“Sport is just a really powerful connector with people.” BroncoBOLD provides student athletes, and high schoolers with resources to talk openly about mental health
BOISE, Idaho — September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and mental health organizations across Boise are holding events to raise awareness and continue the conversation around mental health.
One of those organizations, BroncoBOLD, is working to bridge the gap between sports and mental health at Boise State and high schools across the Treasure Valley.
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The program uses sports and athletics to create connections, encourage conversations about mental health and help students feel more comfortable seeking support when they need it.
Boise State’s Bronco Bold program is using sports to bring people together, create connections and provide tools to make it easier to talk about the topic of mental health.
The program focuses on suicide prevention by spreading awareness, and creating opportunities for students and athletes to build protective factors against suicide.
“With Bronco Bold, we really focus on preventative upstream prevention, and so putting out programming that really works to create those protective factors that help protect against suicide,” said Stephanie Donaldson, Boise State assistant athletic director of athletic counseling and mental performance.
“Sport is just a really powerful connector with people,” Donaldson said. “We use the platform of sport as just to bring people together, create connections, and intentionally do that for our community.”
Bronco Bold began as a program within Boise State Athletics but has since expanded to high schools across the Treasure Valley. The program now has initiatives in 20 different schools. Last week, more than 200 high school students attended Bronco Bold’s high school ambassador summit, where students learned how to become advocates for mental health.
“Just last week, we had over 200 high school students join us for our high school ambassador summit, where we’re teaching students how to be advocates of mental health, and take giving them the tools and the resources to go into their own schools and promote their own Bold programs,” Donaldson said.
Representatives from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 service also attended the summit to educate students on resources available, including calling or texting 988 when they need mental health support.
“Part of their programming this year within their schools is promoting 988 and helping their students and their peers know that that’s an option to call if you need help,” Donaldson said.
The high school programs use sports to build awareness around mental health. That includes initiatives such as wearing “Mental Health Matters” bows on athletic jerseys, similar to the campaign used by Boise State for there “BOLD” game.
“Our high schoolers have been amazing at promoting that within the community and their own communities at their schools,” Donaldson said.
Donaldson said one of the most important parts of creating a supportive environment is simply making time to listen.
“Showing someone that you can show up, that you can care, you can create space for them, and you can hold that space for them is incredibly powerful,” Donaldson said. “We teach it as like it’s your power tool to create connection and to create change too.”