In partnership with the UMBC Counseling Center, The "Retriever Project" is offering a mental health workshop for UMBC student athletes on Wednesday, March 15. The workshop will be held in the Retriever Room of the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena at 1:00 p.m.
In this session, we aim to cover stress management and coping skills and hope that these resources will assist the student-athletes in their preparation for midterms and allow them to finish the semester strong.
The topics that we aim to cover in this first session are as follows:
- mental performance tips and tricks
- grounding/visualization techniques
- holistic self-care
The "Retriever Project" originated at UMBC in the spring of 2018 as a sort of "mental health Olympics," so popular and important that the school's America East Conference even adopted the original initiative for all nine-member schools to participate. The America East then went further, mandating mental health advisers at all schools for student-athletes and establishing #BetterTo9ether, dedicated to creating a more mentally healthy environment in athletics.
The stated goals are to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, to raise awareness of the issue and to help promote resiliency in student-athletes who are dealing with such issues or might be susceptible. Concerned students and staff hope to embody the core values of UMBC Athletics with mental health programming for student-athletes, coaches and the athletic staff. The UMBC Office of Retriever Integrated Health, which includes the Counseling Center and UMBC Sports Medicine are also key contributors to the team effort.
