Entire Ole Miss football coaching staff receives Mental Health First Aid certification
Jun. 23—OXFORD — Mental health matters. And that's no exception in the world of college sports.
The entire Ole Miss football coaching staff recently became Mental Health First Aid certified. The school said it is the first Division I football program in the country to gain the certification.
The staff — including analysts, equipment managers, etc. — is nearing completion of the required course, which is an eight-hour class that also requires a two-hour pre-work assignment, according to Ole Miss assistant athletics director for sport psychology Josie Nicholson.
"They believe in it. Lane (Kiffin) is very committed to the overall wellness of the athlete and cares, but also recognizes that he is not somebody that is trained to address mental health issues," said Nicholson, who teaches the course. "... He is going to do what he can, for him and his staff, to have the best possible resources for our athletes."
The goal, Nicholson said, is to have the entire athletics department certified by the end of the year. The football coaching staff went through the course together, and the entire women's basketball and women's golf coaching staffs have already completed the training as well.
"The culture starts with (the coaches). We do a lot of 'It's OK to not be OK' kind of campaign, but we don't do a lot of 'And if you're no OK, here's what to do.' So, being able to have coaching be a resource and believe in it (is huge)," Nicholson said. "When your coach believes that your mental health is important, it's more likely that the athlete is going to believe and take care of their mental health. Because it decreases, wildly decreases, the stigma of reaching out for help and getting mental health support."
Ole Miss received a grant that gave mental health first-aid instruction to a number of people on campus, which included Nicholson. After receiving the training, Nicholson said the goal was to get as many people on-campus certified as possible.
The purpose of the certification isn't for coaches to treat or diagnose mental health conditions. The point, Nicholson said, is for the coaches and staff to be able to see potential mental health issues emerging and to create an action plan for the student-athlete to get the resources they need. The goal is to create a "supportive environment" for the student-athletes.
"I think sometimes there can be a fear like, 'What if my coach finds out, and they think there's something wrong with me?' Or I display a weakness which, we know, is not a weakness, but it can feel like that in athletics sometimes?'" Nicholson said. "So, knowing that the coach has this training — and part of the training is, how do you create a culture that supports mental health? — then they will say, 'OK, well, my coach thinks it's OK, so I'm going to take advantage of the resources that we have.'"
