Courtesy: USA Swimming
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Swimming, the national governing body for swimming in the United States, and Talkspace, the global leader in telebehavioral health, today announced the launch of a new mental health service available at no cost to all National Team athletes, as well as 2016 Olympic swimmers.
This new initiative further emphasizes USA Swimming’s goal of continuously improving overall athlete health and safety. Supporting athletes and helping them be their best goes beyond training support and physical health resources. Mental health is a major component of an athlete’s performance and development – both while competing and in preparation for their post-athletic career.
“Our role in the National Team division is to support our National Team athletes and to understand how we best provide for their physical, emotional and mental well-being,” USA Swimming Managing Director Lindsay Mintenko said. “Partnering with a leader such as Talkspace to provide easy, reliable access to mental health services will hopefully motivate more athletes to prioritize their mental health, while also creating a legion of inspiring role models for the younger generations to further the dialogue to stamp out the stigma.”
“Providing USA Swimming athletes with access to Talkspace as they prepare for competition and ‘life after the pool’ gives the athletes the opportunity to achieve their peak mental performance in a de-stigmatized, flexible way,” Talkspace Chief Commercial Officer, Lynn Hamilton, said. “By partnering with Talkspace, USA Swimming athletes will be able to connect with providers in a way that respects their individual schedules and needs. We are proud official partners of this accomplished organization.”
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately one in four young adults between 18 and 24 has a diagnosable mental health condition and only 1 in 5 of these individuals get professional help. USA Swimming and Talkspace together are making these conversations more accessible than ever for athletes, no matter where they are.
For more information about Talkspace, please visit https://www.talkspace.com
Keep up with all the latest USA Swimming news by following @usaswimming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
– usaswimming.org –
About USA Swimming
As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 400,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success. For more information, visit www.usaswimming.org.
About Talkspace
Talkspace is a telebehavioral healthcare company. Its signature psychotherapy product connects individual users with a network of licensed therapists through an easy-to-use and HIPAA-compliant web and mobile platform. With Talkspace, users can send their dedicated therapists unlimited text, video, picture and audio messages from anywhere, at anytime. Therapists engage with clients daily, 5 days a week. Talkspace also provides psychiatry services, including prescription fulfillment, adolescent therapy and couples counseling. Founded by Roni Frank and Oren Frank in 2012, with the mission to make therapy available to all and eliminate the stigma associated with mental health, Talkspace has already been used by over 1 million people.
Contacts:
USA Swimming – Isabelle McLemore (719-866-3588/[email protected])
Talkspace – JoAnna Di Tullio, Director of Communications ([email protected])
—-USA Swimming Managing Director Lindsay Mintenko said. “Partnering with a leader such as Talkspace to provide easy, reliable access to mental health services will hopefully motivate more athletes to prioritize their mental health, while also creating a legion of inspiring role models for the younger generations to further the dialogue to stamp out the stigma.”
I am not sure what Mintenko means, but I hope she means to refute those directing that prejudice.
Harold A Maio