Mental health and performance go hand in hand. That’s one reason why the U.S. Olympics and Paralympic Committee started expanding its team in 2020, and currently employees 15 full-time staff while maintaining a network of hundreds of other providers. (In a first, the medical team even received a sponsorship from the medical apparel brand Figs, which outfitted healthcare professionals for the event.)
Psychologist Dr. Kweku Smith started working for the Olympics last year, and was on site in Paris this month providing mental health services to athletes and staff, often working between 12- and 18-hour days. He shared his experience with Fast Company.
Paint the picture for us. What did a typical day look like?
It’s so hard to describe. The best way I can say it, [it’s like] the longest day in the world. The best comparison is when you’re in college and you have final exams and you’re just going and you haven’t slept in 24 hours. That’s how it was. There was something constantly going on.
We were housed within the village, where all the athletes lived. There was something called a High Performance Center (HPC) where American athletes do their practice. We’d go down there and give an elevator talk, or just provide support by showing up.
We also had something called the ART, which was the athlete resource center. There was a room for the athletes, where they could come and get away from everything. We also did one-on-one visits within the ART. One of the best resources was something called the Mind Zone, which had VR sets. It’s a very Zen setting, and you go in, and the athlete puts on the VR set. They can walk into the arena or stadium and you can talk through what it feels like to deal with an audience: What are the things that we do to regulate our breathing? If we’re too high, how do we come down? If we’re too low, how do we come up?
There were also just places to rest and relax. For those who love to draw, who love to paint, there was a drawing section, a painting session, and one of the best things was they had free postcards. Athletes could write to their families and friends, which helped them take their mind off of the sport.
Another thing we get to do, because some of us are embedded more in teams, is we’ll teach teams how to have better camaraderie, how to improve upon teamwork, and work on global goals that trickle into the individual goals. It’s a huge variety.
I also still had clients back in the U.S. who didn’t make it to the Olympics, whom I’d need to see after the day ended.
What are the most common issues you see?
Oh, there were so many different types of issues. But we do divide them into performance or clinical issues, and I’d say it was about 65% performance and 35% clinical.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with sports. It’s purely clinical about things that are going on in their lives. If we can help you in your life, make you a better person, that’s going to pay dividends on your field of play. Then there’s athletes who do feel good but they want the extra advantage. So we’ll talk about dealing with anxiety, regulating your breathing and emotions.
We saw athletes because sometimes they just wanted to get away. Sometimes it was because of sleep. Sometimes it was anxiety. Sometimes they just want a friendly face because something that just happened at home, something that happened with the coach, something that happened with the teammate. It’s one of those things where you say, I didn’t know I needed it until I needed it, and then it was there to have.
So many times people look at the athletes who won, or who medaled, but you have got to remember, there’s athletes who never made it to the semifinal, or who made it to the semifinal, didn’t make it to the final, or went to the final, and their name was never called. They need the same type of love, care, and compassion. We could celebrate the highs with the athletes and the team, but were also there those individuals who needed people at a crucial time.
I look at psychological services sometimes as a fire person who gives you a smoke detector, and once you get the smoke detector, that’s going to prevent the fire. And I think having us there meant a lot of fires were sniffed out before they could even happen.
In an environment where it’s your job to care for other people, how do you handle taking care of yourself?
That’s a great question. I actually lost a family member while I was at the Olympics, but I knew that it would help me to work—and what helped was my team. We have self-care measures and we also we had each other. We had an unprecedented number of staff this year.
What do you do to prepare athletes for transitioning back home after the Olympics?
We started this work well before the Olympics. During the training for the Olympics, we talk about, what are our goals? What are we going to do prior to the Olympics? What are we going to do during the games? What are we going to do post-game?
Some factors to consider are where’s the athlete expecting to go next? Was this their last Olympics because they are retiring? Then we talk about what they need to do not only post-Olympics but post-athletic career. We have a pivot program that helps retiring people transition. We also talk about how to celebrate your time at the Olympics and commemorate it, while also how do you move on to the next thing? A lot of athletes hate that question, but we do talk about it. We prepare for what’s next. Do I need to rest or take care of an injury? What are resources that are available and how do I access them?
I’m a therapist, but I’ll tell you, the post-Olympic blues are also a thing for us. One of the things I did right away when I got home was a basketball camp with Jason Terry, former NBA player.
I also think that the Olympics does a great thing with the opening ceremony and the closing. The closing is like a graduation . . . It’s the ending, but a beginning. There’s sadness, but it brings closure, while also springboarding to what’s next. So even passing the torch from Paris 2024 to Los Angeles 2028, we’re saying it’s over, but it’s not over.
Anything else you’d like to add?
We need to be kind to each other. There were certain incidents, including a bronze medal being taken away and a boxer who was accused of being a man, and there were a lot of athletes who suffered major abuse on social media. Sometimes people who did very well, they were just hated on, and they would get death threats. We had over 1,000 social media hits that alerted staff that there’s a threat. It’s not just athletes, it’s coaches and judges.
Sometimes people turn off their social media, but their family and friends and community who are also invested hear things too, and they have a vicarious trauma. Obviously, we have a freedom of speech, but we need to use it responsibly.
