Youth sport can benefit moms too

With approximately 75% of Canadian youth involved in organized youth sport, it’s uniquely positioned to promote mothers’ mental health and wellbeing. Learn more about how youth sport administrators, program leaders and families can create positive experiences and outcomes for youth sport moms in the SIRCuit.

Concussions in children and mental health

Children take twice as long to recover from concussions compared to adults. Concussions can cause or worsen pre-existing mental health problems, which can negatively impact recovery. Research shows that following a concussion, mental health should be assessed as part of the pediatric concussion assessment for optimal concussion recovery.

Athlete thoughts on high performance sport culture

Listening to athletes is an important part of enacting cultural change in sport. Canadian researchers interviewed athletes to get their perspective on when the feel safe versus unsafe in high performance sport settings. Inappropriate coach behaviour, an inattentive system, lack of resources and exclusion by teammates make athletes feel unsafe, while knowledgable and supportive coaches…

Managing the competing tensions of social media as a high performance athlete

Highlights Social media has had an enormous impact on the sport sector, economically and culturally Athletes may use social media as a platform for personal updates or activism, or as a venue to work with sponsors in a financial relationship, however, it may also be a space in which athletes face abuse and harassment, and…

Acquired Cognitive-Communication Disorder and Post-Concussion Syndrome

After a single concussion 15-30% of individuals do not recover within the expected time frame. This experience is termed “Post-Concussion Syndrome.” During this time, some athletes may experience challenges with cognition and communication, known as “Acquired Cognitive-Communication Disorder.” Speech-language pathologists can serve as an important part of the post-concussion care team to assist with cognitive…

Importance of physical activity for post-secondary students

University or college can be a stressful time. Trying to balance academics, social life and physical and mental health can be challenging. Students often find themselves having to sacrifice one thing for another, which can negatively impact their health. Anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms are common among university students (Herbert, 2022). Physical activity is beneficial…

Mental health at the Olympic and Paralympic Games

One hundred days before the Tokyo Olympic Games, World Champion rower Caileigh Filmer was ready to quit her sport. But instead, she decided to inspire others by sharing first-hand accounts of her experience with depression. Discover how the people responsible for mental health for Team Canada learned from the experiences of athletes like Filmer to…

Technology in sports (soccer)

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in sport psychology training due to its ability to simulate high pressure situations. In soccer, VR is used to train goalkeepers by triggering sport-induced anxiety during penalty kick simulations. Like VR exposure therapy used in military training and mental health therapy, this technology allows athletes to work through their…

Positive sport experiences of gay men

Sport participation has many benefits for one’s well-being. However, sport is not always a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ people. Research consistently demonstrates that homophobia can be pervasive in sport contexts like gyms, arenas, and locker rooms (Anderson, 2017; Cleland, 2018; Frederick et al., 2022; Hartmann-Tews et al., 2021).  In August of 2022, the federal government…

Beating the winter blues

Are you experiencing anxiety leading up to the winter this year? Consider taking up a winter sport! A recently published study followed nearly 400,000 Swedish cross-country skiers and non-skiers from the general population over a 21-year period. The researchers found that individuals who skied regularly were almost 60% less likely to experience anxiety than non-skiers.