Indianapolis Colts spearhead mental health solutions campaign

Professional athletes, including NFL stars, are used to "playing hurt" and learn to "just push through it," but for mental health problems, that's not the way to go, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin told a National Press Club Virtual Newsmaker audience Tuesday, May 18.
 
Franklin joined Colts owner and chief executive Jim Irsay and Irsay's daughter, team vice chairman and owner Kalen Jackson, in promoting the team's "Kicking the Stigma" campaign to encourage people to get help with depression and other mental illnesses. The discussion, which was moderated by Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews, can be viewed on YouTube.
 
Irsay said that mental health problems are prevalent "from skid row to Buckingham Palace," but even when help is affordable and available, "you can't beat this in hand to hand combat, you can't beat this alone."

He blamed insurance companies for contributing to stigmatization of mental illness by refusing to pay claims for children with anorexia or anyone with obsessive-compulsive disorder. And, he said, the stigma can lead police officers to treat as criminals people with mental problems "who are not criminals."
 
A lot of social media bullying "is from people who are having problems on their own," Franklin said. He says he believes that "people lashing out to make you feel small, feel small on their own." 

The panelists agreed that "we have to stop this circle of 'I have to put you down because you put me down.'"
 
To make it easier for players and staff to get help when they are having emotional problems, the Colts and other NFL teams have hired on-side clinicians to be visible and available at practice fields and other team facilities. You don't need to be in "crisis mode" to talk to someone, Jackson said.