think it can be helpful for coaches to know there's somebody in place if they have a student that's struggling."

Hunter Prus, the quarterback for the Holland College Hurricanes football team, said hiring a new mental health coach is a positive step forward.

"Throughout the past years, we've just had, you know, other players and coaches who kind of help support each other through hard times," he said.

"So with the new coach coming in, the mental health coach, it's kind of nice to have somebody with that outside perspective looking in and somebody who kind of, like, studies mental health as their main profession, which helps a ton for us players going through stressful stuff."

Dwyer said the school will adopt the best practices of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) in the United States. One of her first tasks will be to conduct an anonymous survey of athletes to get an overall screening of their mental health so that she can tailor programs and resources accordingly.

"It gives us a sense of how they're doing in all different areas," she said, looking out for things like "any signs of depression or anxiety, or just a lot of academic stress, a lot of pressures like within the sport."

Dwyer said she will be meeting with coaches and students to work on resilience and stress management in the coming weeks.

Mitch White, an offensive lineman on the football team, said he's looking forward to hearing what Dwyer has to offer.

"When I'm not playing my best, it's just tough to get over that hump and try to just forget about it and move on," he said.