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Mental Health Education in Sport: Strength-Based Approaches

AUTHOR:

Eli Waxler

Link to Resource
Mental Health Education in Sport

Mental health education in sport often centers on recognizing distress—signs like anxiety, depression, and burnout. While identifying these challenges plays a crucial role, focusing only on deficits can unintentionally frame mental health as fragile—something to protect rather than develop. A strength-based approach shifts the narrative. It empowers athletes to not only recognize problems but also actively build personal strengths, resilience, and the ability to thrive.

Grounded in positive psychology, this approach emphasizes growth, agency, and flourishing. Instead of defining mental health as the absence of illness, it encourages athletes to develop psychological tools that support both well-being and performance. Mental health, in this model, becomes a set of skills athletes can intentionally cultivate—just like technical ability or physical endurance.

Defining a Strength-Based Approach

Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) introduced positive psychology to explore what enables people and communities to thrive. One of the field’s foundational elements involves identifying and cultivating character strengths—positive traits reflected in thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

The VIA Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) offers athletes a roadmap for understanding and applying these strengths. It outlines 24 character strengths—like perseverance, bravery, teamwork, leadership, and hope—that appear across cultures. Research shows that when people intentionally use their strengths, they experience greater well-being, resilience, and success in achieving their goals (Seligman et al., 2005).

In sports, coaches and educators can help athletes focus on more than just managing stress. They can show them how to use their strengths to overcome challenges. For example, a soccer player might rely on perseverance to power through injury recovery, while a basketball player might use social intelligence to improve team communication under pressure.

Aligning Strengths with Self-Concordant Goals

Positive psychology also introduces the concept of self-concordant goals—goals that align with an individual’s authentic values and interests (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). Athletes who pursue goals that reflect their true motivations tend to show stronger performance, sustained effort, and better mental health outcomes.

To support this, coaches can guide athletes in setting goals that reflect their personal values. Instead of solely chasing external outcomes like championships, athletes might aim to become stronger leaders or master specific skills. These goals create deeper meaning and increase intrinsic motivation.

When athletes connect their strengths with self-concordant goals, they begin a cycle of motivation and fulfillment. They recognize their capabilities, set meaningful objectives, and feel satisfied with their growth—an experience that reinforces positive mental health.

Meeting Psychological Needs Through Strengths

Strength-based education also aligns with Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which highlights three essential psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. By encouraging athletes to discover and apply their strengths, coaches help them feel more autonomous in their development, more competent in their roles, and more connected to teammates and mentors.

Programs that include strength-based activities, personalized goal setting, and relationship-building exercises can fulfill these needs. As a result, athletes gain psychological resilience and a stronger sense of internal motivation.

Practical Applications in Sport

Coaches and organizations can adopt strength-based mental health education in sport through practical strategies such as:

  • Character Strengths Workshops: Athletes complete the VIA Inventory and explore how their strengths show up in practice and competition.
  • Strengths-Based Coaching Conversations: Coaches highlight athletes’ strengths in feedback and help them apply these traits to challenges.
  • Self-Concordant Goal Setting: Athletes set personal, values-driven goals each season and revisit them regularly.
  • Strength Spotting Among Teammates: Coaches train athletes to notice and affirm strengths in one another, creating a supportive team environment.

While this approach doesn’t replace the need to address mental health concerns, it expands the conversation. It teaches athletes to view mental health not only as something to protect—but as something they can train, grow, and enhance over time.

Conclusion

A strength-based approach reframes mental health education in sport into a powerful and proactive process. By helping athletes recognize their character strengths, pursue meaningful goals, and meet their core psychological needs, sport leaders can support the mental well-being of athletes in lasting ways. As the dialogue around athlete mental health evolves, integrating positive psychology into sport provides a path not just to prevention—but to flourishing.

References

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14.

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421.

Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482–497.