With the recent passing of Katie Meyer, I feel compelled to address this. Although I wasn’t fortunate enough to know Katie, I can see how much of an impact she had on so many people. I see a number of athletes in a number of different sports. Each of them coming to see me for some type of physical ailment; a sprained ankle, low back pain, knee pain, etc. They feel comfortable coming to me telling me their ankle hurts when they run, or their back hurts when they do a backhandspring, but for some reason, as a society we have created a stigma associated with talking about mental health. Why aren’t we talking about mental health as simply and as fluidly as we are talking about that sprained ankle, or that sore low back? We need to be better about addressing the athlete as a whole — this goes way beyond their physical health. The pressure in collegiate sports and the path to getting to collegiate sports is brutal. Hell, the world today in general is brutal. My wish is that this terrible situation brings awareness to how important mental health is in athletics. Mental health IS real. We need to be better as a society and as providers about recognizing when our athletes need help, and provide a space for them to feel heard, and more importantly feel loved. Athletes are more than just their sport, they are humans. With real emotions, and we MUST be better about catering to every need of their well-being.