In student-athlete mental health issues such as concussion prevention, Syracuse University’s Tim Neal has been ahead of the curve.

The assistant athletic director of sports medicine was selected to attend the NCAA Concussion in Sport Medical Management Summit as an expert in 2010. Many of the issues raised at the summit — educating student-athletes about concussions, building a strong rapport between players and athletic trainers, monitoring the physicality of practices in contact sports — had been part of Syracuse’s concussion-prevention program for decades, he said.

Now, Neal is again at the forefront of a major issue in college athletics: tackling the growing prevalence of mental health issues among student-athletes.

“The more we’re learning about mental health issues in college-age adults, along with some reports of student-athletes having issues,” Neal said, “we’re undertaking a health and wellness effort to study this concern and come up with some recommendations.”

Nearly two years ago, Neal brought these issues to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) attention when he approached Jim Thornton, the organization’s president, at a sports medicine meeting. Thornton was convinced of the need to address student-athlete mental health issues.

Thornton compiled a team of 11 writers headed by Neal to draft a consensus statement on the issue. The writers came from schools such as Vanderbilt University, University of Arizona and Princeton University.

The task force worked for 18 months and the 85-page statement, entitled “Recommendations for Developing a Plan to Recognize and Refer Student Athletes with Psychological Concerns at the Collegiate Level,” was published on Sept. 25.

In November, the statement — which is based on SU’s precedent in recognizing and referring student-athletes with mental health issues — will be the centerpiece of an NCAA meeting regarding topics in mental health.

“My hope is that there is an official statement in the NCAA in the sports medicine handbook,” Thornton said. “And that the NCAA works with the NATA to find out what kinds of problems exist, and do everything we can to help athletes through difficult times.”

Joshua Geruso, the assistant director of sports medicine at North Carolina State University, used a series of statistics to illustrate the problem.

Geruso said “one of every four or five youths meet the criteria for a mental health disorder.” He then connected that ratio to college athletics, stating that would mean 130-160 student-athletes in an athletic program with 650. On an even larger scale, 92,600-115,750 of the 463,000 student-athletes registered by the NCAA would meet the criteria for a mental health disorder by that estimate.

It is for these reasons that Neal and the other 10 writers of the consensus statement centered their work around recognizing the symptoms of mental illness and setting up a referral system when those symptoms surface.

But addressing an issue that transcends statistics and science was not something that the task force could do alone. The work of the NATA, SU’s guidance and the humility and courage of former student-athletes all contributed to the NCAA recognizing the task force’s research on mental health.

“This is the kind of thing that can happen to anyone, just a matter of recognizing it and getting them help,” Thornton said. “Everyone involved has done great so far.”

***

The night before Syracuse football was set to play Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 2008, Jonathan Meldrum couldn’t handle it anymore.

His depression, which started in high school, followed him to Syracuse and on this night in his sophomore season to the team hotel. His noticeable uneasiness prompted one of his coaches to ask if he was OK.

He wasn’t. And broke down into tears moments later.

“I broke,” Meldrum said. “It became, ‘I’m not doing well and I’m looking to stop that.’”

Meldrum, who was an offensive tackle at Syracuse from 2007-09, was consumed by depression throughout his collegiate career. Most days, he couldn’t get out of bed and the magnitude of his disorder caused him physical pain. And above all, he often dreaded playing football.

But the day after his meltdown, Neal approached Meldrum and said they were going to meet. What came next was a support system that Meldrum could rely on.

“He referred me to a counselor and set me up with the right people that could help me day to day,” Meldrum said. “Every day he checked on me and made sure I was OK. I didn’t feel like just an athlete or just some piece of meat, but an actual person.”

It wasn’t an instant cure, but Neal’s program — which included seeing a counselor — helped remedy the difficulties that Meldrum faced as a student-athlete suffering from depression. He still deals with his depression day to day, but has used the treatment he received at SU as the foundation for a stable lifestyle.

After a knee injury ended his collegiate career, Meldrum returned to his hometown of Boise, Idaho, where he is now married with three kids and works as a caseworker at a prison.

“It was a great thing that Syracuse did,” Meldrum said. “To help me with my depression, that, that was just amazing.”

***

Growing up in Ann Arbor, Mich., Will Heininger didn’t understand depression.

If he ever heard it mentioned, he remembers thinking, “Why can’t you be happy?”

After an illustrious high school football career helped him realize his childhood dream of playing at the University of Michigan, his happy-go-lucky outlook lived on. But when his parents divorced during his freshman year, he sunk into depression.

“I just started getting so sad,” Heininger said. “All of a sudden I thought that the future was going to be horrible and that there was nothing to look forward to.”

For four months, “depressing thoughts” swallowed Heininger from the time he woke up until he fell asleep — if he slept at all. In the midst of his four-year career as a defensive end for the Wolverines, after redshirting in 2007, Heininger was hiding his mental illness from the program.

The first person he told was his mom, and the counselor she brought him to suggested he stop playing football.

“Stop playing football? I told her I couldn’t stop playing football,” Heinginger said. “That was the only thing I cared about, and the only thing keeping me going.

“A huge portion of my life and time and devotion went into football. I still hadn’t told anybody there, I hadn’t even come close. I hid it very well. I just put my head down and toughed it out.”

But Heininger learned after an August practice that he could only “tough it out” for so long.

Heininger’s athletic trainer eventually pulled him aside, and introduced him to athletic counselor Barb Hansen.

Heininger started to meet with Hansen every day and she helped him realize that his problem was a common issue that he shouldn’t be ashamed of. He said that Hansen is “one of the best people that has ever come into (his) life.”

The antidote to his depression was in the same building he spent so much time in. By the fall, things had turned around.

“I know how horrible life was, and I know how extraordinary life can be,” Heininger said. “I want everyone to be able to experience that because there are a few degrees of separation that can change it so drastically.”

***

Recognize and refer: these are the focal points of Neal’s philosophy regarding student-athlete mental health.

The inquiry of one person forced both Meldrum and Heininger into emotional low points that led to their upward climbs.

That is why Neal encouraged recognizing and referring student-athletes with mental illness as pillars of SU, and is now pushing the program, along with the NATA, onto the NCAA’s agenda.

Meldrum and Heininger are also both integral parts of the campaign. Meldrum has been working with Neal for a year now, to tell his story in a way that can “benefit others.” Neal has also confided in Meldrum as a student case throughout his research for the consensus statement. When the consensus statement was released at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, Heininger shared his story onsite.

As the initiative moves forward, Neal wants to develop SU’s  — and now the NATA’s — referral system into one that can be utilized nationwide.

Heininger wants the culture surrounding mental illness in college athletics to change so that those affected feel comfortable sharing their disorders. So does Meldrum.

“I hope we’re able to come up with recommendations that will start with better awareness,” Neal said, “to get all student-athletes evaluation and care.” He wants to ensure that student-athletes struggling with mental health issues aren’t afraid to reach out for help.

Published on October 24, 2013 at 1:39 am

Contact Jesse: [email protected] | @dougherty_jesse