Seattle – Recently, 150 middle and high school students from the Renton School District took a field trip to Lumen Field. But it was no ordinary school field trip.
Highlights included getting autographs and taking selfies with local sports stars, who were then invited to interact with them personally and speak about mental health.
Former Seattle Sounders player and current brand ambassador for the club, Steve Zakuani, welcomed the students.
“We are committed to destigmatizing mental health,” Zakuani told the students. “If you are seeking help for your mental health, we are OK with that. We want to encourage you and give you the resources and tools to seek help, because everyone goes through tough times and struggles at some point and asking for help should not be looked down upon.”
RELATED | Washington Mental Health Resources
The Sounders assembled an all-star cast, including former Seahawks player Doug Baldwin, to deliver the message.
“You’re going to go through hard times,” Baldwin said, “and you’re going to have hard times. And you’re going to have difficult times. Just know it, expect it, and be grateful for the lessons that come from those hard times, because that’s what’s going to get you to the next stage of your life. And then you apply those lessons to the next challenge, and that’s how you grow.”
Students also heard from Seattle Reign FC General Manager Leslie Gallimore and others in the sports and health community, who each shared their own personal experiences with mental health and words of encouragement.
Zakuani then called former Sounder Lamar Neagle onto the stage along with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
Murthy issued the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Youth Mental Health in 2021. He asked Neagle about his journey in sports and life, and Neagle spoke of his own struggles, including being cut from teams as a youth player.
“My path was very unconventional,” Neagle said. “I was getting beaten down a lot and trying to prove myself again and again. That’s been the case throughout my professional career.”
The conversation was part of a program called “We Can Be Well,” co-hosted by Sounders FC, the Rabe Foundation and Providence.
“One of the most powerful things we can do for each other is to show up for each other,” Murthy said. “Looking out for each other. Even just being an ear to listen when someone is going through a difficult time.”
WATCH | One-third of young people who suffer a concussion also face mental health issues
“Be patient with yourself,” Neagle added. “We’re all human. We make mistakes. We’re all trying to find our own way.”
Murthy said we are facing a youth mental health crisis, with disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide.
“There’s no shame in struggling with your mental health,” Musi said. “It’s OK to talk about mental health, it’s OK to talk about your feelings, and then we want people to know that it’s OK to ask for help, whether that’s a teacher, a parent, a mental health counselor.”
It’s a message young people hear all the time, and the hope is that through the lens of sports they will believe it even more.
