mental health

The Spring/Summer Sports Medicine Legal Digest features a Q&A with NATA Mental Health America liaison Timothy Neal, LLMSW, ATC, CCISM, about mental health, substance abuse and the AT’s responsibility. The following is a continuation of this Q&A.

Q. What's the best way to start a discussion with an athlete that an AT suspects as a mental health or substance abuse issue?

Editor’s note: In April 2016, NATA Now ran a column by Timothy Neal, LLMSW, ATC, CCISM, titled “Burnout in Athletes,” kicking off a series of mental health-related columns that were posted throughout May in honor of Mental Health Month. To this day, it remains the most visited post on NATA Now and is one of the top 25 pages viewed on www.nata.org.