WISE - - UVA Wise Athletics and the Division of Advocacy and Opportunity are thrilled to promote the South Atlantic Conference's first-ever Mental Wellness Empowerment Week Sept. 18 – 24.  In addition to events surrounding athletics, student-athletes and coaches, UVA Wise will incorporate events for the campus community at-large.

The SAC has partnered with Morgan's Message, Courtex Performance, and Lo Myrick to provide an opportunity for student-athletes, coaches, administrators and the athletic communities throughout the Conference to use their platform to create a dialogue surrounding mental wellness. Engaging in opportunities such as this campaign helps remove the stigmas surrounding mental health and wellness within intercollegiate athletics.

Additional information and resources can be found: https://thesac.com/mentalwellness

The week will feature different topics for discussion and awareness each day.

• Monday: What Mental Wellness to You?

• Tuesday: Reclaiming YOUR Story: Group Identity vs. YOUR Identity

• Wednesday: How to Take Charge of your Mental Game (in Sports & Life)

• Thursday: Building a Strong Team Culture

• Friday: Creating a Winning Mindset: Proactive Mental Empowerment Skills

• Saturday: Selfless Selfcare

In addition to each themed day, the SAC will host a series of information webinars for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators during the week, and each in-season sport will host special Mental Wellness Empowerment themed events during their contests that week.

"Promoting the mental and social well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and administrators is one of the goals of our strategic plan so we are hopeful this dedicated week will help achieve this goal," said SAC Commissioner Patrick Britz. "The primary objectives of this week are to encourage our stakeholders to feel comfortable sharing when they need help from a mental health standpoint and also provide them resources when they do need assistance. We hope this is the first of many initiatives the SAC can undertake in promoting better mental health and social well-being for our athletic community."

About Morgan's Message: Morgan's Message® strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics. We aim to expand the dialogue on mental health by normalizing conversations, empowering those who suffer in silence, and supporting those who feel alone.

About Courtex Performance: Courtex Performance provides mental performance training, personality evaluation and professional development services for players, coaches and organizations from the youth to the international pro and NBA levels with the goal of empowering clients to maximize performance.

About Lo Myrick: About Lo Myrick: Lo Myrick is Peak Performance Coach, Speaker, and Consultant who helps teams and leaders prevent burnout and achieve their goals. Over the past 10 years, she's developed a proprietary science-based method based on her 10+ years of Life Coaching Experience, nearly 15 years in the business world, process improvement expertise, emotional intelligence skills, breathwork, and neuroscience to help clients make massive shifts in a short amount of time.

For more information about events hosted by the SAC please visit http://www.thesac.com

A complete list of the week's events at UVA Wise may be found below:

• Monday: What does Mental Wellness mean to You?

o    Social Media: What does Mental Wellness mean to you?

o    In-Person: Student-Athletes ONLY- Prior Center 6:45 pm- *Morgan's Message

o    Coaches ONLY- ZOOM 7 pm- *Morgan's Message - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88656596129

• Tuesday: Reclaiming YOUR Story: Group Identity vs. YOUR Identity

o    Men's Mental Health: Cafecito and Conversation (Join MCC interns & Zach Harmon from the Counseling Center for convo and coffee)

• Wednesday: How to Take Charge of Your Mental Game (in Sports & Life)

o    In-person: Learn Yourself: Self-Assessments from the Counseling Center, Vision Boards, and personalized infuser water bottles with a water station. SSC Atrium 10 am-1pm.

o    In-person: Morgan's Message Volleyball Game UVA Wise vs Carson-Newman University 6 pm (Free admission to volleyball match)

• Thursday: Building a Strong Team Culture

o    Social Media: Know your campus resources

o    Athletic Administration Zoom 11 am *Dr. Jessica Kirby

*Dr. Jessica Kirby: An assistant professor in the Colorado-Colorado Springs college of nursing and health sciences who's leading the Colorado-Colorado Springs Mountain Lion Strong program; an idea born from the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on student-athlete mental health and well-being. The Mountain Lion Strong program aims to develop and pilot a comprehensive, evidence-based model that uses a tiered, progressive and multifaceted approach to improve the psychological well-being of student-athletes.

• Friday: Mental Health and Sexual Violence

o    In-person: Morgan's Message – UVA Wise lacrosse scrimmage 6 p.m.

Saturday: Self-care Saturday

• Do something today for YOU- even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big impact!

• Join the *Morgan's Message Football UVA Wise vs. Limestone University Football Kick-off at 2 pm at Carl Smith Stadium