Texas Rio Grande Valley Athletics

Mental health is of the upmost importance to UTRGV Athletics and UTRGV Sports Medicine. UTRGV will follow mental health policies and procedures put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all UTRGV student-athletes. UTRGV prioritizes student-athlete physical and mental well-being to ensure there is a positive experience through education, social life, and athletics. UTRGV and UTRGV Athletics offer a myriad of mental health services. There is TimelyCare a 24/7 on demand online support service, UTRGV Student Counseling Center, UT Health Psychiatry & Behavior Health Clinics, and UTRGV Athletic Behavioral Health Consultant.
   
It is of high importance that mental health concerns remain private to protect all UTRGV student-athletes. UTRGV athletic staff, coaching staff, and sports medicine staff will ensure any mental health information, including but not limited to, mental health appointments, hospitalizations, and mental health incidents are shared with proper personnel. Listed below are the individuals that may have knowledge of mental health information. These individuals may be notified of mental health information to aid in the well-being of a UTRGV student-athlete. By no means should this information be shared with student-athlete’s teammates and peers.

• Dr. Deepu George, Athletic Behavior Health Consultant
• Molly Castner, Deputy Director of Athletics/SWA
• Steven Kraus, Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine
• UTRGV Sports Medicine Medical Assistant
• UTRGV Sports Medicine Physicians/Doctors
• UTRGV Student Health Staff and Physicians/Doctors
• Student-Athlete’s Coaching Staff
• Student-Athlete’s Direct Athletic Trainer
• Student-Athlete’s Sport Administrator

 
A Risk Assessment needs to be completed either over the phone or face-to-face with the student-athlete.

• Ensure the student is in a safe place, under control, and is not a risk to self or others.
  1. Risk Assessment needs to include an assessment for risk of suicide, including suicidal ideation:
     1. An assessment of their risk of harm to others, their present safety, and if they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
     2. Question where the student-athlete is (an address/location), who they are with, and their phone number, along with a phone number of a person they are with.
     3. Plan, Intent of involved student-athlete, and Access to the Plan
• Following determination that a student-athlete is at risk of harm to self and/or a risk of harm to others, the following procedures are to be implemented for an Emergent Assessment:
  1. If the student is an on-campus resident, contact Campus Police at (956) 882-4911 or (911) to perform a wellness check and have the student-athlete transported by ambulance to the DHR Behavior Hospital.
     1. When contacting Campus Police, be sure to explain the situation as a mental health concern with risk of self-harm and/or harm to others. Attempt to stay on the phone with the student-athlete or individual who has informed you of the situation until EMS has arrived.
  2. If the student is an off-campus resident (The Rio, The Grande, etc.), contact Emergency Services at (911) to perform a wellness check and have the student-athlete transported by ambulance to the DHR Behavior Hospital.
     1. When contacting Emergency Services, be sure to explain the situation as a mental health concern with the risk of self-harm and/or harm to others. Attempt to stay on the phone with the student-athlete or individual who has informed you of the situation until EMS has arrived.
  3. Once confirmation of arrival of EMS, please contact the student-athlete’s direct athletic trainer, if they are not already aware of the situation. The direct athletic trainer will contact a UTRGV athletic mental and behavioral health specialist and inform them of the mental health scenario.
  4. If possible, the student-athlete’s direct athletic trainer or sport administrator will meet EMS to introduce them to the student-athlete, and/or go to the DHR Behavior Hospital to report information as needed and to support the student-athlete until they are admitted and/or discharged. If the direct athletic trainer or sport administrator is not available, a member of the chain of command may be involved to aid in the situation.
  5. Once the student is safe and/or admitted to the DHR Behavior Hospital, inform Molly Castner and Steven Kraus of the situation.
  6. If the student-athlete is not admitted and it has been determined that this is in the best interest of the student-athlete, they will be scheduled to see UTRGV Mental Health Services at the earliest opportunity.
  7. If the student-athlete is admitted to the DHR Behavior Hospital, appropriate Release of Information paperwork will be signed by the student-athlete for continuance of care to UTRGV Sports Medicine Staff.
• Shane Venteicher, Molly Castner, or the student-athlete’s direct athletic trainer will contact the student-athletes’ mental health emergency contact(s) following discussion and determination of who is most appropriate to make contact.

   

• If a student-athlete comes to you with reports of being sexually assaulted and has apparent injuries and/or reports injuries not obvious to the eye, contact Campus Police at (956) 882-4911, (911), or call Police Precinct of location of the incident. To help comfort the student-athlete, offer to contact Campus Police or the proper Police Precinct for them and relay all pertinent information.
• If a student/athlete comes to you with reports of being sexually assaulted from a previous incident with healed injuries contact Campus Police at (956) 882-4911, (911), or call the Police Precinct of location of the incident. To help comfort the student-athlete, offer to contact Campus Police or the proper Police Precinct for them and relay all pertinent information.
• UTRGV’s mental health services will be explained to the victim and they will be offered the opportunity to speak with a behavior and mental health specialist at the earliest opportunity.
• Inform Molly Castner (Deputy Director of Athletics/SWA) and Steven Kraus (Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine) of the situation.
• UTRGV must report all crimes, including those of sexual assault/abuse and harassment, to remain compliant with the Clery Act.

   
In cases of acute intoxication or drug overdose, the student-athlete’s safety is of first concern.  Call Campus Police at (956) 882-4911 or (911) so the student-athlete can be transported by EMS to the hospital to receive proper medical attention.  This will likely include toxicology screening to help determine the substances ingested and the severity of intoxication to receive the most beneficial medical treatment.

• If a student-athlete is found unconscious or unable to communicate and is suspected to be due to a drug overdose, call (911) immediately to activate EMS and prepare to initiate CPR. Please provide location, name, gender, age, and any pertinent vital signs of the unconscious student-athlete to the (911) operator.
  • Inform the student-athlete’s direct athletic trainer, Molly Castner, Steven Kraus, and a member of their direct coaching staff of the situation.
• If a student-athlete arrives to a UTRGV athletic sanctioned event intoxicated and is not in medical distress, contact the Molly Castner and a member of their direct coaching staff immediately and inform them of the situation.
• UTRGV’s mental health services will be explained to the involved student-athlete and they will be offered the opportunity to speak with a behavior and mental health specialist at the earliest opportunity regarding their substance use and/or abuse.

   
Should any UTRGV student-athlete, staff member, athletics staff member, student, sports medicine staff member, and/or coaching staff member be involved with care of a UTRGV student-athlete with suicidal ideation or suicide attempt; is allowed the opportunity to speak with a UTRGV athletic mental health service staff member or a member of UT Health Psychiatric and Behavior Health staff at a UT Health affiliated clinic. UTRGV Sports Medicine Staff will assist any person involved in an event in arranging an appointment with either Dr. George or a Psychiatric and Behavior staff member at a UT Health affiliated clinic.
   
If a student-athlete is determined safe, in a non-emergent situation, and/or requesting to speak with a psychologist or behavior and mental health specialist, the Athletic Trainer is to arrange an appointment to speak with a member of the mental health service team. If the student-athlete expresses this concern to a non-sports medicine staff member, that staff member is to explain to the student-athlete the availability of UTRGV’s many mental health services and request the student-athlete’s consent to speak with the sports medicine staff to arrange an appointment with a member of the UTRGV mental health service staff.

1. The athletic trainer will determine the need(s) of the student-athlete to speak with a behavioral and mental health specialist.
2. A referral will be created by the athletic trainer with the mental health need(s)/concern of the student-athlete and sent to the UTRGV Sports Medicine medical assistant to schedule an appointment with a member of the UTRGV mental health service team.
3. The Athletic Trainer will communicate the appointment time and location of the scheduled appointment.
4. Should a UTRGV athletic mental health service member be unavailable, student-athletes will have the opportunity to be scheduled at the on campus UTRGV Counseling Center. The referral process will be much of the same and the Sports Medicine medical assistant will work to help schedule appoints with the Counseling Center’s staff. Student-athletes will have the opportunity to be seen online or in person.

   
UTRGV students and UTRGV student-athletes have access to a free, 24/7 virtual mental health service called TimelyCare. TimelyCare offers on demand support, up to 9 scheduled mental health counseling appointments, and health coaching to name a few services. This service can be done through a computer or on a cellular phone through the TimelyCare application. Below the links are listed to visit the computer version or to download the application.

• Computer Version
• Apple/IOS Application
• Android/Google Play Store Application