Ole Miss had its entire football staff Mental Health First Aid certified

College sports, along with culture at large, has come a long way in a short amount of time in regards to mental health. Most of that progress has centered on acknowledging that mental health issues exist, they're real, they don't represent weakness on the part of the afflicted, and they don't go away on their own. This progress is necessary and important, but it lacks follow through. Mental health is real; now what?

According to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, the entire Ole Miss football staff recently became Mental Health First Aid certified, believed to be the first in Division I football. The process -- which included everyone who touches the players, not just the on-field coaching staff -- is part of a department-wide push to get the entire athletics department certified by the end of the year.

The certification involved an 8-hour class and a 2-hour assignment, which centered on two things: 1) creating a culture where players feel just as comfortable treating a mental ailment as a physical one, and 2) recognizing that they are not experts in the mental health field, training each staff member to identify mental health issues as they arise and then implement an action plan where the athlete or staff member gets the help they need. 

“The culture starts with (the coaches). We do a lot of ‘It’s OK to not be OK’ kind of campaign, but we don’t do a lot of ‘And if you’re no OK, here’s what to do.’ So, being able to have coaching be a resource and believe in it (is huge),” Ole Miss assistant athletics director for sport psychology Josie Nicholson told the paper. “When your coach believes that your mental health is important, it’s more likely that the athlete is going to believe and take care of their mental health. Because it decreases, wildly decreases, the stigma of reaching out for help and getting mental health support.”

Read the full story here.

Update: We're told Southern Miss accomplished this last season, and Nevada as well. Well done by all.