NCAA Mandates Annual Mental Health Screenings for Student-Athletes

Title: Mental Health Best Practices: Understanding and Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Health, second edition

Source: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

The NCAA, in consultation with its Mental Health Advisory Group, has released a new edition of Mental Health Best Practices, which provides guidance to support student-athletes’ mental well-being. NCAA member institutions are required to offer resources and services consistent with the best practices, which go into effect Aug. 1.

The guide emphasizes the importance of making high-quality mental health care available to student-athletes. It also recognizes that the dual roles of student and athlete can entail both unique mental health risk and protective factors. For example, injuries increase student-athletes’ risk of mental health symptoms, while relationships with teammates can fortify mental health.

The NCAA identifies four best practices for institutions to adopt:

1. Create healthy environments that support mental health and promote well-being. Institutions must work with a licensed mental health care provider to form a plan to promote mental wellness and care-seeking behavior within athletics. The plan should take into account risk and protective factors at the individual, team, athletics department, and campus levels. The plan should also consider how to support and include underrepresented groups.

2. Procedures for identifying student-athletes with mental health symptoms and disorders, including mental health screening tools. Student-athletes must receive a screening for psychological distress, using a validated screening tool, at least once each year. Institutions should consult a licensed mental health care provider to determine what conditions student-athletes are screened for, when they are screened, and how to respond to screening results.

3. Mental health action plans that outline referral pathways to qualified providers. Institutions should prepare written and rehearsed plans for treating routine and emergency mental health needs. Action plans should describe a process for identifying student-athletes with mental health symptoms, referring them to licensed providers, and following up on their care; plans should also specify who is responsible for each part of this process.

4. Licensure of providers who oversee and manage student-athlete mental health care. Student-athletes who receive mental health evaluation or treatment must be seen by a qualified provider acting within the scope of their licensure. The provider can be an employee of the athletics department, a different department within the institution, an off-campus practice, or a telehealth provider.

Institutions have several tools they can use to comply with the requirement to provide annual mental health screenings. One of the more affordable options is the CCAPS-Screen, a tool from Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Collegiate Mental Health. The CCAPS-Screen evaluates the eight most prevalent psychological problems among college students and student-athletes. The tool is validated and addresses all NCAA requirements and recommendations.

Click here to read the complete best practices guide, which contains additional recommendations to promote student-athletes’ mental health.

—Rebecca Morris