Hilinski's Hope Leads National Student-Athlete Mental Health Week 2024
Forbes
Hilinski’s Hope Foundation is taking action once again this year through their Student Athlete Mental Health Week, a national initiative aimed at raising awareness, reducing stigma, and promoting mental wellness among collegiate athletes. This year’s Student-Athlete Mental Health Week will occur from October 5-12, 2024. Hilinski’s Hope was founded in memory of Tyler Hilinski, a former quarterback at Washington State University, who tragically died by suicide in 2018. This movement has become a powerful advocacy campaign for mental health resources for student-athletes.
Mark and Kym Hilinski, Tyler’s parents, lead the foundation in its mission to ensure that no student-athlete struggles in silence. Their son was a promising college football player, loved by his teammates, family, and friends. However, he was silently struggling with mental health challenges that resulted in him taking his own life. His parents channeled their grief into action by creating Hilinski’s Hope. “We lost Tyler, and we don’t want anyone else to go through what we have been through,” Mark said. “We want to make sure every student-athlete knows it’s okay not to be okay, and it’s okay to ask for help.”
Breaking the Stigma
The main mission of Hilinski’s Hope is to challenge the stigma that often surrounds mental health, particularly in sports, through education and providing resources. Athletes are frequently told to “suck it up” or “tough it out”; however, this mindset can prevent them from seeking help when they need it the most.
Mark Hilinski has been particularly vocal about treating mental health as seriously as physical health is treated. “If you get a knee injury, you go to the doctor, no questions asked – but when it comes to mental health, there’s still hesitation,” Mark explained. “We need to get to a place where student-athletes feel just as comfortable talking about their mental well-being as they do about a torn ACL.”
Student-Athlete Mental Health Week 2024
This year, Student-Athlete Mental Health Week will be held October 5-12, 2024, and last year, Hilinski’s Hope’s Student-Athlete Mental Health Week included 165+ colleges and universities, activating 50,000+ student-athletes in 20 sports across 44 states. As part of raising awareness, the foundation sends free boxes of materials to several colleges, which include helmet stickers, wristbands, hair ties, temporary tattoos, lapel pins, cheer bows, and patches.
During this week, the organization aims to encourage open conversations about mental wellness through educational events, Tyler Talks, and mental health modules. Other resources to raise awareness during the week include digital toolkits distributed to the schools for publication on each university’s social media platforms. In addition, during halftime, a 60-second mental health PSA will be provided by Hilinski’s Hope, to raise awareness surrounding athlete mental health.
Hilinski’s Hope has created evidence-based mental health resources, such as Game Plan and Online Mental Health Course, both of which aim to educate and reduce the stigma of seeking help for mental health concerns. These are available long after Student-Athlete Mental Health Week to continue educating on these topics. “We’re working to ensure that mental health isn’t just something that’s addressed once a year during Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, but something that’s integrated into the everyday lives of student-athletes,” Mark said.
Student-Athlete Mental Health Week 2024 aims to continue the momentum generated by previous years' efforts. Hilinski’s Hope has made significant strides in changing the conversation around mental health in sports, but Mark Hilinski acknowledges that there is still much work to be done. “We’re seeing progress, but we need to keep pushing forward,” he said. “Our goal is for every student-athlete in the country to feel empowered to take care of their mental health, just like they would their physical health.”
As Student-Athlete Mental Health Week 2024 approaches, Hilinski’s Hope is calling on universities, athletic programs, and communities to participate in the movement.
