NBA begins to address mental health and athletes

Los Angeles: The NBA is joining forces with the players’ union to launch a mental wellness program with the hope that athletes will see it as a way to open up about their struggles with mental health.

Toronto Raptors DeMar DeRozan and Cleveland Cavaliers Kevin Love are helping to jump start the program, which begins in part this week with a website and public service ads encouraging mental wellness for its athletes. “We always preach eating healthy, exercising, being an elite athlete,” DeRozan told the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper.But with all that pressure “we don’t really look at the mental-health aspect first and foremost, somebody’s everyday life,” DeRozan said.

“You never know where we’ve grown up and where we’ve come from before we made it — that could be dwelling on us.” The ads begin Tuesday the same day the Raptors and Cavaliers start their second round Eastern Conference playoff series in Toronto. It is rare for NBA athletes to speak about their struggles with mental health, but DeRozan and Love are trying to change that.

DeRozan’s own battle with depression and loneliness came to light during the recent NBA all-star game when he wrote a seven-word tweet, “This depression get the best of me.” The 28-year-old all-star guard DeRozan grew up in Los Angeles suburb of Compton, the same crime-plagued area that the tennis Williams’ sisters come from. His openness led to Love speaking and writing about his struggle with dark thoughts.

When the Raptors played in New York in March, NBA commissioner Adam Silver met with DeRozan to discuss the matter. Besides the TV ads, the league is coming out this week with a website that will include links to mental health resources for not only young and older athletes but the public.