Donnie dialogues with behavior health specialist, Ashley Harmon. Behavior health is an essential component to performance, yet is seldom spoken about. Ashley educates listeners on the multitude of services that are provided for student-athletes at the University of Texas. Additionally, she covers working collaboratively with a performance team, what mental health is, the power of getting to know athletes, how social media and injuries can drastically effect mental wellness, life after athletics for athletes, and resources for those wanting to learn more.<\/p>\n
Ashley Harmon is in her fourth year at the University of Texas, serving as the Assistant Director of Clinical Behavioral Health. She\u2019s no stranger to the 40-acres, having earned her master\u2019s degree in social work at UT in 2013. Additionally, Ashley provided clinical services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault along with medical social work services at two community hospitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donnie dialogues with behavior health specialist, Ashley Harmon. Behavior health is an essential component to performance, yet is seldom spoken about. Ashley educates listeners on the multitude of services that are provided for student-athletes at the University of Texas. Additionally, she covers working collaboratively with a performance team, what mental health is, the power of […]","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2020\/03\/Team-Behind-the-Team-Ep.-4.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"56.48M","filesize_raw":"59222144","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[14,3,16,7,15,17,4,11],"series":[2],"class_list":{"0":"post-12","1":"podcast","2":"type-podcast","3":"status-publish","5":"tag-ashley","6":"tag-athletics","7":"tag-behavioral","8":"tag-coaching","9":"tag-harmon","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-training","13":"series-the-team-behind-the-team","14":"entry"},"acf":{"related_episodes":"","hosts":[{"ID":113,"post_author":"38","post_date":"2020-11-04 17:27:54","post_date_gmt":"2020-11-04 22:27:54","post_content":"\n
Donnie Maib is the Head Coach for Athletic Performance for Olympic Sports since 2011.\u00a0 Maib oversees all aspects of athletic performance efforts for all sports at the University of Texas with the exception of Men\u2019s\/Women\u2019s Basketball and Football. He directly works with women\u2019s volleyball and men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He came to the University of Texas after four years at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he worked as an assistant with all varsity sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 1998-2007 Maib was an assistant coach at the University of Texas working primarily with football and various other Olympic sports \u2013 Women\u2019s Track & Field, Women\u2019s Golf, Men\u2019s Golf, Men\u2019s Tennis, Soccer, & Volleyball. In 2007 He was promoted to Associate Coach for Football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maib is certified by the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association. He was honored at 8th Annual National Conference of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association in May 2008 with the certification of Master Strength and Conditioning Coach (MSCC), the highest honor for a coach in the strength and conditioning field.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Donnie Maib","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"donnie-maib","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-11-04 17:27:55","post_modified_gmt":"2020-11-04 22:27:55","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/?post_type=speaker&p=113","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"guests":[{"ID":68,"post_author":"10","post_date":"2020-07-07 17:17:27","post_date_gmt":"2020-07-07 17:17:27","post_content":"\n
Ashley Harmon is in her fourth year at the University of Texas, serving as the Assistant Director of Clinical Behavioral Health. She\u2019s no stranger to the 40-acres, having earned her master\u2019s degree in social work at UT in 2013. Additionally, Ashley provided clinical services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault along with medical social work services at two community hospitals.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Ashley Harmon","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ashley-harmon","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-11-01 10:40:50","post_modified_gmt":"2021-11-01 15:40:50","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/?post_type=speaker&p=68","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"transcript":"
Welcome to the team behind the teen podcast. I’m your host, Donny, mate. This is the monthly
\n\ue5d4
\nshow focused on building conversations around the team based model approach to ethic, performance.
\nStrength, conditioning. Sports Medicine. Sport Science. Mental Health and wellness and
\nsports nutrition.
\nWelcome back to the show and we are super excited. We have a special guest for
\nour next episode today. Her name is Ashley Harmon and
\nshe joined our staff in 2016. And currently
\nher her title role is actually would you introduce yourself, please? I am the assistant director
\nof Clinical Behavioral Health. That’s a lot to say right there. That’s why I had you to that. So.
\nActually, we’re so excited that you took time out of your day to come and be on this podcast and share your
\nwealth of information. Glad to be here. Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. So we’re going to dove
\nright into the episode today. And Ashley, as we kind of get into
\nthis again, this is the teen behind the teen podcast. And the
\nthe goal and focus of what we’re going to try to do is just pull back the curtain
\non all the different people that surround the team. Right. It surrounds every student
\nathlete and every team that’s performing on any field and any occasion that Texas
\nthis is the trend that we’re seeing in sports across the whole world. And
\nthis is where it’s at. This is the current environment that we’re
\nin. And really, you’re seeing that the best teams behind the team
\nhelp those big teams win championships. And so that’s kind of the big idea here. So could you just introduce
\nyourself to everybody? Give us a little history where you’re from, how you got into what you’re doing and
\nso forth and so. Yeah. So, again, my name is Ashley and I am originally
\nfrom a very small town in Texas called Comanche. But I moved to Austin in 2008
\nfor school and I got both my bachelors and masters at the University of Texas
\nin the School of Social Work. So I’m definitely an alumni from there. I
\ndid a lot of work in the domestic violence sexual assault room and I worked at a crisis center for about
\nfour years. And I have background in medical, social work, some foster
\ncare staff. So I’m pretty well-rounded when it comes to just different
\nmental health issues that could come up. And I actually just kind of like fell into this role
\nby accident. Thankfully, I just got my license. Clinical social worker.
\nThat’s the best is the biggest license you can get as a social worker. So which opens up more job opportunities.
\nAnd I went on to the CMHC job
\nWeb site to see if they’re hiring, essentially. And instead, what I found was athletics had
\na posting that they wanted a social worker to come in and really help
\nbuild an adequate mental health program for the athletes. And I was like, that’s super
\ncool and exciting. So here I am. And I absolutely love it. I’ve been here
\nfor about three and a half years now. That’s yes, I’ve heard you tell that a little bit before. You
\njust made a question, popped into my head, what or how do you feel like that that job before?
\nHow did that prepare you for the role you’re in now? Because it just seems like you’re doing a tremendous job
\nhere. So how did that prepare you for this time? Well, one thing, you know, I always keep in mind is that
\nathletes are people, you know, and people. Yeah. We need to remind everybody that. Exactly. You
\nknow, people have problems. And so just because the clients I worked
\nwith before weren’t collegiate athletes, they still struggled with the same things in a relationship,
\nfamily issues, depression, anxiety, trauma. And so I was able to build that
\njust working with, quote unquote, people. And so when I came to athletics, at first I
\nwas nervous because I was like, I don’t know how to work with athletes. I wasn’t a college athlete. What is
\nthis gonna be like? And then I reminded myself, like, okay, wait, like they’re just another person
\ncoming to you with problems that you can work with. That’s pretty cool. So now
\nin regards to where you’re at now, what kind of services do you provide for all of our student athletes at Texas?
\nGive us a little snapshot of that. So we have four contracted
\ntherapist. And then we have two Full-Time therapists, including myself. And then we have two contracted
\npsychiatrist. So we provide therapy and psychiatry appointments weekly.
\nWe average about 130 appointments a week. So it’s definitely like utilized
\nand it’s grown since I’ve been here. So we do any sort
\nof behavioral health. A student can request to come in like figure. There’s
\nnothing that they have to. There’s no assessment. They can come just if they want to. All they have to do
\nis ask to come in. And then they can be seen as much as they want for free. All of our services are free.
\nYou know, their medication, we help them get their medication if they need that through psychiatry. And then we also do
\nthings like education and team building. And, you know, sometimes I have had a team that’s
\nlike, hey, we want to learn more about mindfulness. Can you come talk to our team about it? So
\nit’s the individual stuff, but we also try to do a lot of team stuff. To kind of bring them closer.
\nYes. I didn’t not realize we had that big with team. I knew we had a lot of people. That’s that’s impressive.
\nVery big. Yeah, it’s a lot of needs, a lot of big needs. So
\ntalking about the performance model, again, the performance team, if you had to describe
\nand define that in your own terms, how would you how would you describe
\nthat with your own words in the performance team model? Texas? Well,
\nteam, that is the biggest word. I do think that we do a phenomenal job
\nof working as a team. It’s really easy to get into your own silos and. True and just
\nfocus on what you’re doing. But the way that the structure is setup at tech says,
\nyou know, we really take the time to interact with each other, whether it’s myself and the nutritionists
\nor the, you know, physicians, strength coaches. So
\nit is really nice because, one, it allows us to do wraparound services for the athletes
\nand we can make sure that we’re taking care of them in all aspects. You know, one aspect may be really good,
\nbut if we’re not talking to other people, we don’t know if there’s other work that needs to be done. So
\nI think it allows us to set the athlete up for a bigger success here. And I’ll tell you why. That’s
\nthat’s a good point. You talk about the relationships and the cool thing, too, about
\neverybody listening is that we’re pretty close in proximity. And so I think that’s a big piece.
\nI mean, I can imagine having there like for everything you needed, you get to drive and go through traffic
\nand get in the schedule and get back for practice or for academics or stuff like that. So it really helps.
\nI know, cause that could even make you more stressed right now. Scramble around and you don’t have everything there
\nclose in proximity. So I think that helps. You guys are just right upstairs from us, really close. And
\nathletes can be can be there quick, too. So. And it normalizes us because whereby
\neverybody else, aubagio, the sport scientists and the dieticians, we’re just another entity within athletics. We’re
\nnot like the scary building over here away from everyone else.
\nYeah. And it’s normal. I mean, people have needs, so. So those are definitely
\nsome of the benefits, too. I think we kind of talked about there. That makes it easy.
\nNext, kind of this kind of change gears a little bit and get into more of your kind
\nof specific expertise for the listeners. Talk a little bit
\nabout mental health today. What is exactly what does it mean to have good mental
\nhealth? What does that mean? I mean, to put it. Simply,
\nit really is realizing your own potential and having healthy coping mechanisms to be able
\nto bounce back from stress and every day. You know,
\nlife events that happen, you know, got some resiliency in there because we all are going
\nto experience stress. Life is a roller coaster. It’s a lot of things that we can’t predict. So it is our ability to
\nbe able to kind of go with the flow and take care of ourselves through that process. And mental
\nhealth is different than mental illness. And a lot of times people will
\ncombine the two. But mental health is an umbrella. And with it under the umbrella, there are
\na lot of different entities such as mental illness. And that’s when you actually have like a diagnosis
\nfrom the DSM. Otherwise, we all have mental health and we all need to work on mental illness.
\nYeah. Know that’s that’s powerful what you just said, because I’ve heard you guys talk about that before and I would have
\nnever until I heard you say that even as a strength coach, I would have never known that there’s a delineation, a difference.
\nSo that’s really cool. What’s the difference between mental health and wellness?
\nWhat’s the difference there? Kind of same thing. Yeah, they’re pretty much the same thing. It’s like mental health and wellness.
\nThey go together because it really is. How well are you taking care of your mental health in order to
\nprevent things like, you know, higher stress levels and depression in those sorts of things?
\nThat makes sense. So talking about that same issue, go kind of talk about
\nit from your time and experience just in college athletics right now,
\nwhat’s kind of the landscape that you’ve been seeing out there, some of the common themes or issues that you’re seeing
\nthat they’re just cropping up just from, you know, normal life? Well, like I said
\nearlier, you know, student athletes are people and they have the same issues
\nas non-student athletes. They are in college. So they have the same transitional issues
\nthat college students face. And, you know, it’s important to note that the
\nmillennials right now, they’re essentially the generation of stress. You know, they’re under more pressure.
\nIt’s so true and so true. And it’s so different than all the other generation
\nthat I think a lot of times we forget that. And so you bundle that together. And then
\nobviously, if you’re in athletics, you know, your sport serves as a protective factor
\nand a risk factor. So protective factor is something that really helps you eliminate
\nmental health stressors. So it can be good because you can build support. You have a team, it can build
\nlike self-esteem, it can make you successful, those sorts of things. But then it also
\nis a risk factor at the same time, because there’s pressure and demands and time management.
\nAnd a lot of times if athletes are only focused on their sport and their sports not going
\nwell, then everything kind of crashes below that. So it’s normal
\neveryday things, plus a little bit of sport mixed in there. Pressures from coaches, parents, pressures from themselves.
\nI will say probably the most common issues, which really is kind of the same in the general population
\nis depression, anxiety, sleep issues, some disordered
\neating stuff that’s a little bit higher in the athletic community and then substance use. Yeah,
\nthat’s the anxiety is intriguing to me. Not in a not in a bad
\nway. It just I think as a coach, I’m also a parent of four daughters.
\nYou’re you’re sitting in middle school and high school. These young ladies guys
\nis having panic attacks in. And when you actually sit down
\nand ask them what you know, what would you panic and what was the anxiety about? It’s sometimes it’s something so
\nsmall and insignificant. And it just makes it look some it’s left me kind of scratching my head
\nand like, oh, you know, growing up, I don’t recall dealing with this, you know, as much
\nas we are today. And so there’s like you see, you’ve nailed it on on the head when you said this
\nis a generation of stress. Yes. And because in a herd of sports scientists talk
\nabout this one time, too, is that the demands
\nthat we’re putting on our athletes, they like pulling on them is so great. Everybody wants their
\ntime, you know, with media, with whether it’s, you know, going to practice
\nor doing individual sessions and then, you know, whether they have a strong to have a social life. They’ve got all this
\nstuff demands put on them. And then we just keep trying to put more on them. But they only heathy
\ncall it like this. They don’t have so much budget. Yes. It’s so much margin that you
\ncan push into. Cause if you tap into that, I would imagine in different athletes and people
\nthat they only have certain margins of reserve that you can push into in an hominum
\nprobably overextend themselves. You know, most of them. Yeah, most. And it’s just you in
\nthis like I know I’ve told you, but I was reading the book When Why Zebras
\nDon’t Get Ulcers. We talked about in that book how, you know, back during
\ntimes or we didn’t have TV and media and. You know, your biggest stressor
\nwould be lack of a lion came after you and, you know, you’re you’re you’re nervous system
\nwould fire up hormones, bad stressors with the hit, right? You take off run to save
\nyour life. You lived and you came back down relaxed. Today, most of our student
\nathletes live in that kind of heightened state. And then that’s you know, that’s probably
\nI’m sure that’s where a lot of the problems arise from. So it’s the idea of chronic stress. You know, we’ve got good stress,
\nwe’ve got bad stress, we’ve got acute stress. We have chronic stress. And unfortunately, most
\nof our athletes are functioning in the chronic stress area. Yeah, that’s
\ngood. If you were to give just some traits to
\nlook for that work with either middle school, high school, college, professional,
\nwhat are some kind of flags that you would say, hey, keep an eye on this with your athletes if you see
\nthese behaviors or these little things cropping up? What would you say some of those would be?
\nYeah. So one thing to keep in mind is that we all will experience
\nsome sort of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms on a spectrum. Right. Because we all
\nhave feelings and emotions and go through events. What’s really important to look at is the frequency.
\nAnd like. The intensity of it, so frequency and intensity.
\nThe biggest thing you can do is get to know your students, get to know your athletes, because change in
\nbehaviors are everything. You know, if you have an athlete that usually takes care of their
\nhygiene really well and then all of a sudden it’s been a week or a couple days of them,
\nnot that may be something you want to check in about, because even something physical like that can be
\nan indicator that maybe some depression is going on or what. Some people don’t
\nthink about is that if you have a student who the pattern is depression
\nand then all of a sudden one day they come to school and they are the happiest person and everything’s
\ngreat. That’s also an indicator swing. It’s a swing. So
\neven if it it’s like, oh, well, great, they’re in a great mood. It can actually not be so great.
\nSo you really need to just pay attention to patterns and both physical, emotional, mental
\npassing comments. You know, sometimes students, people, they’ll just drop
\na little passing comment here and there and laugh it off. But sometimes they’re just wanting someone to listen. So the more
\nthat you get to know them, then you can really understand their patterns and when things are different.
\nI love that you said that because I I believe I completely agree with you.
\nI think just like our athletes have pressures and demands on them. So do our coaches.
\nI think what I what I see oftentimes coaches have.
\nEspecially with media stuff and whether it’s fundraising or working with donors
\nin fans, they’re getting they’re going to have to protect and guard their time
\nand schedule to make sure they’re spending time with their athletes. Yes. And
\nthat’s where I see when coaches start struggling, they don’t have that connection with their athletes.
\nThey don’t understand why they’re behaving the way are. They still have it. They have. It’s hard to have compassion. Right?
\nRight. You don’t have context of like, OK. You know, I know even my own career. I’ve
\nhad times where I’ve had conflict with athletes. Once I got to know the storyline better and get to know him, then I had more
\nunderstanding, had a lot more patience and grace, you know. And when you get to know them, you
\nyou can learn how best to communicate to them, which will go a long way, not just for them, but for
\nyou as a coach. One analogy I love Ashley was
\nit’s kind of like working with kids is like bowling if you’ve ever been bowling.
\nThe further away you get from the pins, the harder it is to to have an impact. Oh, yeah.
\nRight. But if you if you think about bowling, you scoot down on that lane on those pins and bowl, you
\npray hit a strike every time. But how many times the ball goes in the gutter, the further away you get from him.
\nSo that’s a killer relationship. Look, here’s a closer in our relationships as professionals
\nare coaches, then the bigger impact we can have in our kids lives on the field. So
\nthat’s cool. Let’s talk a little bit about one of my favorite topics that again, intrigues me is
\nthis social media today in mental mental health. Now,
\nI got to tell you, I’ve read some I read a lot of books. And have they’ve done these studies recently own.
\nIs it true in kids? They look at social media and then they get off.
\nAre they really everybody that said or some people? Does it not bother them? Let’s give us to give us your
\nopinion and give us some true today. I mean, social media
\ncan create a lot of comparisons. Yeah, it’s not always great
\nfor someone’s mental health. Now it can be. Right. You know, we can’t say social media is bad for everybody,
\nbut it can actually be really detrimental because a lot of people will go on Instagram and look at all
\nthese pictures and be like, oh, my gosh, this person is live in such a great life. Like, I’m not pretty enough
\nor I’m not skinny enough or like I can’t travel like that. And that’s just kind of what’s going through their head. It’s always
\na comparison because it’s this idea, perfectionism specifically within this generation. And not only
\ndo you have the comparison, but you also have the lack of connection. So now you get to
\ntalk to people through a screen which completely takes away human connection.
\nBut that’s what they’re used to. So that can also create mental health problems, because as people,
\nwe thrive off a human connection. We have to have it. So it absolutely
\ncan be a detriment. And then if you specifically look at athletes, the point you brought
\nup with the coaches and in kind of the media. I mean, you’re spot on
\nlike these athletes and coaches. I couldn’t imagine being able to go online and
\nread thousands of comments. And some of them are positive, but some of them
\njust are belittling and they really just attack you as a person.
\nSo it does also create another space to just have some
\nkind of more negativity and hatred thrown away like cyberbullying. That’s a real thing. It is in it.
\nI know I’ve had even recently this year at work and being around
\nhigh school, middle school kids, college kids, comments like I
\ncan’t believe the unfollowed me. I’m a I’m I ask. How do you even know they unfollowed
\nyou? I think you know or or though they’ll
\nhave you know, there’ll be a group home that I have a little get together. And they didn’t invite me
\nbecause they posted on social media. And it hurts, you know, and you don’t realize it. You
\nknow that me grown up. I mean, if you didn’t invite me to your birthday party, I never knew
\nbecause there was no trace of it. Exactly. I might hear about it like a year later. But now you can
\nsee all this stuff and it has it has to weigh on these kids, on their mental health a little bit. You know, it does.
\nAnd I mean, yeah, they get their worth from follows and likes. And, you know, sometimes they may post a picture
\nand it doesn’t get enough likes. And so their whole day is ruined. I mean, those are those are real things.
\nYeah, it’s true. It’s definitely a challenging day we live in.
\nSwitch gears again here and talk a little bit about.
\nInjuries. And this. This is. You know, I’ve definitely
\ndealt with the injury personally as an athlete. When I was in college, it can be very devastating.
\nI know I’ve shared with you before I went through a really dark season in my career as a senior
\nwhen I blew my ACL in Iowa. I mean, I can still even as we’re talking now, I can remember
\nbeing isolated. So I was isolated. I knew I was done playing
\nsports, had all these different layers I was dealing with, which at the time I just dealt with them by just
\nhiding. You know, just running, you know, failed some classes, all that.
\nSo I know how it impacted me personally. So I see that in the athletes today. Would you just take a
\nmoment and talk about injuries and kind of how that impacts them mentally? Yes.
\nInjuries. They’re not talked about enough. I think a lot of times they go under the radar because it’s
\nlike all the athletes injured. Moving on, you know, gotta go to the game. But injury
\nabsolutely affects their mental health because it takes away
\ntheir sport. It takes away their like social team
\naspect, because most the time, like they’re in treatment versus at practice, for example.
\nAnd so when you isolate them and take away their sport. And on top of that,
\nathletes are so in tune with their bodies. Their bodies are everything to them. They take care of them.
\nIt’s how they are successful. And so when their body breaks down, that’s hard
\nbecause there’s you you can’t switch out your body like that’s just what it is. So it can create a lot of depression.
\nAnd then so they’re dealing with that. And then there’s just the sport aspect of what
\nif I lose my starting spot because I’m hurt? Second string is going to come in. And what if I do?
\nFantastic. And then my career’s really over. So it’s really important
\nthat you take time to connect with them, see what they need, you know,
\nengage them with the team when you can. You know, some coaches, I mean,
\nin their mind, they’re like, well, you know, it’s fine. Let them go get treatment and we’ll do this. And they’re getting back to
\nbeing better about it if they don’t have that social emotional connection that really stunts their physical healing as well.
\nYeah, I know. It’s, you know, coaches cause this even my own experience when I was in college,
\nit’s like. If they don’t if you if you’re not able to perform.
\nThey don’t need you right now. Right. When you’re ready again, come on back. And I
\nthink you hit a good point there own. I never thought of that like that, that their bodies it’s
\neverything to them during this time, you know, and then. How important is it for them to to not
\nonly stay engaged, to stay involved with the team? I mean, are there any. Would you say any
\nkind of suggestions or advice you could give coaches? There’s people listening out there
\ntoday. How could you help those athletes stay healthy and just keep them keep them encouraged?
\nYeah. I mean, look for other ways they can participate in practice. They may not be able to physically
\ngo out and run. But can they help you take times? Or
\ncoach the other athletes or being encourager? You know, the more that you can just keep them involved to let them know that
\nthey’re still important and cared about and and part of the team. Then the better they will feel. And then
\nit also helps them come back from injury easier because we also see a lot
\nof fear related to return the sport, the you know, a lot of anxiety related to that
\nof cannot even trust my body anymore. And so if you can keep their healing period
\nmore positive, then they’re going to come back. Also more positive, you know. I mean, the
\nmental state is such a critical piece of even healing itself. Right.
\nAnd the body producing the right hormones and the right and just the
\nright feelings, even mood. You know, I think sometimes I’ve been studying a lot on mood and just
\nhow it impacts how you feel and in how well you recover. Yeah. And if you’re in a good mood or bad mood,
\nyou know, consistently. So it’s it’s a big predictor of different things. Yeah. I mean, if you’re struggling with high
\ndepression, there is a chance that you will heal slower because
\neverything is connected. Yeah. So such a big part.
\nTalk a little bit further to go. So we talked about injury. And
\nat some point, every athlete stops playing. And their identity
\nas a person is so wrapped up in either the position or the state took the team
\nor sport they’re part of. They’ve been doing it for you a lot and probably doing for ten, twelve, fifteen years.
\nEnough said, the train stops completely and I kind of miss that. I struggle with that. I know
\nI’ve seen it in my career, my 20 plus years of athletes. I don’t know what to do sometimes. And I’ve
\nseen some athletes that make that transition. It’s a little rocky, but they make
\nit eventually. I’ve seen some athletes just beat tragedy. They just cannot
\ndeal with. Now, what I do was celebrated. I was pretty much
\nworshiped. People looked up to me. Now I’m not playing a sport, whereas my self
\nworth and value now. Could you kind of speak into that a little bit? Yeah. So the athlete
\nidentity is a very real thing. And a lot of
\ntimes it’s called I Identity Foreclosure. And essentially what that
\nmeans is that all their eggs are in one basket. You know, their identity is wrapped within their
\nsport. And so. Ending whether it’s because you’re retired
\nor because you have an injury, like there is a transitional period where if you
\nhaven’t already built in who you are outside of your sport, then when your sport is taken away,
\nyou have no idea who you are. Like, what is my worth? If your worth is wrapped around in, let’s
\nsay, football and you’re done with football, you’re going to feel like you’re not worth anything more because that’s solely
\nwhere it was. And so there definitely should be more attention
\naround how are we helping these athletes transition out of their sport, whether it’s collegiate
\nor pro, because it will be rocky. You know, obviously, there are some
\nathletes where their sport is the main reason for their mental health. So when they’re done with it,
\nthey’re actually excited about it and ready to move on. But those athletes have already built other parts of their identity
\nwithin themselves. So we’ve got to do a better job of figuring out who are you outside
\nof your sport. Yeah, I remember. That’s a good point. I remember. It’s been years now, but
\nthere is a pro player I knew pretty well and what he would do an off season instead of just
\nworking out all the time and just trying to get ready for next season, he would go work at a car dealership.
\nThat’s fantastic because he already had the vision for. Hey, I know this is going to be done
\none day. I’m not going to play football my whole life. So I must start working on what will I do
\nonce I’m retired and once I’m done completely. And so I think I feel like we need you know, there needs to be and
\nI know there are some schools doing that, but just kind of providing whether it’s avenues
\nor even just teaching, equipping them, like what do you do with football done, you know? Because I know when I’ve we had nothing
\nlike that. It’s like when you’re done, like, OK, you’re good. You can go find a job and just get out of here.
\nYeah. And so, yeah, it’s a different today, you know, because like you said, they just wrapped their whole the whole world’s
\nwrapped up in who they are as it is as an athlete. And that’s why their mental health can fluctuate so much, because
\nif they’re only viewing success within their sport, if they’re not performing well, then
\ndown goes their mental health vs. If they have other parts of themselves that they appreciate, then
\nthey can say, OK, this one part of my life maybe isn’t going the way I want to, but I have all these other things
\ngoing on, too. So I kind of keeps them balanced. Yeah. That’s good. I think a lot of athletes
\nstruggle today to connect whether they’re hurt or whether they’re dumb plan or
\nthey you know, they have to just be done that they have such a powerful platform
\nof where they’re at and they just don’t. I don’t know if they don’t realize it or understand
\nthe weightiness that they have to build the next step of their career life.
\nYou know, to kind of that it’s all connected is not two separate things, you know, in a
\nway that goes back. I’ve always heard people say it’s it’s not Costco,
\nknow who you are is not the same as what you do. Yes. Right. You’re who’s different
\nfrom your do and who I am is I’m a person of your all our athletes are people
\nof value in extreme worth. And they got so much potential, like you said
\nearlier. But they aren’t they do play sports, too, but that’s not who they are. So they get those two
\nkind of mixed up. And I think that’s why they have trouble with it. Yes, I mean, absolutely. And sometimes within
\nthe sport realm, you know, like I’ve had conversations with athletes around. Okay.
\nYou have to retire from your sport because of injury. You can still accomplish some of the things you wanted
\nto accomplish. But sometimes it’s well, maybe I’m not going to be as credible because I’m not out
\nthere playing. And so it’s also trying to shift that perspective for them as well, that there’s a lot of
\nathletes out there that also need motivational speakers around injury and
\nhow to keep going. You know, it’s pretty cool. Definitely. Yes. You know, most take the.
\nAlways try to tell athletes that are struggling that, hey, you’re not going to waste this.
\nYou’re still going to use this to help others if you view it that way. So you’ll be you’ll be a
\nan encouragement to others. Yes. Got a little different question for you here. As we kind of transition,
\nthe very nature and environment of athletics comes with expectations
\nand pressure to win. Yes. And it’s getting higher.
\nIt’s not going away. What suggestions or advice would you
\ngive the coaches or even just professionals? How do you balance putting pressure on athletes
\nto perform and. Balance that with keeping them in
\na good mental state. Talk about that a little bit. I mean, it’s definitely a great question
\nand it’s definitely something that always has to be worked on. You know, there’s definitely not a set formula
\nof this is how it’s supposed to be. You know, one thing like when I talk to coaches, I’m
\nlike your people, too. You also have things going on outside of this.
\nAnd then you’re also under a lot of pressure. And so are you being aware of how your
\npersonal stress is affecting your athletes? Because sometimes coaches aren’t aware, just like everyday people,
\nand they can project that stress onto their athletes, which makes their athletes more stressed.
\nAnd so one just being aware of like, what are you stressed about? Is it coming across your athletes?
\nAnd then to going back previous what we talked about. If you take the time to get to know your athletes,
\nthen. They get both. They get the pressure to win because that’s
\nwhat sports is about. But they also get the side of like this person cares about me. I enjoy my team. And so
\nit does help balance that out vs. If you look at athletes that have terrible relationships with their coaches
\nand they’re not winning. It’s a recipe for disaster because they’re like, what am
\nI doing this for? I don’t get along with my coach. You know, so on and such. So it helps it balances
\nitself out when you can really connect to them just on a person to person level. And
\nyou know, if you look at the research, it shows that athletes generally do not
\nfavor like aggressive coaching styles. They want a supportive
\napproach. Now, that doesn’t mean that you don’t hold them accountable and all of those stuff.
\nRight. Like that. So part of the sport. But how are you doing that? And the good thing is when you get to
\nknow your athletes, you get to know what motivates them
\nthe best. Some athletes, they want to be motivated by being yelled at
\nand they’re like, yes, coach, yell at me like, this helps me. You have others that are like, I’m not gonna listen to you if you start yelling
\nat me. And then they just shut down. So getting to know them is everything. And
\nalso the biggest thing is giving them permission to seek help if
\nthey need it. There is too much of rub some dirt on it, mentally tough,
\nbut mentally tough and mental health are two very different things. Good point. And so I just don’t understand that
\na lot. They really don’t. They don’t. You know, it’s like, oh, you have depression. You’re not being mentally tough. And again,
\nthose things aren’t connected. So really understanding that and letting the athletes know
\nlike, hey, you’re struggling, it’s okay to struggle. Like, here’s resources. Here’s here’s how you can get some help.
\nYeah. I want to back up just one second. You said something earlier that really kind of got my
\ncuriosity going. Interest. I love one thing I love
\ndoing in any sport is just watching the coach on the bench or sideline. And
\nyou said something there. I think just a second ago about the stress that coaches are under.
\nThey don’t realize how they project that stress on. And a lot of times are athletes
\nget stressed because the head coaches stress. Yes. And I remember reading about it.
\nIt was a it was a leadership book on just. Managing people, and they
\nsaid one of the number one predictors of morale or stress
\nin a building is the boss’s mood. Yes. And it’s
\nit’s say the same thing. Oh, and by this mom or dad at home, if the mood is good,
\nthe house has got to give vibes to it, right? If not, then it’s it’s pretty tough in there, you know. So
\ntalk about just I mean. Maybe speak to some coaches out there about just
\nbeing aware of, you know, being, you know, they got a win, right? Yeah, but how do you
\nhow do you project that in a different way? How do you how can you do that? I mean,
\none, you can be open and have conversations with your athletes. So
\nI think a lot of times it’s not acceptable for coaches to be vulnerable either.
\nIt’s not acceptable to disclose certain things. Exactly. They they’re the face of the program.
\nBut so they could get so far with athletes if they’re just like, yeah,
\nI’m going through it, too. Like I’m stressed, like I get it because you’re being vulnerable with them, which
\nallows them to be vulnerable with you. And it doesn’t mean you have to go through your whole life story. But just those small connections
\nand like, how is your behavior if you notice that man? I feel like I’ve been screaming at
\nmy athletes a lot more. Can I take a second and think
\nabout do I have any higher stressors lately? And of course, just because I’m a therapist,
\nI think all coaches because all people benefit from therapy. I mean, anybody
\ncan go to therapy whether you have stuff going on or not. It’s just a way it gives you a safe space to
\njust be you, because, you know, if you’re a coach at a D1 university, people know your name.
\nYou’re also all over the TV screens. So you’re also wearing an armor of a coach. But if you can mount
\na safe space, such as a therapy office, you can take that off and you can just be you, not the coach
\nat u._t. I’ve seen so many times just in my career
\nwhere. A head coach realizes they’re putting too much pressure on our athletes
\nbecause they’re feeling it. And they make an adjustment, just a slight tweak
\nand make practice a little more lighthearted and more fun. Yes. And now all of a sudden
\nour athletes are performing better because I don’t know, there’s
\nnot many people, not myself, you. I’m sure if people would if somebody came your workmans is breathing down your
\nneck to do your job. I’d be miserable. Yeah. You’re going to be all tight and wound up. You won’t do a great job.
\nYou still get your job done because that’s what you do. Right. But you just. The level of performance
\nwill drop significantly over time, too. So. So I think, you know, coaches, body
\nlanguage, the tone they use with their athletes, the words, the verbal words they use, got to be so
\ncareful with that and be aware. I think awareness is kind of what I hear you’re saying to just be really aware
\nof that. You know, starts with awareness. But like implementing fun is so important
\nbecause a lot of athletes started their sport because it was fun. So the more that they
\ncan connect to the idea that they’re doing this because they enjoy it, you’re going to win because they’re
\ngoing to love what they’re doing, you know, vs., you know, being out there and everybody’s monotone
\nand there’s no energy. You know, you have to implement enjoyable things to make them motivated to want to keep
\npushing. And the other thing, too, this is a great this is a great topic, Rh\u00f4ne.
\nWe’re talking about pressure and this is a whole nother PRI episode. But pressure from parents today
\nis insane because you’re getting it from the head coach. All right.
\nAnd then at home, not I’m not, you know, hugging. I’m not throwing rocks at parents. I’m
\na parent. I have been guilty, first and foremost, putting pressure on my kids to do well
\nin sport in school. But I think just knowing, you know, underst,
\nlike you said earlier, getting to know your kids and understanding how much pressure
\nthat maybe they’re feeling, more pressure from mom or dad or from uncle or somebody. Yeah. And that
\nyou’re put maybe you need to back off a little bit, be more supportive and they’ll do better on on the field. So I think that’s
\nimportant to kind of percent. I mean, that’s why it goes back to people, right? We are we are all part
\nof different systems and all different systems create different stressors. That’s true.
\nGood stuff. Ashley. We’re kind of get close to the end here, just a couple of things.
\nAnything come to mind for the future of mental health? Any innovations, any trends
\nyou see down the road? Coming here in the future for sports and athletes, anything? Absolutely.
\nI mean, mental health in sports right now is a huge topic. And even just in three and a half years,
\nlike it has grown so much. And I, you know, believe that it’s going to continue to
\ngrow because it’s a huge shopping. More pros are coming out about it. More universities
\nare starting to implement programs. The NC double play as a part of it. So once you start having these big organizations
\nbeing a part of it and implementing policy change, then it’s just going to continue to grow. So I
\nthink it’s who knows what it’s gonna look like an even a year. That’s good. What about
\nfor the listeners? Any journals, books, podcasts,
\nconferences, anything, any resources for individuals out there that just want
\nto get more education, more knowledge in equipping own how to do kind of what you’re talking about?
\nAnything. Any suggestions? Yeah. So if you go to just the NCW Web site, they
\nhave so many great resources around like mind, body and sport.
\nThey have, you know, data and research and they talk about their initiative. So for that specific
\narea, I’d definitely recommend you check it out. And then just from a
\nmore of a mental wellness standpoint. My favorite book to always recommend is Daring Greatly by
\nBurning Brown is a good book. I recommend it to athletes, coaches
\nmyself. You we all can benefit from it because it it really targets the idea of perfectionism
\nand vulnerability. And how can we decrease stress while still being successful?
\nIt’s good. That is a good read. I have to go back and reread that one. It’s an amazing book. I’ve heard you talk about a lot
\nin your presentations. Well, if the listeners out there, anybody wants to reach
\nout, connect with you, just learn more about your asks you questions. What’s the best way people can reach
\nout to you? Ashley So you can either email me at Ashley a S-H l.y
\ndot Haman H a r M.O. in at athletics dot
\nu texas dot e._d._u or my office phone is 5
\nmuch. Today’s show has been awesome and thank you so much for taking time
\nout to to teach us. And hopefully our listeners out there will be more aware
\nthat there are some really issues out there and that you’ve given us some good things to think about and be aware of themselves. So,
\nyeah, thanks for having me. As great as it is. A pleasure. We’ll catch you guys on the next episode
\non the Teen Behind the Teen podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Have a great week.
\nThanks so much for tuning in. You’re listening to this episode of The Team Behind the Team podcast
\nfor future episodes. Go to i-Tunes Spotify, Google Podcast or
\nStitcher. We definitely want to keep having great guests on the show and great content.
\nSo if you have a moment, please go to i-Tunes, leave a rating and review and let us know how we’re
\ndoing. I’m Donny, mate, and thanks so much for tuning in.<\/p>\n"},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2020\/03\/Team_Behind_Team_1400.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/podcast-download\/12\/e4-ashley-harmon-behavioral-health.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/the-team-behind-the-team\/podcast-player\/12\/e4-ashley-harmon-behavioral-health.mp3","audio_player":"