Purdue may not be conducting any athletic events because of the coronvirus pandemic that’s gripping the nation. But sports psychologist Dr. Brad Foltz is as busy as ever helping Purdue’s student-athletes maintain their mental health in these trying times.
“We were lucky,” said Foltz. “We have a pretty great staff and IT staff, so we pivoted to being able to offer tele-health services to our student-athletes pretty quickly.”
Anxiety levels are high across the nation. When will the pandemic end? How will life look moving forward? Will things be safe? The questions abound. And Foltz--along with colleague Dr. Kelsey Dawson--is there to help ease the minds of Boilermakers as the athletic department's sports psychologists.
“The student-athletes want to make sure they're making use of their time, feeling as though they're staying healthy,” said Foltz. “I think a lot of our athletes are just feeling a sense of anxiety about the uncertainty, the ambiguity of the situation. Are they going to have a season or not? If they do, what's it going to look like? How do we make sure that we're healthy?”
Those are just a few of the concerns, worries and fears Foltz helps Purdue’s student-athletes deal with on a daily basis. Like many these days, Foltz is working from home. And his days are long, beginning a 6 a.m. and often extending deep into the night. How many student-athletes does he offer tele-health assistance to on a daily basis?
“It varies,” said Foltz. “I think tomorrow, I have six on my schedule and some days a little lighter. It can be a really busy day. Other days, it's a little bit lighter and we look at more programming things that we're trying to do."
In addition to individual tele-health sessions, Foltz and Dawson offer Zoom meetings for any student-athlete or staff member to pop in and ask questions. These Zoom meetings extend to the parents of student-athletes who often ask how they can help support their kids and play a role in making sure that their kids are doing well and thriving during these trying times.
And with May being Mental Health Awareness Month, the Big Ten recently announced the formation of the Big Ten Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet. As part of initiative, all Big Ten student-athletes, coaches, full-time members of university athletic departments and conference staff members will receive free, unlimited access to Calm, the No. 1 mental fitness app for helping individuals experience lower stress, less anxiety, improved focus and more restful sleep. Calm is a supplemental tool for the athletes used in concert with the mental health care provided by Foltz and Dawson.
“What's really nice about it is it gives daily meditations, relaxation tips and exercises,” said Foltz. “It gives a lot of things for helping with focus, concentration. It also provides resources and tools for sleep management, one of the things that I think is interrupted. A lot of folks have had their daily routines disrupted, including their sleep. So, we're really trying to make sure people are taking care of themselves and wanted to make sure everybody had that at Purdue.”
As part of its psychological services to student-athletes, Purdue provides access to another app called “Headspace,” which offers some similar services as Calm but is available only to student-athletes. It's one of many tools at the disposal of Purdue's sports psychologists.
"As a staff, we feel a level of anxiety about the ambiguity that a lot of our athletes feel," said Foltz. "How am I going to be able to make sure I keep up with my academics when I can't be in a classroom like I normally am? How do we help get those supports in place?
"And we have a growing number of our student-athletes who have been directly impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another, whether it be family members who have become ill or family members who work in the healthcare community or facilities. We've had folks who have lost members of their families. So, I think there's going to be a larger and larger population of our student-athletes who are going to be directly impacted by this, that we have to be ready to help support their return to campus and try to get them feeling a sense of normalcy."
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