One of the evening's initiatives was a pregame mental wellness panel for student-athletes and parents affiliated with Morgan's Message in the DMV area.
Morgan's Message is an organization focused on eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and has over 2100 high school and college ambassadors in over 850 campuses across the U.S., UK and Canada.
The panel featured three speakers: Dr. Steven Epstein, Physician Executive Director for Behavioral Health, MedStar Health; Dr. Erica Force, Head of Athletic Counseling Services, Georgetown University Athletics; and Taylor Matthews, Howard University President and Chapter Founder, Morgan's Message.
The Capitals' own Dr. Aimee Kimball, Senior Director of Team and Organizational Development moderated the insightful discussion.
Before the panel got started, Dr. Kimball introduced Dona Rodgers, the Co-Founder, Board Chairwoman and President of Morgan's Message to give a bit of background on why they started Morgan's Message.
Each panelist provided their own definitions of what mental health and wellness means.
Matthews gave some insight into her own personal struggle and experience with her mental health as an athlete when she became injured and was unable to play, something student-athletes can relate to every day.
"A lot of the stressors we keep them inside because we feel like we have to be strong, like we have to be super-human and there can't be anything wrong with us because we're athletes," said Matthews.
"You usually don't see professional athletes having mental health issues. Once you see that, it's like 'wow, it's okay to have these problems and reach out for help'."
Dr. Force and Dr. Epstein then gave their professional opinions and guidance on topics such as performance anxiety, stress and coping mechanisms.
"If you think you're the only one having a hard time…not true", Dr. Epstein said. "Everyone is struggling, nobody has it all figured out."
