The St. Joe’s athletic department hired sports psychologist Andrew Wolanin, Psy.D., to join their high performance team. Wolanin will be available to assist St. Joe’s athletes with their clinical mental health needs as well as assisting with any athletic performance issues they want to discuss with him.
“Throughout my career I have been looking at how to help implement better health services for Division I athletes,” Wolanin said. “It has been a challenge for most universities in this area and across the country. It seemed like a good challenge to try to figure out how to create a comprehensive service for athletes.”
Wolanin chose to go into sports psychology due his love of sports and background as a baseball player. As a clinical psychologist, Wolanin said he found that most athletes he worked with who wanted help with their performance actually were dealing with different forms of anxiety and depression.
“I appreciate athletes and how difficult of a path it is to be a Division I athlete,” Wolanin said. “It is not as easy as people think it is. With injuries, coaches and schedules, I think there is not only a burden on athletes to perform but also on the mental health side of things.”
The goal of St. Joe’s high performance team is to create holistic wellness for student athletes. This involves addressing not only any physical needs a student athlete may have, but also any spiritual and mental needs as well.
“How can we address everything,” Eric Laudano, senior associate athletics director for high performance, said. “In academics. In life. How can we create this incredible healthcare ecosystem by area content experts that address all students athletes’ needs during their time here.”
Wolanin is a cognitive behavioral psychologist. He discusses how thoughts, emotions and behaviors fit together and how they can affect somebody’s mental health.
“If somebody is not behaving in a way that is helpful for them, we look at how their thoughts and emotions are getting in the way of that,” Wolanin said. “It is more structured than just talking about your feelings. We are trying to almost help a person get out of their head and into what they should be doing.”
Laudano said one thing St. Joe’s needs to continue to improve upon is breaking down the stigma of talking about mental health. Wolanin is hopeful that by being available to athletes on campus, it will help them feel more comfortable to come to him for help.
“I think there is still a stigma around going to talk to somebody about mental health,” Wolanin said. “Part of this program is trying to reduce that a little bit by having it be connected with athletic training. It is accessible, you don’t have to go somewhere else. Athletes are comfortable here in the athletic department. You can come talk here.”
Wolanin’s position was fundraised for by the athletic department.
“On behalf of our student-athletes and coaches, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Sponaugle Family Foundation and Drs. Gina [Bundy] Cavorsi ’02 and Ken Cavorsi for their generous support of this addition to our High Performance team,” Jill Bodensteiner, J.D., director of athletics, said in a statement following the hiring of Wolanin. “Both families understand deeply the need to invest in the well-being of our student-athletes, and we are so lucky to have them as a part of our Saint Joseph’s family.”
The hiring of Wolanin is the third initiative Laudano has overseen in regards to athletes’ mental health. Last semester, the athletic department announced a peer to peer mental health support group as well as partnering with Calm, a meditation and sleep app that is now offered to all student athletes.
Laudano hopes to continue to expand St. Joe’s mental health department for student athletes in the future.
“This was a huge step for us,” Laudano said. “We are so lucky to have him. What my experience has been is when a new resource gets added, it gets utilized. He has been utilized here so far in the short time he has been here.”
