Transcript
DR. NORAH SIMPSON:
There is a critical need to be able to provide additional support services to injured athletes research evidence suggests that injured athletes experience higher levels of distress and may have difficulty coping following an injury, but we don't really know the best way to help these athletes during their recovery. So our clinical services and our funding that was provided by the NCAA has allowed us to study a new pilot clinical service we've developed at Stanford and to really look to see how effective is the programme and how we're being able to meet student needs.
The clinical service we developed is an injured athlete recovery support group, and it is run by my collaborator on this grant Dr. Lisa Post. And each group meets eight weeks in a row. Each meeting has a particular topic that we focus on for the first part of the group.
It may be increasing effective communication, reducing stress, increasing social support, and so there is some education and some skills that we teach the athletes. And then the second half of the group is a facilitated discussion where the athletes can bring in things that they've been dealing with on that particular week, and there is both a group support component and also we like to draw in some of the skills that we're teaching the students.
Some athletes are newly injured and are really grappling with the beginning part of the recovery process and some athletes are farther along in the process and may be thinking more about what it means to potentially be medically retiring from the sport. There is a collective identity of struggling with injury as a collegiate athlete, but there are a range of points in that process where injured athletes may, may benefit from this type of service.
I think the thing that I'm most proud of is some of the responses that we've had from students after participating in the group. We've had comments like this is the first place on campus that I've really felt that somebody's understood my injury and the impact that it's had on me. And that really speaks to me regarding the impact of that group and us being able to be able to help these student athletes in their recovery process.Our goal in the long term is to have this be a permanent service that's available to Stanford athletes. And as we formalise the programme, we'll be able to make this support programme perhaps be something that's available to other campuses who may be interested in sharing in this resource as well.