Creating a Work-Life Balance for Better Mental Health

Positions of influence and leadership, such as coaching and athletic administration, are accompanied by many of the same mental health challenges that have resulted in an outpouring of support for struggling student-athletes. The pursuit of success not only increases stress for an organization or team, but especially so for those tasked with providing direct guidance and leadership to the individuals involved – some of whom include impressionable youth.

Among the ways to effectively respond to struggles with mental health is by creating an improved work-life balance. To draw further attention to the subject, Shawn Knight and Kelley Haney of the Virginia High School League (VHSL) addressed it during their 2022 NFHS Summer Meeting workshop presentation, “Creating a Work-Life Balance for Better Mental Health.”

“We spend a lot of our energies and efforts dealing with burnout, mental and emotional health, and everybody else in our ecosystem except us,” said Shawn Knight, VHSL assistant director for academic activities. “We’re concerned about teacher and coach burnout. As more and more of our athletics programs are pushing towards specialization and year-round activity, we’re concerned about athletic administrator burnout in our schools. In our state association offices, we’re not giving enough attention to our own mental and physical health. We see people leaving these lines of work in droves, but we don’t talk about what’s driving that. We don’t talk about the stresses of this work, how to deal with it, and share it with each other so that we don’t feel like we’re isolated.”

Knight and Haney, who is the VHSL’s assistant director for athletics, noted it’s vital to self-evaluate yourself. If individuals cannot rid themselves of the expectation of perfection, it can “begin to cloud our judgment and our evaluation of how we’re doing in this business.”

“We shared with the group that you can get to a place where your own thinking becomes jaded because of the negativity that you’re constantly bombarded with or the lack of that perfection that you’ve always sought,” Knight said. “One of the most challenging things for people in this business is to get the heck away from their emails and their cell phones. Even on weekends we often find ourselves checking emails or our cell phones. At some point, there has to be a time to unplug from that – whether it comes as a vacation or a long weekend.

In addition to improved mental health coming in the form of vacations, exercise or professional support, the VHSL assistant directors recommended use of Mayo Clinic’s Four A’s for Stress Relief: avoid, alter, accept or adapt.

According to Mayo Clinic, stress can be avoided and the burden lessened for those feeling challenged by it. This can be achieved by:

• taking control of your surroundings;

• avoiding people who bother you;

• learning to say, “No;” or

• ditching part of your to-do list.

When stress cannot be avoided, try to alter it by:

• respectfully asking others to change their behavior;

• communicating your feelings openly;

• managing your time better; or

• stating limits in advance.

There’s even situations that must be accepted, along with the stress it may promote. In those moments, Mayo Clinic recommends trying to:

• talk with someone;

• forgiving;

• practicing positive self-talk; or

• learning from your mistakes.

A change in standards or expectations is also a way to cope with stress. At times when it is best to adapt, individuals should:

• adjust their standards;

• practice thought-stopping;

• reframe the issue;

• adopt a mantra;

• create an assets column; or

• look at the big picture.

More details on each of these four strategies for coping with stress can be found on the Mayo Clinic’s website, newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.

“It’s important to establish boundaries for ourselves. Many people involved in athletic administration, coaching, state association work, or almost any area of education-based activities, come from athletic and activity backgrounds where that pursuit of perfection has always driven them,” Knight said. “In this business, seldom, if ever, is there an event that you will conduct where everything happens perfectly. So, there’s a need to establish some realistic expectations that things are not always going to go exactly as you planned. You can be as prepared as possible, you can work to get things in place well in advance, yet things still may not necessarily play out perfectly.”

Examples of these stressors can be found nationwide, Knight said. No matter the state, the stresses of these roles remain present at differing scales due to state size and number of activities.

“Many of us are dealing with many of the same stressors, so there’s a need for creating a setting where we can talk openly about that and people can realize that they’re not alone in dealing with this,” Knight added. “They’re not the only ones dealing with this level of stress. They’re not the only ones who feel like we feel – like they’re holding on by a thread at different times during the year.

In September, the NFHS announced a partnership with Crisis Text Line as part of its continued efforts to promote mental, emotional and physical wellness in education-based activities. Individuals challenged by mental health issues are encouraged to text keyword “SHIELD” to 741741 to receive free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention. The service is available in English and Spanish.