Speaker 1: In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. Welcome to In Case You Missed It with
Speaker 1: Christina Williams and NC State Guard in ACC's Most improve player,
Speaker 1: Zoe Brooks joins me today discuss the importance of mental
Speaker 1: health and why it's just as crucial as physical health.
Speaker 1: Mental health affects how we think, feel and act every day,
Speaker 1: influencing everything from our relationships to our productivity. So it's
Speaker 1: key to overall well being, emotional resilience and even physical health,
Speaker 1: and a powerful stand against online harassment. Betterhelp the world's
Speaker 1: largest online therapy platform is transforming the conversation around student
Speaker 1: athletes mental health with its Stop the Madness initiative. This month,
Speaker 1: they're partnering with Kiki Rice, Zoe Brooks, and Chance Gray
Speaker 1: to raise critical awareness about the mental health challenges athletes
Speaker 1: raise while empowering them to seek without the barrier of stigma.
Speaker 1: So in this special edition of the show, we'll explore
Speaker 1: why taking care of your mind is essential and how
Speaker 1: it impacts every part of your life.
Speaker 2: So let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Zoey, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 2: Hey, thank you all for having me.
Speaker 1: So I want to dive right into this conversation because
Speaker 1: Betterhelp is starting to transform the conversation around mental health
Speaker 1: by partnering with collegiate athletes like yourself to talk about
Speaker 1: their Stop the Madness campaign. What was it about this
Speaker 1: initiative that made you want to get involved?
Speaker 2: I think mental health is very important as an athlete
Speaker 2: in college or athlete just in general, whether they're in
Speaker 2: the pros or middle school or high school. You know,
Speaker 2: mental health is very important, and I feel like better
Speaker 2: health can help you a lot.
Speaker 1: Many athletes feel hesitant to seek mental health support due
Speaker 1: to the stigma surrounding the conversations. What advice would you
Speaker 1: give to student athletes who maybe struggling to find that
Speaker 1: help or unsure of howify that help.
Speaker 2: Advice that I'll get to other mental you know athletes
Speaker 2: that have mental health problems is you know, keep your
Speaker 2: circle small. You know people are going to have their
Speaker 2: opinions and have negative things to say, but just whoever
Speaker 2: you trust, whoever is in your circle, and listen to
Speaker 2: what they say. Keep God close, and you know, I
Speaker 2: nor all the outside noise.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm curious of how you would personally describe your
Speaker 1: relationship with your own mental health being a student athlete,
Speaker 1: being a female of color on campus. I know that
Speaker 1: this is a heightened time, especially with tournament time right
Speaker 1: around the corner. How have you been able to build
Speaker 1: that relationship with your own mental health?
Speaker 2: Definitely, when I started seeing my sports psychologists, I feel
Speaker 2: like my mental health increased because I have had confidence issues,
Speaker 2: you know, in the past, and obviously, if I'm not
Speaker 2: confident in myself, I'm obviously not going to perform the
Speaker 2: best that I can on the court. So I took
Speaker 2: the initiative to see a sports psychologist, and I feel
Speaker 2: like he's helped me a lot, you know, just feel
Speaker 2: like myself again, be that confident me that has fun
Speaker 2: on the court, you know, wins and does well.
Speaker 1: Was there ever a specific time or incident or thing
Speaker 1: that you've experienced that made you want to well that
Speaker 1: kind of like turned the page for you, I guess
Speaker 1: in your mental health journey being an athlete. I read
Speaker 1: one statistic that said that, you know, female athletes experience
Speaker 1: harassment online three times as much as their male counterparts.
Speaker 1: Has there ever been a situation where you know, something
Speaker 1: has happened to you where it really impacts you or
Speaker 1: the way you perform on the court.
Speaker 2: Obviously, these games are very important and people bet on them.
Speaker 2: You know, sports betting is a very big thing now
Speaker 2: in America. So I received some hate comments about people
Speaker 2: not hitting their parlays and they were mad at me
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. I guess after a while, and
Speaker 2: there was a lot of them, I guess I kind
Speaker 2: of took a toll on me. But I ended up,
Speaker 2: you know, praying and going to my psychologists like I
Speaker 2: mentioned before, and help clear my mind and block out
Speaker 2: that noise to help me playing the best of my ability.
Speaker 1: Again, I think that's great, just to be able to
Speaker 1: drown out that noise and understand that your performances and
Speaker 1: based on their expectations, especially because you prepare so much
Speaker 1: as an athlete.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: The better help is also offering a free motherl therapy
Speaker 1: to college athletes like yourself. How do you think this
Speaker 1: initiative can change the way athletes approach mental health?
Speaker 2: It can change a lot. Because I'm sure that you
Speaker 2: know people my age. You know, we're very young, so
Speaker 2: we might not really think that mental health is as
Speaker 2: important as it really is. But the older we get,
Speaker 2: you know, the more we have a lot of things
Speaker 2: to deal with. So I think that they should definitely
Speaker 2: take a series to talk to somebody, even if they
Speaker 2: might not feel like they need them at the time.
Speaker 2: You know, just talk to somebody and have somebody that
Speaker 2: you can go to, whether it's your mom, dad, If
Speaker 2: you don't want to talk to a therapist, you know,
Speaker 2: just talk to somebody.
Speaker 1: You talked about how having a sports psychologist was life
Speaker 1: changing for you in terms of of helping to turn
Speaker 1: that page and build a stronger relationship with your own
Speaker 1: mental health. Why is mental health and therapy important for
Speaker 1: collegiate athletes?
Speaker 2: We deal with a lot, you know, whether we admit
Speaker 2: it or not, we go through a lot. You know,
Speaker 2: practices every day, you know, lifting, film, scout all that. Like,
Speaker 2: it's a lot, you know, on top of everything we
Speaker 2: have going on outside of the sport, you know, with school,
Speaker 2: work and family and friends. So I think that everybody
Speaker 2: needs somebody to talk to to just debrief and you know,
Speaker 2: rent to whenever you just stress and have a lot
Speaker 2: on your mind. You know, it definitely helps clearing and
Speaker 2: helps you focus better when you get it off your
Speaker 2: chest instead of letting it build up.
Speaker 1: I know that the big phrase around this time is
Speaker 1: March madness, and tournament time is right around the corner.
Speaker 1: How are you preparing mentally physically just for you know,
Speaker 1: the run that NC State is going to happen the tournament.
Speaker 2: We had a couple of days off, you know, for
Speaker 2: spring break, and I think that definitely help. You know,
Speaker 2: do some self care stuff. Go get your nails done,
Speaker 2: Go get a massage, you know, do things that make
Speaker 2: you happy. I know that going shopping for shoes and
Speaker 2: clothes make me happy, so I guess it's doing stuff
Speaker 2: like that to clear my mind while we have this
Speaker 2: little break before the tournament starts.
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, before we let you get out of here,
Speaker 1: where can other collegiate athletes go for more information.
Speaker 2: Better help? Obviously that's a great place to go, you know,
Speaker 2: if you want to just find somebody to talk to,
Speaker 2: like you said that our friend a month for free,
Speaker 2: you know, help to just talk to somebody and better
Speaker 2: your mental health.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Zeoe, thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 1: this week on in case you missed it with Christina
Speaker 1: Williams here on iHeart. We appreciate you from KP coming
Speaker 1: through in best to walk in the tournament.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: In case you missed it with Christina Williams is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: app podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.