Breaking Down Barriers between Counseling Centers and Athletic

Breaking Down Barriers between Counseling Centers and Athletic Departments: My Efforts to Become an Ally and Improve Team Grit. BRITTANY HIGGINS, M. ED. UTICA COLLEGE

Purpose and Objectives: ØDiscuss the difficulties of inter-departmental relationships (specifically) between counseling and athletics. ØExplore the differences between working with student-athletes and general college population (what makes that culture different). ØDiscuss my attempt at increasing team Grit through a 10 -week workshop that I designed and implemented across 6 different athletic teams.

Why is this important? ØAt UC we have approximately 700 student-athletes. That makes up nearly 1/3 of our on campus students. ØRecent legislation passed in January 2019 for Power 5 Conferences ØStats? ØIs it actually comparable to non student-athletes? Student-Athletes are different today- Coaches are asking for help

Phase 1: Understanding the Student. Athlete ØWhat is the culture of today’s college student/student-athlete? ØWhat is their mindset?

Now vs. then Where Training Equipment Uniforms Choosing sides Rules Refreshments Rewards for playing

Unintended Consequences Their world is full of Consequently, they can assume Speed Slow is bad Convenience Hard is bad Entertainment Boring is bad Nurture Risk is bad Entitlement Labor is bad

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset Skills and talents are grown and can be developed You don’t have control over your abilities You are in control of your abilities You can’t learn and grow You can learn and grow

Phase 2: Understanding Athletic Department & Coaches ØHow do they like to be communicated with? ØWhat are their expectations? ØHistory with Counseling Center on campus?

Phase 3: Reach out! ØCoaches don’t typically have time to respond to emails. ØUnless you have their cell number, coaches are difficult to contact via phone. ØThey are very protective of their athletes, teams, assistant-coaches and may be suspicious of you coming in. ØAppreciate clear and direct communication; however, it’s important that you acknowledge their expertise, the difficulties of their job etc. in order to get buy in.

Phase 3 continued: Hello Coach ______, I hope the summer has been serving you well. I am reaching out to you because I have set a goal for myself to attend at least 1 practice of every sport this year. I would like to just very briefly introduce myself to the team with the goal that they gain a familiar face in the Counseling Center so it's easier to access in the future if need be. I would not want to take more than 2 minutes of your team's time. I would also love to stay and observe what your team does in a typical practice if you would allow for that, but I understand not every coach may be comfortable with that. I am flexible and happy to attend a typical practice, lifting session or whatever is convenient for you. Please let me know if your schedule allows for this. Best regards, Brittany

More of Phase 3… ØWhen email fails, get familiar with your athletic center and start knocking! ØBe a presence in your athletic facilities

Phase 4: ØBuy swag! ØMeet with the teams ◦ Introduce self, ask if they know how to access services, where you are located (always provide prizes if they know the answers) ØFollow up with thank you emails to coaches and request team roster ØEmail team your contact information

Tips for reaching every team ØMake nice with your AD ØEvery student-athlete has to attend a mandatory NCAA meeting prior to the start of their season. You can potentially meet several teams at once here if you can get to practices.

Phase 5: Workshop ØBased on Angela Duckworth’s work on Grit Ø 10 weeks, 15 minutes/session each week ØPre and Post test to measure Grit ØAlso measured overall team GPA and team conference results ØInitially offered to 4 teams in Fall ØEvery team was also offered a continuation of services after workshop ended

Week 1: Introduction, consents, questions and pre-test Student Athlete Survey Section 1 Directions: Here a number of statements that may or may not apply to you. When responding, think of how you compare to most people --not just the people you know well, but most people in the world. There are no right or wrong answers, so just answer honestly! Please mark one response per question. Questions include: (1) New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones (2) Setbacks don’t discourage me (3) I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest (4) I am a hard worker (5) I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one (6) I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete (7) I finish whatever I begin (8) I am diligent. The student-athletes were asked to rank these questions from “Very much like me” all the way down to “Not like me at all. ”

Week 2: Introduction to Fixed vs. Growth mindset

Week 3: SMART Goals S- Specific M- Measurable A- Attainable R-Relevant* T- Time specific

Week 4: Brief introduction to CBT Thoughts e Cor fs e i l Be Actions/Behaviors Feelings

Week 5: Ruth Larson’s 30 Exercise Provided as a team

Week 6: Process ØWhat was it like when I asked you to make a list of 30 items? ØWhat was it like to give feedback to teammates? ØWhat was it like to receive feedback from teammates? ØHow to keep this in mind?

Weeks 7 -9: Visualization Week 7 - General stress reduction visualization Week 8 - Self esteem based Week 9 - Sport specific (required some homework on my part)

Week 10: Debrief, feedback, post-test ØWhat was helpful? ØWhat did you like? ØWhat would you change? ØHeads up regarding survey being sent over email

How were coaches involved? ØSome were more involved than others ØWhen possible, I would include coaches on emails that I would send to the team reviewing information that was taught that week ØOther coaches wanted to chat briefly after the workshop ØOthers preferred a phone call etc.

Other Outcomes ØOffered to approximately 230 athletes/7 teams (100 were Football alone) Ø 143 Student-Athletes chose to participate in the data collection portion; however, many more participated in workshop ØTeam’s in Fall showed an increase in Grit ØGrit-TBD ØHuge increase in referrals!

Results: Fall Team GPA Overall Team GPA for Fall Teams 3, 9 3, 7 GPA 3, 5 3, 3 3, 1 2, 9 2, 7 2, 5 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015 Team A Team B Semester Team C Fall 2016 Team D Fall 2017 Fall 2018

Spring Team GPA Overall Team GPA for Spring Teams 4 3, 8 3, 6 3, 4 GPA 3, 2 3 2, 8 2, 6 2, 4 2, 2 2 Spring 2014 Spring 2015 Spring 2016 Team E Semester Spring 2017 Team F Spring 2018 Spring 2019

Conference Outcome- Men’s/Women’s XC 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Men's XC Empire 8 finish NCAA finish 2 nd 18 th 2013 5 th 22 nd 2014 2 nd 18 th 2015 4 th 15 th 2016 3 rd 21 st 2017 1 st 19 th 2018 Women's XC Empire 8 finish NCAA finish 4 th NA 5 th 26 th 5 th 23 rd 4 th 23 rd 1 st 13 th 1 st 14 th

Winning Percentage- Men’s Soccer Men's Soccer Winning Percentage by Season 80 70 Winning Percentage 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2013 2014 2015 Season 2016 2017 2018

Winning Percentage- Women’s Soccer Women's Soccer Winning % 70 60 Winning Percentage 50 40 30 20 10 0 2013 2014 2015 Season 2016 2017 2018

Winning Percentage- Women’s Basketball Women's Basketball Winning % 50 45 Winning Percentage 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2014 2015 2016 Season 2017 2018 2019

Winning Percentage Women’s Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Winning % 80 70 Winning Percentage 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2014 2015 2016 Season 2017 2018 2019

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