{"id":708,"date":"2020-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/4-steps-that-made-wellness-a-cultural-mainstay-at-the-carolina-panthers\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:13","slug":"4-steps-that-made-wellness-a-cultural-mainstay-at-the-carolina-panthers","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/4-steps-that-made-wellness-a-cultural-mainstay-at-the-carolina-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Steps That Made Wellness a Cultural Mainstay at the Carolina Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Aug 13, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

4 Steps That Made Wellness a Cultural Mainstay at the Carolina Panthers<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Former Director of Player Wellness Tish Guerin took to the Leaders stage to explore the intersection of mental wellbeing, resilience and training in the NFL.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Tish Guerin was one of the first in-house mental health clinicians in the NFL.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

At a time when most teams would out-source their mental health work she came into the Carolina Panthers in September 2018 and set about making wellbeing an organisational mainstay for the franchise during her two years with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that everyone will see the benefit of having someone full-time on staff who the players can use as a resource,\u201d she told the Charlotte Observer<\/i><\/em>\u00a0upon her appointment. Nyaka NiiLampti<\/u><\/a>, the Director of Wellness at the NFLPA, also described Guerin as a \u201cgame-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nearly two years of accomplished work, Guerin took to Twitter in June to announce her departure. \u201cThank you to the Carolina Panthers for the opportunity to create, build implement programming to ensure the mental wellness of players,\u201d she tweeted.<\/p>\n

Guerin has been succeeded by Kent Johnston, who was hired by new Head Coach Matt Rhule earlier this year. Johnston has spoken publicly of the challenges posed by the pandemic but was certainly left some strong foundations by his predecessor.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus was still a faraway threat when she presented on the team\u2019s culture of player wellness at the 2020 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in Charlotte<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in February.<\/p>\n

The Panthers\u2019 Bank of America Stadium was the setting as she posed a question: \u201cHow are we helping to drive that culture, motivate and sustain it?\u201d For her there is no doubt that wellness leads to greater mental resilience, which ultimately boosts performance.<\/p>\n

Hers is a compelling case and the Leaders Performance Institute picks out four steps to help shift the conversation around wellness at your team.<\/p>\n

<\/b>1. If you build it, they will come<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAre we making sure that we\u2019re building a culture that subscribes to making sure we\u2019re all in good mental health?\u201d asked Guerin. In truth, the Panthers\u2019 growing emphasis on wellness predated her arrival, with former Panthers\u2019 wide receiver Mark Carrier laying some excellent foundations as Director of Player Engagement prior to his promotion to Executive Director of Football Staff in 2018.<\/p>\n

There was something for her to work with, even if she was surprised at some of the early levels of athlete engagement. \u201cOne of the things I found interesting was the immediate self-reporting,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat was really how I really started to measure the psychological wellbeing of our players.\u201d Guerin was also proactive in her approach. \u201cI had to make sure I was at the forefront, that they knew they could come to me and get that confidential interaction with me.\u201d It worked. \u201cPlayers came to me pretty much within my first week and they weren\u2019t necessarily talking about the weather or their favourite restaurants – they were talking about real life issues that they were dealing with and wanted to combat those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players were perhaps taking their lead from former Carolina Head Coach Ron Rivera, who spoke of his difficulty in coming to terms with his older brother\u2019s death shortly before the team entered training camp in 2015. Rivera compartmentalised his anguish after the funeral and for the duration of the proceeding season but later admitted that his grief finally caught up with him after Carolina\u2019s defeat to Denver in Super Bowl 50 in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times where you can\u2019t turn it on and turn it off,\u201d he said two years later. \u201cYou really don\u2019t have a chance to grieve. It\u2019s a tough moment. But while other things are happening, you have to be able to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera\u2019s attitude helps Guerin no end. \u201cBeing able to self-report is pivotal; making sure that players feel safe and that it\u2019s OK to not be OK. It\u2019s OK to say \u2018today is not a great day\u2019 or say \u2018coach, I need to step out and go talk to Tish for a little bit and then I\u2019ll be back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/b>2. Establish behavioural baselines for your athletes<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Guerin worked to develop a relationship with each member of the Panthers\u2019 roster. \u201cEvery day during the season our players would see me,\u201d she said, \u201cand I work really hard to develop a rapport with our players, which can be very difficult. I eat breakfast with them, I eat lunch with them, I go out to the field; I go out to practice with them whether it\u2019s rain, snow or sleet – they can always expect to see Tish and have a check-in with me if they need to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do that as a way not just to hang out and be seen but I do it as a way of making sure I know what the behavioural baseline is of every single last player in our roster.\u201d NFL rosters are comprised of 53 active players, so it is no mean feat on her part.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what their normal is; I know what it looks like when a player has a good mindset and is emotionally balanced because I know what their levels are and I see them every day. That\u2019s the benefit of being able to interact with them day in and day out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about being able to recognise if, during a play, they struggled and I know it\u2019s not something they struggled with typically. That\u2019s where I\u2019m able to go in and say, \u2018hey, I noticed you hesitated before you made that block and in this play that\u2019s not normally something you would do. Why is that?\u2019 That\u2019s addressing that potential performance anxiety and working through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/b>3. You might not be the person to whom they want to talk<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Guerin also accepted that she may not be the right person for each and every player. \u201cOne of the things that\u2019s been important for me is acknowledging that players may not respond to me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat meant I couldn\u2019t come in and have an ego about that. When Coach Rivera brought me in, he let me get up in front of the team and give my spiel and I let them know right off: \u2018if you prefer a male, that\u2019s perfectly fine. I\u2019m happy to refer you to wherever you\u2019ll get the best treatment from\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be aware of who you are serving, who those athletes are, who they might best respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/b>4. Help athletes to help themselves<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next step as a clinician is to provide the athlete with tools to help themselves. For Guerin it began with coping skills, which are, \u201cjust those things you do to help you keep calm; that give you balance. You want to encourage activities that give the person a sense of peace, balance and a way to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also delved into tackling the ever-present threat of performance anxiety. \u201cYou want to change the thought process so that instead of a player thinking \u2018I\u2019m not going to make this block because this guy has two inches on me and about 30lbs\u2019 you think \u2018I\u2019m going to keep my feet planted on the ground, I\u2019m going to dig in all the way through and I\u2019m going to hold them off with everything I have in me.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging how you look at things can be instrumental in helping to decrease performance anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage our athletes to look outside of their discipline to something else that gives them joy. I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s a cooking class; we\u2019ve had a player who\u2019s learning to be pilot; one guy was interested in being a glass blower. I don\u2019t know why but, hey, do your thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps the creative process and it helps them to buy-in more to being on the football field because now they have some balance.\u201d The \u201cmental agility\u201d this affords players will prove useful as they continue their transition from Coach Rivera to Coach Rhule.<\/p>\n

Guerin wrapped up her presentation with a call to action: \u201cIt is your chance to ensure that you are treating the whole person, not just the athlete – that is your choice as staff, coaches, mentors and leaders – make sure you treat the entire person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs your organisation promoting optimal wellness in terms of mental health? Are you promoting wellness and resilience? If not, really do an organisational deep dive and try to see what other things you can bring in and do to make sure that everyone within your team and within your organisation is healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Looking for more performance insight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Performance<\/em> 21<\/em> is available for download now and leads with a selection of insights lifted from our At Home With Leaders podcast series, which has featured the likes of England Rugby\u2019s Eddie Jones<\/strong>, the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Mark Shapiro<\/strong>, and Chelsea\u2019s Emma Hayes<\/strong> speaking directly from their home offices.<\/p>\n