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Widener University’s HUB room opened in spring 2023 to provide a space for athletes and coaches to decompress.
Widener University
As higher education practitioners grapple with the student mental health crisis on their campuses, programs for student athletes have grown with hopes of normalizing conversations around mental well-being among teams.
Student athletes report elevated levels of mental health concerns, 1.5 to 2 times higher than historically reported prior to 2020, according to survey data from the NCAA. Only half of respondents believe that mental health is a priority to their athletic department, and 53 percent believe coaches take mental health concerns of student athletes seriously.
Widener University in Pennsylvania has expanded its mental health services to student athletes in the past few years, implementing weekly videos around wellness and offering biweekly roundtable conversations around health. This spring, Widener opened a relaxation room for athletes and coaches, drawing from student feedback on their needs.
The HUB, short for Health, Unity and Belonging, is a place for student athletes to refuel, take a mental health break and better themselves off the field or court to perform their best in their sport.
What’s the need: Widener has 550 student athletes who participate in Division III NCAA sports. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Larissa Gillespie, associate athletic director, and Elizabeth Atwood, staff counselor in the counseling and psychological services office, wanted to engage with student athletes about holistic well-being beyond physical fitness.
While the athletics department had offered mental health programming for years, it became evident that students wanted a physical space to talk about their feelings with one another and get help.
“The voice of the student athlete is completely changing from five years ago, and they are more open to knowing what they need and how to communicate that,” Gillespie says about mental health and well-being.
Making space: The HUB replaced a miscellaneous “catchall” room in the Schwartz Athletic Center, redesigning a dim storage classroom into a bright, inviting relaxation zone.
Gillespie and Atwood surveyed student athletes and received input from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) when considering the creation of a mental health space. The students helped establish the layout, colors and features of the room. One student athlete is painting a non-sports-related mural to decorate the wall of the room this summer, as well.
“It was always focused on the student athlete and their voice and what they needed. When you go that route, it really does lend its ability to be supported [by university leaders],” Gillespie says.
Athletics staff also took feedback from the counseling center and an outside group for insight on sensory details like lighting and sound.
The space’s design is supposed to make it feel separate or distinct from other athletics spaces, but it’s open to athletes and athletics staff, Gillespie explains.
“That was the first question our staff said … ‘Oh my gosh, can I come in this space?’” Gillespie says. “And I’m like, ‘Absolutely! I want you to engage with student athletes outside of your team or even with your team [in the HUB].’”
Inside the room, snacks and drinks are provided, as well as study space, electrical outlets and different wellness activities and resources, like coloring sheets and nutritional information. The room’s organization supports multiple people using it at once but also feeling as though they have personal space, Gillespie says.
Twice a week, student athletes can participate in “Checkup From the Neck Up” sessions about mental health and stress relief, led by Widener staff.
The HUB opened this April, so students will engage with it for the first full term this fall.
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