The next Chapter with PRIM s ripa pad as a production of I Heart Radio. Hey everybody, it's Prim. Welcome to the Next Chapter, presented by Baron Davis and Slick Studios. Well, this week we are shaking things up and doing something a little different. For those who are watching this episode, you might notice that I'm not by my bookcase at home, and yes, we are taking the next chapter on the road. So I was recently tabbed as the host and co organizer and advisor to this nationwide multi city, multi university tour in series LG Transparent Conversations addressing student athlete mental health and well being. And this content was so good and so important, I thought it was really important that we re air some of these conversations right here on the next chapter. So LG Transparent Conversations is a live to tape podcast series powered by LG Electronics USA, exploring mental health within the world of athletics and academia. And in this series, I, alongside a number of important guests, explore a wide range of topics, from the stressors of the modern student athlete experience, to the consequences of these stressors, to the role of support systems, and to finally life after the game ends. So we'll be making stops all over the place, including Duke University, my alma mater, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. So I'm traveling all over the country for this mini series, bringing these conversations directly to athletes, administrators, and other community members to help address this important issue. And each panel will feature not only a different topic, but a different set of panelists who all bring just a unique perspective, which means you'll be hearing from current student athletes, former student athletes, some who even played at the pro levels, mental health experts, clinicians, key administrators. You're going to hear it all. And LG is on a mission to make their tagline, Life's Good more than just a saying. And with this series, we hope to spark powerful transparent conversations, conversations we hope will make a difference in and out of the classroom as well as on and off the court and field. So, without further ado, here's the first episode of this LG Transparent Conversation Series at my alma mater, Duke University. Enjoining us on this panel is Nina King, Vice President and the director of Athletics for Duke University. Dr Sean Zeppelin, the Assistant director of Athletics and Behavioral Health for Duke, and former Duke men's basketball and NBA player Gerald Henderson Jr. Okay, our mis are live. Do not say anything inappropriate. We got some recruits here. I believe we have a tennis recruit out here. Shout out. This is like the best recruiting trip ever you get, like a little shout out. Um. The good news is I'm not a coach, so that might have been an n C double A violation. We'll just stop right there so we don't get in trouble here. Um. Okay. So everybody who is now just joining us, welcome to Transparent Conversations, our nationwide multi city, multi university uh tour and mini series talking about a very important topic student athlete mental health and well being. So we just had a full conversation about the stressors of the modern experience of student athletes, and now we're going to do a little Q and A. So right now we have Gerald Henderson for those that do not know, former men's Duke basketball player also longtime NBA player as well, and also Dr Sean Zeppelin with Duke Athletics. Okay, so let us begin the first question that some of the some student athletes admitted. What do you think we as student athletes can do to move this conversation forward? Um, I'll begin so I can give everybody some time to think about this. So we're looking at some of these questions live, but we want to make sure this is really interactive and we want to give the audience and listeners a chance of participate in this conversation. You know what, I think that the first thing is also really educating yourself on this topic and really being um motivated to dive into this in different ways. I think first and foremost, you know, the first step to this is really recognizing that we are people first before being an athlete, and I think we can when you can lead with that as your north star and recognize that I am a human being first, I am a person, then that can really shape the rest of your trajectory. And by leading with that, then you can say, Okay, because I'm a person before I'm an athlete. What do I like? What do I like outside of sports? Who am I? Who do I want to become? What do I want to do after sports? And all those different things, dr Z anything that comes to mind. I think really starting to have like honest and vulnerable conversations with like your friends, your teammates, and and really starting to to dive a little bit deeper, you know, rather than just like oh, how is practice or you know, how'd you do on that test? Like we really want to have more of those conversations to start modeling that and making it okay. You know. Uh, you know I said earlier. I usually just like try to start with the small things, and you know, like within our teams, just trying to get them to be like you know, we walk by each other every day and we say, like how are you? Like, let's let's one like if you're gonna ask that question, mean it and to like that you want to know and to if you're not okay, like say what's going on? Don't just do the pre program So I'm good? Keep moving Like is it starts to help like normalize the idea, Like we're just just being honest with each other. Yeah, and Gerald, do you think that's something that athletes UM, whether it's at the collegiate or professional level, could potentially get UM get that idea get used to that idea of like, hey, right now, I'm not I'm not feeling like myself. I'm not feeling okay. Is that something that we could get used to? Um, well, you're not feeling okay. I mean that is something that you're gonna have to face, not every day, but in your life. Right, So seek the hell right you. Like I said earlier, check in with yourself every day. If you're not feeling great today, Holida dock Right, Um, you know, lean lean on some people around you. Um, you know, and lean on positive thinking. Um. When we when you said what can push the conversation forward? It made me think about. UM. Just the other day, my daughter was just going on and on about how unfair she thought it was at school that the boys getting don't get in trouble for uh clothes, uh, for different issues. That's so I said, well, you know, why don't you do something about it. Why don't you go to the school and talk to them and say, hey, this is this is an issue that we're having. I want to put together a committee. I want to do something right. So what I would say to the students is, um, push it forward yourself. Do you think that who Nina just left do you think that if you went to Nita and say, hey, we want to have a conversation like this, we want to start involving more kids at school and talking about mental health. Um, we want to get a truck. I don't. I don't want to. I'm telling you, hey, we want to. We want to get together and talk about this. What can we do? What are our options? Right? Push it forward yourself, you know, don't don't wait on anybody else to do it. You guys can do it. And just understand where you're at. You guys are are the leaders of the future. Here we're at Duke. Just just in case you did not know. Um, the basketball players hopefully them guys are guys. You're gonna go watch uh in the n b A. Some of the other students as well, go be professional athletes. And then you've got some some students here that are doing some things all across the world. And so just understand who you are and the power that you have and what you're capable of doing. I love us such a great point being the leader, being the leader in your own life and also being the leader for others as well. So that question actually might be similar to this one. Uh, this particular person wrote, it feels like sometimes it's hard to talk about mental health when you even when you see even the pros get flak. Example, Naomi Osaka, who's a tennis player, and also Kevin Love obviously an NBA player, And when both of them came out publicly talking about their mental health issues, and whoever wrote this or right, they did get a lot of flak and they and they took some heat. And I think it's hard or it's easy to see those negative comments and that flak, and it overwhelmed all the support that they received. But at least when I'm looking at the tennis world, I mean, I think Osaker really set the tone for it to be okay. Of course that's some of this conversation has affected her reputation and all this other stuff. But the fact of the matter is that sure, these there's always going to be critics and people that judge your journey, but ultimately these people are not living your life. This is your life to live. So dr Z, is there anything that comes to mind when you when you hear this. I think it goes back to it was something I said earlier about the idea that like you know, be objective, like listen to everything you know, and as you see, you know, like you said, for him, there was there was negativity. And I don't want to speak for Naomi or you know, anyone else that's talked about this, but I would wonder like was it net positive? Like do you still feel like you've got more support by talking about it? Then? You know, there's always going to be you know, especially I don't want to take the deep dive into social media now, but there's always going to be the people that that don't like what you said. You could go out and say anything, someone's not gonna like it, you know. But I think over the past few years those conversations have been that positive. You know, we see now like a couple of years ago, it was you know, it was like one or two pro athletes talking about this, and now I feel like it's like one or two a month. Like with the conversation is continuing to go forward. Someone had to go first, um, and that's hard, but I think we've it's kept pushing it forward and we now have more people that are comfortable talking about it and it and it lessens the negativity around it. Whenever something's new, and fresh people are gonna have some opposition to it. You're gonna hit a wall somewhere. Um, but you gotta put that to the side. And then to add to that is you know, it's it's it's a challenging thing. However, you know, like Osaka goes out there and you know she's focusing on herself. Your mental health is about you. You know, when someone opposes it, now they're getting involved in your mental health, which is not a part of your own mental health. So focus on yourself, put everyone else's opinions to decide. And you know what, Naomi Osaka, just for context, she was also at one point the richest and wealthiest female athlete across the board in the world. So that should tell you enough about all the flak that she got, because she also got a tremendous amount of support for that too, and also Kevin Love as well. I mean, a couple of years later, you know, the m v p A established a mental health program for the players. So okay, next question, how do you think conversations around athletes and mental health has evolved over the years. I can shine in here. I mean, well, I mean, if we if we look at Duke just by itself. You're here, and you weren't here when I was here, and you weren't here when Joel was here, and now you have a full fledged staff. I mean, how many people. I mean, your department didn't really necessarily exist. And also the one person that I know who has been a mentor and a uh such a significant figure in the do community of is of course Dr Greg Dale. He was a sports psychologist and continues to be here. And I wanted to give him a shout shout out as well because he's battling a severe severe illness um but he was a part of that. But when you look at your department, I mean it's grown. I mean it's not just here. I mean when I was in grad school, you know, and I said, this was the job I wanted to do, and I like I had, you know, advisors that were like, it's not really a thing, you know, Like my advisor was one of the people that was doing it. But there maybe thirty people around the country that we're doing this, and not all of them were full time. They were you know, kind of consulting in a department and that. And now it's pretty common, you know that that you see it and it's not you know you back then it was like if something they had somebody, they had one person maybe halftime. Now like there's a lot of departments. You know, we're doing great things are Duke, and there are people doing great things at other schools around the country where they have responded to it. So, I mean I think in the last you know, fifteen years or so, this has grown because people have been talking about it. Yeah. Yeah, Um, you know when I think about how this has really grown over the years, I mean, I think you have to think about, um, if I'm coming out from my doctoral training perspective, We've certainly there's more literature, there's more research being done on athletes and mental health, there's more personnel and universities across the board, whether it's in the Power five conference, D one, D two, D three, they're doing their best to kind of flush out their departments and really provide that support. And we're seeing it on social media as well. Um, you know a lot of people are talking about this. Okay, uh so this is this is a little off topic, but we're you know, we are we are we want to invite all things. So to all your favorite players growing up watching love to know your childhood influences. That's the easy one for me. Kobe Bryant, Yeah, I mean, um, he grew up, you know, I guess in high school right in Pennsylvania, right up the street from where I went to high school. I watched him as a young kid, and you know, and in a basketball since idolized him and I want to do everything like him, and you know, rest in peace to him. But um, you know, he's obviously left his mark. And then also my dad, My dad played in the NBA for thirteen years and one three NBA championships, so I wanted to do all the same things. I really hope you enjoyed today's conversation and also learned something from our discussion. So stay tuned next week for not only another episode of the next chapter, but another discussion on student athlete mental health and well being as our LG Transparent Conversations Nationwide series continues and makes another stop at a different location with a different set of guests. For other episodes of the next chapter, be sure to check out our homepage on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can also watch the full version of these interviews on YouTube, just search for the Next Chapter with Prim Serippa Pat, and you can also follow me on all my social media platforms at Prim Underscore Sirippa Pet. The Next Chapter with Prim Serippa Pat is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The next Chapter with PRIM s ripa pad as a production of I Heart Radio. Hey everybody, it's Prim. Welcome to the Next Chapter, presented by Baron Davis and Slick Studios. Well, this week we are shaking things up and doing something a little different. For those who are watching this episode, you might notice that I'm not by my bookcase at home, and yes, we are taking the next chapter on the road. So I was recently tabbed as the host and co organizer and advisor to this nationwide multi city, multi university tour in series LG Transparent Conversations addressing student athlete mental health and well being. And this content was so good and so important, I thought it was really important that we re air some of these conversations right here on the next chapter. So LG Transparent Conversations is a live to tape podcast series powered by LG Electronics USA, exploring mental health within the world of athletics and academia. And in this series, I, alongside a number of important guests, explore a wide range of topics, from the stressors of the modern student athlete experience, to the consequences of these stressors, to the role of support systems, and to finally life after the game ends. So we'll be making stops all over the place, including Duke University, my alma mater, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. So I'm traveling all over the country for this mini series, bringing these conversations directly to athletes, administrators, and other community members to help address this important issue. And each panel will feature not only a different topic, but a different set of panelists who all bring just a unique perspective, which means you'll be hearing from current student athletes, former student athletes, some who even played at the pro levels, mental health experts, clinicians, key administrators. You're going to hear it all. And LG is on a mission to make their tagline, Life's Good more than just a saying. And with this series, we hope to spark powerful transparent conversations, conversations we hope will make a difference in and out of the classroom as well as on and off the court and field. So, without further ado, here's the first episode of this LG Transparent Conversation Series at my alma mater, Duke University. Enjoining us on this panel is Nina King, Vice President and the director of Athletics for Duke University. Dr Sean Zeppelin, the Assistant director of Athletics and Behavioral Health for Duke, and former Duke men's basketball and NBA player Gerald Henderson Jr. Okay, our mis are live. Do not say anything inappropriate. We got some recruits here. I believe we have a tennis recruit out here. Shout out. This is like the best recruiting trip ever you get, like a little shout out. Um. The good news is I'm not a coach, so that might have been an n C double A violation. We'll just stop right there so we don't get in trouble here. Um. Okay. So everybody who is now just joining us, welcome to Transparent Conversations, our nationwide multi city, multi university uh tour and mini series talking about a very important topic student athlete mental health and well being. So we just had a full conversation about the stressors of the modern experience of student athletes, and now we're going to do a little Q and A. So right now we have Gerald Henderson for those that do not know, former men's Duke basketball player also longtime NBA player as well, and also Dr Sean Zeppelin with Duke Athletics. Okay, so let us begin the first question that some of the some student athletes admitted. What do you think we as student athletes can do to move this conversation forward? Um, I'll begin so I can give everybody some time to think about this. So we're looking at some of these questions live, but we want to make sure this is really interactive and we want to give the audience and listeners a chance of participate in this conversation. You know what, I think that the first thing is also really educating yourself on this topic and really being um motivated to dive into this in different ways. I think first and foremost, you know, the first step to this is really recognizing that we are people first before being an athlete, and I think we can when you can lead with that as your north star and recognize that I am a human being first, I am a person, then that can really shape the rest of your trajectory. And by leading with that, then you can say, Okay, because I'm a person before I'm an athlete. What do I like? What do I like outside of sports? Who am I? Who do I want to become? What do I want to do after sports? And all those different things, dr Z anything that comes to mind. I think really starting to have like honest and vulnerable conversations with like your friends, your teammates, and and really starting to to dive a little bit deeper, you know, rather than just like oh, how is practice or you know, how'd you do on that test? Like we really want to have more of those conversations to start modeling that and making it okay. You know. Uh, you know I said earlier. I usually just like try to start with the small things, and you know, like within our teams, just trying to get them to be like you know, we walk by each other every day and we say, like how are you? Like, let's let's one like if you're gonna ask that question, mean it and to like that you want to know and to if you're not okay, like say what's going on? Don't just do the pre program So I'm good? Keep moving Like is it starts to help like normalize the idea, Like we're just just being honest with each other. Yeah, and Gerald, do you think that's something that athletes UM, whether it's at the collegiate or professional level, could potentially get UM get that idea get used to that idea of like, hey, right now, I'm not I'm not feeling like myself. I'm not feeling okay. Is that something that we could get used to? Um, well, you're not feeling okay. I mean that is something that you're gonna have to face, not every day, but in your life. Right, So seek the hell right you. Like I said earlier, check in with yourself every day. If you're not feeling great today, Holida dock Right, Um, you know, lean lean on some people around you. Um, you know, and lean on positive thinking. Um. When we when you said what can push the conversation forward? It made me think about. UM. Just the other day, my daughter was just going on and on about how unfair she thought it was at school that the boys getting don't get in trouble for uh clothes, uh, for different issues. That's so I said, well, you know, why don't you do something about it. Why don't you go to the school and talk to them and say, hey, this is this is an issue that we're having. I want to put together a committee. I want to do something right. So what I would say to the students is, um, push it forward yourself. Do you think that who Nina just left do you think that if you went to Nita and say, hey, we want to have a conversation like this, we want to start involving more kids at school and talking about mental health. Um, we want to get a truck. I don't. I don't want to. I'm telling you, hey, we want to. We want to get together and talk about this. What can we do? What are our options? Right? Push it forward yourself, you know, don't don't wait on anybody else to do it. You guys can do it. And just understand where you're at. You guys are are the leaders of the future. Here we're at Duke. Just just in case you did not know. Um, the basketball players hopefully them guys are guys. You're gonna go watch uh in the n b A. Some of the other students as well, go be professional athletes. And then you've got some some students here that are doing some things all across the world. And so just understand who you are and the power that you have and what you're capable of doing. I love us such a great point being the leader, being the leader in your own life and also being the leader for others as well. So that question actually might be similar to this one. Uh, this particular person wrote, it feels like sometimes it's hard to talk about mental health when you even when you see even the pros get flak. Example, Naomi Osaka, who's a tennis player, and also Kevin Love obviously an NBA player, And when both of them came out publicly talking about their mental health issues, and whoever wrote this or right, they did get a lot of flak and they and they took some heat. And I think it's hard or it's easy to see those negative comments and that flak, and it overwhelmed all the support that they received. But at least when I'm looking at the tennis world, I mean, I think Osaker really set the tone for it to be okay. Of course that's some of this conversation has affected her reputation and all this other stuff. But the fact of the matter is that sure, these there's always going to be critics and people that judge your journey, but ultimately these people are not living your life. This is your life to live. So dr Z, is there anything that comes to mind when you when you hear this. I think it goes back to it was something I said earlier about the idea that like you know, be objective, like listen to everything you know, and as you see, you know, like you said, for him, there was there was negativity. And I don't want to speak for Naomi or you know, anyone else that's talked about this, but I would wonder like was it net positive? Like do you still feel like you've got more support by talking about it? Then? You know, there's always going to be you know, especially I don't want to take the deep dive into social media now, but there's always going to be the people that that don't like what you said. You could go out and say anything, someone's not gonna like it, you know. But I think over the past few years those conversations have been that positive. You know, we see now like a couple of years ago, it was you know, it was like one or two pro athletes talking about this, and now I feel like it's like one or two a month. Like with the conversation is continuing to go forward. Someone had to go first, um, and that's hard, but I think we've it's kept pushing it forward and we now have more people that are comfortable talking about it and it and it lessens the negativity around it. Whenever something's new, and fresh people are gonna have some opposition to it. You're gonna hit a wall somewhere. Um, but you gotta put that to the side. And then to add to that is you know, it's it's it's a challenging thing. However, you know, like Osaka goes out there and you know she's focusing on herself. Your mental health is about you. You know, when someone opposes it, now they're getting involved in your mental health, which is not a part of your own mental health. So focus on yourself, put everyone else's opinions to decide. And you know what, Naomi Osaka, just for context, she was also at one point the richest and wealthiest female athlete across the board in the world. So that should tell you enough about all the flak that she got, because she also got a tremendous amount of support for that too, and also Kevin Love as well. I mean, a couple of years later, you know, the m v p A established a mental health program for the players. So okay, next question, how do you think conversations around athletes and mental health has evolved over the years. I can shine in here. I mean, well, I mean, if we if we look at Duke just by itself. You're here, and you weren't here when I was here, and you weren't here when Joel was here, and now you have a full fledged staff. I mean, how many people. I mean, your department didn't really necessarily exist. And also the one person that I know who has been a mentor and a uh such a significant figure in the do community of is of course Dr Greg Dale. He was a sports psychologist and continues to be here. And I wanted to give him a shout shout out as well because he's battling a severe severe illness um but he was a part of that. But when you look at your department, I mean it's grown. I mean it's not just here. I mean when I was in grad school, you know, and I said, this was the job I wanted to do, and I like I had, you know, advisors that were like, it's not really a thing, you know, Like my advisor was one of the people that was doing it. But there maybe thirty people around the country that we're doing this, and not all of them were full time. They were you know, kind of consulting in a department and that. And now it's pretty common, you know that that you see it and it's not you know you back then it was like if something they had somebody, they had one person maybe halftime. Now like there's a lot of departments. You know, we're doing great things are Duke, and there are people doing great things at other schools around the country where they have responded to it. So, I mean I think in the last you know, fifteen years or so, this has grown because people have been talking about it. Yeah. Yeah, Um, you know when I think about how this has really grown over the years, I mean, I think you have to think about, um, if I'm coming out from my doctoral training perspective, We've certainly there's more literature, there's more research being done on athletes and mental health, there's more personnel and universities across the board, whether it's in the Power five conference, D one, D two, D three, they're doing their best to kind of flush out their departments and really provide that support. And we're seeing it on social media as well. Um, you know a lot of people are talking about this. Okay, uh so this is this is a little off topic, but we're you know, we are we are we want to invite all things. So to all your favorite players growing up watching love to know your childhood influences. That's the easy one for me. Kobe Bryant, Yeah, I mean, um, he grew up, you know, I guess in high school right in Pennsylvania, right up the street from where I went to high school. I watched him as a young kid, and you know, and in a basketball since idolized him and I want to do everything like him, and you know, rest in peace to him. But um, you know, he's obviously left his mark. And then also my dad, My dad played in the NBA for thirteen years and one three NBA championships, so I wanted to do all the same things. I really hope you enjoyed today's conversation and also learned something from our discussion. So stay tuned next week for not only another episode of the next chapter, but another discussion on student athlete mental health and well being as our LG Transparent Conversations Nationwide series continues and makes another stop at a different location with a different set of guests. For other episodes of the next chapter, be sure to check out our homepage on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can also watch the full version of these interviews on YouTube, just search for the Next Chapter with Prim Serippa Pat, and you can also follow me on all my social media platforms at Prim Underscore Sirippa Pet. The Next Chapter with Prim Serippa Pat is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.