February 2024 Edition
We all watch and marvel at the amazing athletes from various sports, genders, and race perform these surreal feats in competition week in and week out. They all appear confident, physically strong, and invulnerable. This is also assumed to be the case for all genders and race. The reality is these “invulnerable” athletes are vulnerable human beings, and that there are greater challenges within certain communities in discussing a mental health issue.
A recent segment on Good Morning America, with Michael Strahan hosting, highlighted three elite Black athletes in different sports speaking to their own mental health challenges, the extreme sensitivity of acknowledging their struggles, and hesitancy in seeking treatment due to the negative stigma within the Black community.
Solomon Thomas, a star defensive end for the NY Jets, speaks to the loneliness he felt as he entered a depression after his sister committed suicide. Karl Anthony Towns, a star NBA center for the Minnesota Timberwolves, describes how the world went silent for him after losing his mother, and Anna Cockrell, a champion track sprinter and hurdler, had her initial experience with depression in her junior year at USC and did not understand what she was experiencing.
Michael Strahan discussed mental health in the Black community with three Black athletes.
What they all have in common is overcoming the generational stigma associated with mental health in the Black community - where it has historically been “shameful” to admit a mental health “weakness.” As you will hear, fortunately a new era has arrived and these three athletes, as well as other Black athletes are coming forward and openly discussing it is ok to admit to a mental health challenge and be in treatment.
In our Athletes OnBalance podcast, Jimmy Johns, a former running back at Alabama, speaks to the black community he grew up in, and Black men looking at any discussion of mental health challenges as a sign of weakness.
These are leaders in the Black community, and in every community, speaking out to help others, and eliminate the terrible stigma that has been associated with mental health.
I hope you enjoy listening and learning about their stories.
Be well.
Walt Norley
OnBalance Founder & CEO
Athletes onbalance
Jimmy Johns, former University of Alabama Football player, shares his perspective on battling the extreme stigma, within the black community, associated with mental health. To listen in full or check out more episodes, visit our website.
In Case You Missed It: Walt Norley, OnBalance Founder and CEO, joined the most recent episode of Athletes OnBalance as the guest on January's podcast, with special host Dr. Ginger Gilmore, Director of Behavioral Medicine at the University of Alabama. Walt talks about his experience as a student athlete, his struggle to accept having a mental health disorder and how he learned to manage it, and the reason he launched OnBalance. His episode is also available on YouTube and across streaming platforms.
