USA Gymnastics and GK Elite will fund mental health visits for National Team athletes and coaches

Monday was World Mental Health Awareness Day and with it came an announcement from USA Gymnastics. For the first time in the history of the organization, it will cover the costs for regular visits to mental health providers for athletes and coaches.

The new athlete health & wellness program was rolled out in order to support the mental and physical wellbeing of the athletes and coaches. Each National Team athlete under the USA Gymnastics umbrella will receive up to eight mental health visits per year to any provider who has been appropriately trained and licensed in sports psychology or mental health. Coaches will receive up to four mental health visits per year.

This new program will be funded by GK Elite which is the Official USA Gymnastics National Team Gymnastics Competition and Training Apparel Partner through 2024. Athletes and coaches will be reimbursed up to $125 per visit.

Over the last three years, USA Gymnastics has been implementing changes throughout the organization to address more mental health maintenance. While it was not stated as a reason for this new rollout, it would not come as a surprise if Simone Biles’ choice to withdraw from competition during Tokyo 2020 due to mental health reasons was part of the catalyst to try something new.

Some of the other changes that have been made over the last three years in regards to mental health treatment and maintenance are creating a mental health emergency action plan for every camp and competition; an onsite mental health provider at almost all of the artistic gymnastics team camps; regular mental health webinars and education provided to athletes; mental health first-aid training for National Team medical providers and athlete-facing programs staff; and resources for parents, athletes, coaches and medical providers.

While these changes are certainly a step in the right direction, only eight or four visits per year for athletes and coaches, respectively, may just be skimming the surface of what is really necessary for athletes of that caliber. Therapy is found to be most productive when patients incorporate 12-16 visits into their lifestyle over a 3-4 month period. That breaks down to roughly one session per week over that timeframe.

With how much money these athletes and their families are already funneling into training, an additional $500 or more per year may be more than families can handle. It is incredible to see an organization begin to address the whole athlete, mind and body, but more care for these young lives who are representing their home nations would be great to see. Hopefully more national organizations will take a page out of USA Gymnastics’ playbook and start offering services to their athletes, as well.