Mental Health, March Madness & Blocking Out the Noise w/ Zoe Brooks

This week, Khristina is joined by NC State guard and the ACC’s Most Improved Player, Zoe Brooks, for an important conversation about mental health in college athletics as part of Better Help's "Stop The Madness" Campaign. Zoe opens up about her own journey, the pressures of sports betting and online criticism, and how working with a sports psychologist changed her game. Plus, they dive into the Stop the Madness initiative by BetterHelp, which is offering student-athletes free therapy to break the stigma around mental health.

 

Want more women’s basketball scoop? Follow the show on Instagram @ICYMIwithKW and X @ICYMIwithKW and for more on Khristina follow her on Instagram @khristinawilliams 

 

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CREDITS

Executive Producers:

Nikki Ettore 

Jessie Katz

Tyler Klang

Jonathan Strickland

Producer:

Mike Coscarelli

Producer & Editor:

Tari Harrison

Host:

Khristina Williams

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment. Welcome to In Case You Missed It with
Christina Williams and NC State Guard in ACC's Most improve player,
Zoe Brooks joins me today discuss the importance of mental

(00:23):
health and why it's just as crucial as physical health.
Mental health affects how we think, feel and act every day,
influencing everything from our relationships to our productivity. So it's
key to overall well being, emotional resilience and even physical health,
and a powerful stand against online harassment. Betterhelp the world's
largest online therapy platform is transforming the conversation around student

(00:47):
athletes mental health with its Stop the Madness initiative. This month,
they're partnering with Kiki Rice, Zoe Brooks, and Chance Gray
to raise critical awareness about the mental health challenges athletes
raise while empowering them to seek without the barrier of stigma.
So in this special edition of the show, we'll explore
why taking care of your mind is essential and how

(01:09):
it impacts every part of your life.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
So let's get into it.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Zoey, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Hey, thank you all for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
So I want to dive right into this conversation because
Betterhelp is starting to transform the conversation around mental health
by partnering with collegiate athletes like yourself to talk about
their Stop the Madness campaign. What was it about this
initiative that made you want to get involved?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I think mental health is very important as an athlete
in college or athlete just in general, whether they're in
the pros or middle school or high school. You know,
mental health is very important, and I feel like better
health can help you a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Many athletes feel hesitant to seek mental health support due
to the stigma surrounding the conversations. What advice would you
give to student athletes who maybe struggling to find that
help or unsure of howify that help.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Advice that I'll get to other mental you know athletes
that have mental health problems is you know, keep your
circle small. You know people are going to have their
opinions and have negative things to say, but just whoever
you trust, whoever is in your circle, and listen to
what they say. Keep God close, and you know, I
nor all the outside noise.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Absolutely, I'm curious of how you would personally describe your
relationship with your own mental health being a student athlete,
being a female of color on campus. I know that
this is a heightened time, especially with tournament time right
around the corner. How have you been able to build
that relationship with your own mental health?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Definitely, when I started seeing my sports psychologists, I feel
like my mental health increased because I have had confidence issues,
you know, in the past, and obviously, if I'm not
confident in myself, I'm obviously not going to perform the
best that I can on the court. So I took
the initiative to see a sports psychologist, and I feel
like he's helped me a lot, you know, just feel

(03:08):
like myself again, be that confident me that has fun
on the court, you know, wins and does well.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Was there ever a specific time or incident or thing
that you've experienced that made you want to well that
kind of like turned the page for you, I guess
in your mental health journey being an athlete. I read
one statistic that said that, you know, female athletes experience
harassment online three times as much as their male counterparts.
Has there ever been a situation where you know, something

(03:35):
has happened to you where it really impacts you or
the way you perform on the court.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Obviously, these games are very important and people bet on them.
You know, sports betting is a very big thing now
in America. So I received some hate comments about people
not hitting their parlays and they were mad at me
and stuff like that. I guess after a while, and
there was a lot of them, I guess I kind
of took a toll on me. But I ended up,
you know, praying and going to my psychologists like I

(04:02):
mentioned before, and help clear my mind and block out
that noise to help me playing the best of my ability.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Again, I think that's great, just to be able to
drown out that noise and understand that your performances and
based on their expectations, especially because you prepare so much
as an athlete.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
I know.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
The better help is also offering a free motherl therapy
to college athletes like yourself. How do you think this
initiative can change the way athletes approach mental health?

Speaker 2 (04:28):
It can change a lot. Because I'm sure that you
know people my age. You know, we're very young, so
we might not really think that mental health is as
important as it really is. But the older we get,
you know, the more we have a lot of things
to deal with. So I think that they should definitely
take a series to talk to somebody, even if they
might not feel like they need them at the time.
You know, just talk to somebody and have somebody that

(04:50):
you can go to, whether it's your mom, dad, If
you don't want to talk to a therapist, you know,
just talk to somebody.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
You talked about how having a sports psychologist was life
changing for you in terms of of helping to turn
that page and build a stronger relationship with your own
mental health. Why is mental health and therapy important for
collegiate athletes?

Speaker 2 (05:09):
We deal with a lot, you know, whether we admit
it or not, we go through a lot. You know,
practices every day, you know, lifting, film, scout all that. Like,
it's a lot, you know, on top of everything we
have going on outside of the sport, you know, with school,
work and family and friends. So I think that everybody
needs somebody to talk to to just debrief and you know,

(05:33):
rent to whenever you just stress and have a lot
on your mind. You know, it definitely helps clearing and
helps you focus better when you get it off your
chest instead of letting it build up.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
I know that the big phrase around this time is
March madness, and tournament time is right around the corner.
How are you preparing mentally physically just for you know,
the run that NC State is going to happen the tournament.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
We had a couple of days off, you know, for
spring break, and I think that definitely help. You know,
do some self care stuff. Go get your nails done,
Go get a massage, you know, do things that make
you happy. I know that going shopping for shoes and
clothes make me happy, so I guess it's doing stuff
like that to clear my mind while we have this
little break before the tournament starts.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Absolutely all right, before we let you get out of here,
where can other collegiate athletes go for more information.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Better help? Obviously that's a great place to go, you know,
if you want to just find somebody to talk to,
like you said that our friend a month for free,
you know, help to just talk to somebody and better
your mental health.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Absolutely well, Zeoe, thank you so much for joining us
this week on in case you missed it with Christina
Williams here on iHeart. We appreciate you from KP coming
through in best to walk in the tournament.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Thank you, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
In case you missed it with Christina Williams is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
app podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.