Mental health and well-being is an area of overall wellness that is often ignored, forgotten, or put on the backburner in favor of other wellness goals. For the past year or so, myself and our club directors here at NXT have been working to bring more attention to the topic of mental health, both to improve quality of life and learn strategies that can help on-field performance.
This past year has been extremely challenging for all of us. While stress has been extremely high, many of our normal methods for dealing with stress (e.g., sports, exercise, gathering with friends and family) have been inaccessible. A focus on our own mental health and well being is more important now than it ever has been in recent memory.
Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting a webinar with Mitch Green and Lauren Ruhl from Greenepsych Clinical and Sport Psychology along with the members of our boys and girls lacrosse club teams. This webinar served as an introduction to Mitch and Lauren and the work they do as well as served as a platform to announce our ongoing relationship with Greenepsych. Our plan is to work with Greenepsych as a means to educate our club players, parents, and coaches on how to care for their own mental health as well work on their “mental / inner game” to improve on-field performance.
The full webinar was recorded and is available below. One of the major points of emphasis from Mitch and Lauren is that there does not have to be something terribly “wrong” with you to talk with someone like them. While they are available to help those who are in crisis, they also have several clients with whom they perform “routine maintenance.”