NORFOLK, Va., May 27, 2022 – Nets are a familiar sight in March, particularly at the Norfolk Scope Arena during the annual Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament. But in addition to the swish of a made basket, the 2022 edition of the championship also had a different kind of net:
 
A safety net.
 
That safety net came in the form of a partnership between the MEAC and Gateway Services, providing mental health resources to the student-athletes, coaches, support staff and conference office staff during the 2022 MEAC Basketball Tournament. Representatives from Gateway were available 24-7, free of charge, the week of the tournament for anyone in need.
 
Located in nearby Chesapeake, Va., Gateway Services is an experienced community mental health agency providing assistance in all areas of one’s life through the Hampton Roads and Richmond, Va., area. Gateway’s leadership team has more than two decades’ experience in serving and treating mental health disorders, providing resources, support and empowering the lives of its clients.
 
In an information sheet provided by Gateway for the tournament, those services highlighted three specific areas when it comes to mental health: personal crisis, confronting anxiety and fear and dealing with perceived failure. Counselors were on call at all hours, and depending on the severity of need, Gateway also had counselors and mental health providers available for in-person visits.
 
“Sometimes, when we think about mental health, there’s a stigma around it,” Marqueta Walker, Vice President of Programs and Services with Gateway, said, “so we wanted to make it more approachable so that [student-athletes] could benefit from services if they were feeling anxious, depressed, sad … any of those things. We just wanted to be able to come alongside an organization like the MEAC and provide the athletes with support so that they could be successful.”
 
While the partnership with Gateway was a first for the basketball tournament, it was not the MEAC’s first initiative as it relates to mental health. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference office had begun what MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills termed “mental health check-ins” with member institutions’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC), which often included having counselors and mental health professionals speak with student-athletes.
 
The MEAC also hosted mental health professionals, who were on-site and available for questions during the 2020 MEAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Landover, Md.
 
“When the pandemic hit, we did even more check-ins with SAAC to see how they were coping,” Stills said. “That hit very hard because they were really, truly managing a lot ... We wanted to make sure mental health was on the forefront for them; we know our students are struggling with a lot. Even now with social injustice, coping with that along with everything else, it was important for us to make sure they knew we had their well-being at heart – in every sense.”
 
Among the struggles: anxiety over the pandemic, possibly being infected and infecting loved ones, being isolated, whether to return to campus and play once competition resumed and concerns over personal identity once the athletic schedule had ground to a halt.
 
When the MEAC brought Dr. Harry Stafford on board as the conference’s Chief Medical Officer in January, one of the main objectives was to make mental health a priority (“He said he was already working on some things,” Stills said). In fact, Dr. Stafford made sure student-athletes competing in Norfolk in March had flyers available in their locker rooms outlining the signs of mental distress.
 
Dr. Stafford has also been integral during Mental Health Awareness Month, helping the conference office inform the public about on- and off-campus resources available and answering questions on the Ask Dr. Stafford series of videos on the conference’s Instagram page.
 
Having Gateway’s services available during the basketball tournament was important, Stills said, because of the transient nature of the tournament – with every member institution traveling to and convening in Norfolk, Va.
 
Not just student-athletes and coaches, but administrators and support staff from each school.
 
If a student-athlete or administrator was to have a mental health crisis during the tournament, while they were potentially hundreds of miles from resources on their campus, Stills thought it important for the MEAC to have services in place.
 
Particularly given the platform student-athletes can have.
 
“Our athletes have a platform that can reach communities that traditionally have not had access or have not wanted to embrace seeking out resources pertaining to mental health issues,” Walker said. “Our athletes can share the importance of that, the benefits of taking care of one’s mental health.
 
“They can let people know it’s okay to seek out help.”
 
Stills’ background in counseling – she earned her Bachelors degree in Human Services Counseling from Old Dominion University in 1993, and a Masters degree in Counseling (College Student Work Personnel) from Hampton University in 1996 – made mental health an area of focus for both her and the conference.
 
COVID brought a lot of mental health issues to the forefront (a “national conversation,” as Walker put it), mostly because there was nothing else at the time.
 
“Everything stops, and you lose that routine, and you’re isolated,” Stills said. “When you have that idle time, you begin to reflect on where you are, what you have, so – in athletics, let’s say – you’re an athlete, that’s who you are, and when that’s taken away from you, you start to think, ‘Who am I now?’”
 
Even as intercollegiate athletics have resumed, and even as life inches closer to something resembling normal – or “a new normal,” as Stills describes – the challenges in and around mental health remain, and resources are as vital now as they were in the height of the lockdown.
 
The plan going forward is to make services like Gateway’s available to MEAC student-athletes at all conference-sponsored championships.
 
“We want to continue to provide those services to our member institutions,” Stills said. “It’s very important and it’s critical with the spotlight on mental health for student-athletes more than ever, and we want to make sure services are available. There’s someone out there for our students and student-athletes if they need them.”
 
Also on tap? Training for coaches and administrators so they can look for signs of anxiety or depression. Giving those individuals the tools necessary to help their student-athletes as needed.
 
All eight of the MEAC’s member institutions have mental health services available on campus, and there are other resources students can access; visit the conference’s Instagram page (@meacsports) for posts throughout the month of May highlighting their services.
 
To learn more about Gateway Services, visit their website.

 
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 51^st year of intercollegiate competition with the 2021-22 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.