Toledo Football to Host Mental Health Awareness Game
Rockets will team up with #ImChangingtheNarrative founder and author Rachel Baribeau to bring attention to the importance of mental health; CBS to feature Rockets on "Courage in Sports: Gridiron Greatness" on Nov. 12
TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Toledo football team will host a Mental Health Awareness game when it welcomes Buffalo to the Glass Bowl on Tuesday, Oct. 31 (7:30 p.m./ESPN2).
The Rockets will partner with well-known speaker and author Rachel Baribeau for the game. Baribeau spoke with Head Coach Jason Candle and the Toledo football team in the off-season and is an advocate for mental health awareness.
Baribeau's visit will be featured as a part of Courage in Sports: Gridiron Greatness on CBS (WTOL, Channel 11 in Toledo) on Sunday, Nov. 12. Check local listings for an exact air time, dependent on that day's NFL coverage.
Coach Candle emphasized the importance of providing mental health resources for student-athletes.
"One of the jobs of a football coach is to make sure the players have as many resources available to them as possible," Candle said. "We always want to make sure we have outlets for our players to see a different perspective, understand that their health and safety is at the forefront of every decision being made and provide them with the opportunities to talk to somebody if they feel they need to or get the help that's necessary if they're going through a tough time.
"Rachel did a great job with her presentation. It provided our guys a chance to take a deep breath and understand what the main thing is, which is their health and safety and continuing to grow as young men."
Toledo will wear a green ribbon on its helmets, as green is the color of mental health awareness. There will also be an in-game public service announcement video played that will focus on destigmatizing mental health, and it will also be shared on social media. Toledo Athletics will have content focusing on the importance of taking care of your mental health throughout the week leading up to the game.
Baribeau said she is impressed by the serious approach Toledo coaches and student-athletes took toward the subject of mental health.
"I am thrilled and honored to host this initiative with this team and these coaches," said Baribeau. "Toledo is very, very special to me. In August, my second visit with the team, they opened up in ways that blew my mind. They dropped off stuff they weren't meant to carry. We all walked out of that meeting room different people than when we walked in. It was truly remarkable what happened that night. I know I speak for them when I say we want to teach others that you don't have to struggle alone.
"Five out of five of us will struggle with our mental health when times get tough. Just like a football team has a game plan for the game, we all need to have a mental-health battle plan for when times get tough. Who will we call, what will we do, and how will we let others help carry our burdens? And here is a powerful truth: people would rather share your burdens than carry your casket. In tough times, we can't see up ahead, we can't see all the goodness that is coming, and we haven't even met all the people we are going to love yet."
For more information on Baribeau and her movement, please visit www.ImChangingtheNarrative.org.
Toledo Athletics is committed to the mental health and well-being of its student-athletes. Rocket student-athletes have access to dedicated professional counseling services, as well as access to the University resources listed below:
University of Toledo Counseling Center
https://www.utoledo.edu/studentaffairs/counseling/
UToledo Psychology Clinic (UTPC)
https://www.utoledo.edu/al/psychology/clinic/
University of Toledo Medical Center Psychiatry Department
https://utmc.utoledo.edu/clinics/adultpsychiatry/index.html
