A student’s high school years can be filled with many challenges. Whether it’s wading through the academic rigors of preparing for life afterwards or adjusting to the social structure, it can create a lot of anxiety. This is especially so when the student is also an athlete, as they have another barrier that they have to overcome. Over the past few years, the rise in mental health issues has created a heightened awareness that has now enabled more academic institutions to create safe spaces to help them navigate through difficult situations. At Freedom High School in Woodbridge, one mother is doing her best to reach out to student-athletes and giving them that space.

Heather Hutchison, who has spoken to several institutions for several years on how to improve their mental health through her organization The SoundMind Collective, recently spoke with the PW Perspective about her most recent opportunity of being the mental health coach for the Freedom High School varsity football team.

“After the Youth Athlete Mental Health workshop we held back in March, there was a zoom call in which Apostle Karen Betts-Davis and I spoke with some of the students,” said Hutchison. “They spoke on some of the challenges they were facing on, and what was the best way to respond to them.”

She also recognized how during the call, the older students were serving as a guide for their teammates. “Many of the seniors would encourage the younger students, and that was such a great thing to see.” After the call, the process continued to develop as head football coach Darryl Overton allowed Hutchison, a mother of a child with chronic mental illness, to come into the school and create an environment of openness earlier this month.

So, how did the students respond at first? “They were understandably apprehensive,” said Hutchison, “but I wanted to let them know that I was there to listen to them. I knew it would take some time to gain that trust, and so there would be times in which they wouldn’t respond.”

However, she was resolute in developing a rapport, and continued to visit the school to more results. “Now, I’m starting to see them open up about what they’re seeing at school and how they’re trying to respond in a positive manner,” she said.

One of the takeaways she has from the visits is emphasizing the need for more adults to take these issues more seriously. “We cannot take what our kids are going through for granted. Some of the challenges they’re dealing with, we didn’t have growing up, so we need to be attentive and listen to what they’re saying to us.”

“I told them that their emotional maturity is going to be much stronger that our generation because they’re taking on so much more, from social media to what they see in everyday life,” she said.

Helping students become more willing to engage about their mental health is one of the goals for new Freedom High School Principal Chevelli Smith, who is in her first year in the position. “Mental health is huge at Freedom, and we’re making sure that all students and staff are taken care of.,” Smith said to the PW Perspective earlier this month during a meet and greet at Marumsco Plaza. “We have two social workers, two mental health specialists, and counselors who are helping students in that regard. We’ve got programs in place to make sure our kids have what they need to support their health.”