LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Athletics, in conjunction with its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is dedicating this week (April 7-13) to Mental Health Awareness. With your help, we aim to de-stigmatize and spread awareness about current mental health issues that are especially prevalent in collegiate sports.

Biola athletics is proud of its student-athletes and the community on campus. As a program we recognize that being a student as well as an athlete comes with immense pressure and want to emphasize the importance of every person's worth beyond athletics and academics.

Mental Health pertains to one's well-being in regard to their psychological and emotional condition. There are more than 200 different types of mental illnesses, including, but not limited to: presence of mind, bipolar disorder, depression, body image issues, eating disorders, anxiety/stress and suicidal thoughts.

One out five individuals are affected and out of the 500,000 student-athletes who compete annually in the NCAA sports, 30 percent of student-athletes self-reported that they had been "intractably overwhelmed" and 25 percent reported being exhausted "from the mental demands of their sport."

A NCAA survey recently found that student-athletes are less likely to report issues with depression and anxiety than the general student population.

Forty six percent of NCAA athletic trainers said that they would be able to provide better care to their student-athletes if there were mental health services on site. Biola University has taken many steps to ensure students have resources available on campus. To learn more about these resources, click this link: https://athletics.biola.edu/sports/2018/11/16/student-athlete-mental-health.aspx or call (562) 903-4800 to reach the Biola Counseling Center.

As student-athletes, you have the ability to create change in the conversation regarding mental health. In sports culture, there is tendency to refuse to show weakness and to "play through the pain." However, just like a broken bone needs time to heal, so do mental health "injuries." Biola Athletics wants to empower student-athletes to connect with one another and the university community to show support for every person struggling with mental health.

Biola Athletics encourages all student-athletes to use their voice and to be willing to speak up and seek assistance if needed. Your mental and physical health is of the utmost importance. You can use this mental health support request form if you feel you may need help from campus resources.  
       
During this week Biola is putting on a Mental Health Awareness Event at the Biola Baseball series against Academy of Art (Thursday - Saturday). We will be handing out 200 FREE WRISTBANDS to the first 200 people that come visit our table at the game and fill out a mental health awareness reminder that YOU ARE WORTH IT.

Also, keep an eye on our website and social media channels throughout the week as we share more individual stories and statistics.