Completed Event: Volleyball at Old Dominion on November 7, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 0 , (25-15, 25-23, 25-23)
VB
Final
James Madison
3
at Old Dominion
(25-15, 25-23, 25-23)
0
James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
Bourne Dialogue - Mental Health
5/23/2022 1:35:00 PM | Administration
JMU Nation,
Another athletics year at James Madison is nearing completion and, despite some limitations, we have many accomplishments to celebrate and reason for optimism for what is to come in the Sun Belt. But we'll talk more about our achievements another time.
Amid another year of success, we've also experienced tremendous heartbreak and adversity. It's been a difficult year in numerous ways. While the on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stripped conference championship participation have posed challenges to our community, we've experienced tragic loss with the death of Lauren Bernett in late April as well as the passing of senior administrator Tom Kuster on May 17 after a prolonged fight with cancer. Today I want to specifically focus on Lauren's passing and the current societal issue of mental health.
At JMU, the student-athlete is the focal point of everything we do. The outcome of student-athletes graduating and leaving JMU poised for professional and personal wellness is more important than our competitive success. Our student-athletes have had much to navigate, and they've felt it. This comes at the same time as young people, and society in general, are facing mental health challenges unlike any other time in recent history.
Mental health is an issue facing humanity, not just student-athletes. In fact, we know that our support staff and coaches are also facing their own mental hurdles with their health and well-being, while at the same time trying to lift up our student-athletes. In many cases, they are striving to demonstrate resilience while also serving others in need who may be showing vulnerability.
Most of us are not experts on this topic, but in college athletics we're in the business of working with and helping other human beings in all aspects of their lives. This is a shared journey and we're committed to keep fighting to do everything we can for each other.
When we think about mental health, many of us immediately focus on crisis situations or diagnosed illness, but it's important to recognize that mental health awareness is not just about critical scenarios. We must foster an environment that promotes positive mental health and ensure every member of our community understands what it means to create a culture of a mentally healthy team. That will be a key point moving forward for JMU.
We don't have all the answers, but here's a preview of what we will be doing about mental health within JMU Athletics. Some of these are bringing light to processes already in place while others are new initiatives. I fully expect more will be added to this list in the coming months and years.
While that may look like a long list, the takeaway is that there's much work to do on the topic of mental health. At the end of the day, how do we create "normalcy" around the topic of mental health? We must be comfortable with the uncomfortable and be willing to discuss vulnerabilities. This leads to health and personal growth. It's not a negative trait to show vulnerability!
We're here for each other; you are not alone.
Go Dukes!
Jeff Bourne
JMU Director of Athletics
Another athletics year at James Madison is nearing completion and, despite some limitations, we have many accomplishments to celebrate and reason for optimism for what is to come in the Sun Belt. But we'll talk more about our achievements another time.
Amid another year of success, we've also experienced tremendous heartbreak and adversity. It's been a difficult year in numerous ways. While the on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and stripped conference championship participation have posed challenges to our community, we've experienced tragic loss with the death of Lauren Bernett in late April as well as the passing of senior administrator Tom Kuster on May 17 after a prolonged fight with cancer. Today I want to specifically focus on Lauren's passing and the current societal issue of mental health.
At JMU, the student-athlete is the focal point of everything we do. The outcome of student-athletes graduating and leaving JMU poised for professional and personal wellness is more important than our competitive success. Our student-athletes have had much to navigate, and they've felt it. This comes at the same time as young people, and society in general, are facing mental health challenges unlike any other time in recent history.
Mental health is an issue facing humanity, not just student-athletes. In fact, we know that our support staff and coaches are also facing their own mental hurdles with their health and well-being, while at the same time trying to lift up our student-athletes. In many cases, they are striving to demonstrate resilience while also serving others in need who may be showing vulnerability.
Most of us are not experts on this topic, but in college athletics we're in the business of working with and helping other human beings in all aspects of their lives. This is a shared journey and we're committed to keep fighting to do everything we can for each other.
When we think about mental health, many of us immediately focus on crisis situations or diagnosed illness, but it's important to recognize that mental health awareness is not just about critical scenarios. We must foster an environment that promotes positive mental health and ensure every member of our community understands what it means to create a culture of a mentally healthy team. That will be a key point moving forward for JMU.
We don't have all the answers, but here's a preview of what we will be doing about mental health within JMU Athletics. Some of these are bringing light to processes already in place while others are new initiatives. I fully expect more will be added to this list in the coming months and years.
- JMU Athletics works extremely closely with student affairs, their teams in the Dean of Students' Office and the JMU Counseling Center to collaborate on mental health resources. It's important to stress that JMU student-athletes are JMU students first. Mental health among college-age individuals is a society-wide issue. Student-athletes experience the same stress and anxiety of any college student with the added load and demands of intercollegiate athletics participation. Dr. Tim Miller and his team have been tremendous partners, and we will work closely with them moving forward to coordinate our efforts.
- There are several examples of specific university initiatives for collaboration:
- The Dean of Students Office has a program called JMU Rebound, which focuses on normalizing struggle and failure while helping students to learn from these moments to be more resilient.
- The university is adding new training systems to provide all faculty, staff and students with training modules to identify and support friends and community members facing significant mental health challenges. JMU Athletics will actively engage with this process and prioritize this training for as many staff as possible.
- The university is in the final contract stages of a new telehealth program that will be accessible to all students with a 24-hour crisis phone line and 12 free counseling sessions per year.
- JMU Athletics established a C.A.R.E. (Care and Recovery Enhancement) team in 2015. This multidisciplinary group of health care professionals meets biweekly to discuss student-athletes deemed to be high risk and who have signed an authorization to exchange information. This collaborative care model allows for the team to develop and evaluate student-athlete care plans and monitor the overall well-being of the student-athlete, who can self-refer to the C.A.R.E. team or can be referred by their athletic trainer, dietician, team physician, coach or counselor.
- We started the Dukes Let's Talk program several years ago to create inclusive and welcoming environments for student-athletes to discuss mental health with support from professional staff. These groups will continue throughout the summer, and we will consider how to evolve this program further. It is important to note the distinction that Dukes Let's Talk is a support function but not intended to be group therapy or to take the place of clinical treatment.
- JMU Athletics previously completed regular mental health first aid certification for select staff members. We are seeking ways to expand this and will encourage as many staff as possible to participate.
- We will explore policies within sport programs that emphasize mental health accommodations. One example could be to implement some form of mental health day for student-athletes to have excused absences from practice to address health concerns.
- We have a dedicated sport psychologist in JMU Athletics and additional doctoral students who work with our sport programs under the sport psychologist's supervision. We will work to increase access to these individuals and a presence at team activities. We have heard that student-athletes desire to see these folks present on a more regular basis to develop comfort and familiarity.
- Our Dukes Lead program helps student-athletes to grow in all facets of their collegiate experience to be healthy and contributing members of society. Mental health has been a regular part of our annual curriculum with frequent guest speakers and peer sessions.
- One example of an upcoming Dukes Lead initiative is a resilience-based training program to be piloted with football student-athletes, who will be working out on campus through the summer. They will discuss adaptive coping skills, learn how to utilize their strengths and cultivate stronger connections with others to help them better manage the athletic and academic demands they will face. Many collegiate student-athletes were the best on their high school or travel team and can struggle to adapt to a situation where they no longer stand at the head of the pack.
- Kym Hilinski leads a campaign for mental health awareness following the loss of her son Tyler, a former quarterback at Washington State, in 2018. Hilinski was scheduled to speak to the JMU Dukes Lead program in March 2020 in an event canceled due to the pandemic. JMU plans to reschedule with her for the 2022-23 academic year.
- The Dukes Lead program also works with several non-profits related to mental health. JMU lacrosse has an on-going partnership with Morgan's Message, hosting an annual game to bring awareness. Multiple members of the program serve as ambassadors for the Morgan's Message program, which specifically focuses on eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health among student-athletes. The Hidden Opponent is another related organization, and Sophie Bollinger and Isabella Bogdan, each from the cross country and track and field programs, serve as Campus Captains at JMU for this organization.
- We have an active Student-Athlete Advisory Committee group (SAAC), who act as leaders and address issues among their student-athlete peers. Mental health awareness is a regular topic among their conversations. They had an active role in recent nationwide efforts to raise awareness via social media content.
- Coming out of COVID and extended periods of isolation, it is import that we foster community and create environments of togetherness and interaction. This has become a major initiative for SAAC next year with the goal of bringing people together within our department.
- JMU Athletics has a partnership with RealResponse, an online tool that helps the department to foster a community of accountability and trust. As part of this program, student-athletes can anonymously report concerns, which can be of a programmatic or individual nature. An example could be to initiate a conversation related to mental health challenges without immediately disclosing identity.
- We initiated our Integrated Health and Sports Performance model several years ago to emphasize total care of our student-athletes. As part of this system, all personnel with a role in athlete health (sports medicine, strength & conditioning, nutrition, psychology, coaches, etc.) work cohesively to discuss health and care for athletes. While this approach is not a solution to on-going counseling for critical situations, it can help to unearth concerns and to propose next steps.
- We have had discussions about expanding procedures related to incident touchpoints. For example, if a student-athlete experiences a significant triggering moment, such as a season-ending injury or family tragedy, we want to make sure that the right people are checking on them and offering support.
- JMU Athletics is also focused on external solutions to demonstrate that mental health is not going away as a critical topic. Several units within the department are engaged in developing content on the subject, such as an upcoming video project. I am also committed to conversations in settings with staff, campus peers and external situations to engage in meaningful dialogue.
While that may look like a long list, the takeaway is that there's much work to do on the topic of mental health. At the end of the day, how do we create "normalcy" around the topic of mental health? We must be comfortable with the uncomfortable and be willing to discuss vulnerabilities. This leads to health and personal growth. It's not a negative trait to show vulnerability!
We're here for each other; you are not alone.
Go Dukes!
Jeff Bourne
JMU Director of Athletics
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