Hilinski Hope to Lead 2024 National Student-Athlete Mental Health Week

Hilinski’s Hope Foundation is taking action again this year with their Student Mental Health Week, a national initiative aimed at raising awareness, reducing stigma, and promoting mental health among students. of mixed athletes. This year’s Student Athlete Mental Health Week will take place from October 5-12, 2024. Hilinski’s Hope is based on the memory of Tyler Hilinski, a former quarterback at Washington State University, who who unfortunately died by suicide in 2018. This organization has become a powerful force. an advocacy campaign for mental health resources for student-athletes.

Mark and Kym Hilinski, Tyler’s parents, lead the foundation in their mission to ensure that no student-athlete struggles in silence. Their son was a promising college football player, beloved by his teammates, family and friends. However, she was quietly struggling with mental health issues that eventually led to her suicide. His parents put their grief into action by creating the Hilinski Trust. “We lost Tyler, and we don’t want anyone to go through what we went through,” says Mark. “We want to make sure every student athlete knows it’s okay to it’s okay, and it’s okay to ask for help.”

Changing Stigma

The main mission of the Hilinski Trust is to challenge the stigma that often surrounds mental health, especially in sports, through education and providing resources. Athletes are often told to “suck it up” or “treat it hard”; however, this thinking can prevent them from seeking help when they need it most.

Mark Hilinski has talked a lot about treating mental health as seriously as physical health. “If you injure your knee, you go to the doctor, no questions asked – but when it comes to mental health, there’s still a lot of hesitation,” Mark explained. “We need to get to the point where student-athletes feel as comfortable talking about their mental health as they do about a torn ACL.”

2024 Student-Athlete Mental Health Week

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 involved 165+ colleges and universities. , deploying 50,000+ student-athletes in 20 sports across 44 countries. . As part of the awareness campaign, the foundation is sending free kits to several colleges, which include helmet stickers, wristbands, hair ties, temporary tattoos, lapel pins, cheer bows and ribbons. .

This week, the organization aims to encourage open discussions about mental health through educational events, Tyler Talks, and mental health modules. Other weekday awareness tools include digital resources distributed to schools to be posted on each of the university’s social media platforms. Additionally, during halftime, a 60-second mental health PSA will be presented by Hilinski’s Hope, to raise awareness of athlete mental health.

Hilinski Trust has created evidence-based mental health resources, such as Game Design and the Online Mental Health Course, both of which aim to educate and reduce the stigma of seeking help for mental health issues. These are available long after Student-Athlete Mental Health Week to continue teaching about these topics. “We are working to make sure that mental health is not something that is talked about once a year during Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, but something that is integrated into the everyday lives of student-athletes ,” Mark said.

The 2024 Student-Athlete Mental Health Week aims to continue the momentum created by previous years’ efforts. Hilinski’s Hope has made great strides in changing the conversation about mental health in sports, but Mark Hilinski admits there’s still a lot of work to be done. “We’re seeing progress, but we have to keep moving forward,” he said. “Our goal is for every student athlete in this country to feel empowered to take care of their lives.” their mental, as they would their physical life.”

As Student Mental Health Week 2024 approaches, the Hilinski Trust is calling on universities, athletic programs and the community to participate in the movement.