The alarming rise in mental illness and suicide among young people has been widely reported, but the message is particularly poignant as a group of current and former NFL professional players draws attention to this epidemic among high school students. It became.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Intermountain Health invited The Defensive Line, a group of professional athletes who have struggled with mental health issues themselves, to speak to high school students in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas about the importance of addressing their mental health.
The “The Strongest Play is Asking for Help” event highlighted themes of integrity and empowerment to a diverse audience that included students as well as city and community leaders. Each player shared personal anecdotes describing their struggles with mental health and their journeys to openness.
Athletes on the panel who spoke to the students included: Brandon Bolden, former Las Vegas Raiders/New England Patriots. Darren Waller, New York Giants. Carl Nassib, former NFL player. Alec Ingold, Miami Dolphins. Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns. and retired NFL player Marcus Smith.
The Defense Line works on suicide prevention messaging nationwide, particularly highlighting the increased risk among Black youth, whose risk for Black women increased 182 percent between 2001 and 2017.
Black men are also at increased risk, with 80 percent of suicides in that population being men, and the most common suicide victims being in their early 20s.
“There’s this assumption that men have to be tough, and that’s a completely wrong definition of strength,” Solomon Thomas said on the panel. “But through my grief journey, my own mental health journey, and everything that I’ve been through, I’ve learned that being tough is not strength. Strength is being vulnerable.”
The panel discussion, along with local and national mental health resources, can be found at www.strongestplay.com.
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