At Team IMPACT, Mental Health Awareness Month is an opportunity to recognize the importance of connections that can change lives. For children facing serious illness or disability, the journey can often feel isolating. Medical appointments, treatments, and time away from peers can create emotional challenges that impact not only physical health but mental wellbeing as well. Through the power of team, belonging, and consistent support, Team IMPACT helps children rediscover the joy, confidence, and connection that come with belonging, while student-athletes gain a deeper understanding of empathy, resilience, and purpose.
This Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to highlight the ripple effect of community alongside our partners at the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA). We sat down with Heidi Baskfield, the Vice President of Mental and Population Health at CHA and the Executive Director of Speak Our Minds, a nonprofit affiliate to CHA focused on mental health system transformation work, to discuss the importance of a program like Team IMPACT on the physical and mental wellbeing of children facing serious illness and disability.
We see the power of our program through the stories and experiences of our program participants every day, but that power is backed by numbers that help validate this work.
Among student-athletes involved with Team IMPACT, 83% report improved mental well-being, 84% say they are more resilient, 89% say they are more civic-minded, and 95% say they are more aware of their ability to make a difference. For children participating in the program, 87% report increased physical activity, 82% report improved cooperation with medical care, 82% report improved independence with medical care, and 78% report improved ability to advocate for themselves with medical teams
These numbers tell a powerful story, but the human experience behind them tells an even bigger one. “When we think about one of the key drivers for depression and anxiety in youth who are at higher risk of suicide,” Heidi said, “it’s this feeling of isolation, feeling alone and disconnected. What Team IMPACT offers is an actual way to solve for those feelings of isolation. It’s a way to create immediate levels of inclusion.”
At Team IMPACT, inclusion is the driving force behind everything we do. These relationships go far beyond game days and practices. Teammates become support systems, locker rooms become safe spaces, and children who may have once felt sidelined become valued members of a community that has their backs. “The athletes inspire this understanding of hard the things that you can do, that you can surmount, the challenges that you can overcome,” Baskfield shared. “Through physical pain, you can use mental resilience to engage with and create positive outcomes. I think that is what comes from being part of a team and being able to look to and lean on the people around you to help you work through tough times.”
“What the research shows is that when your mental health is strong, your physical health outcomes are higher, better, improved,” Heidi said, “and when we don’t support and manage those mental health elements of a disease state, we stop seeing the kind of consistent management on the day to day. That’s the same on the mental health side.” Without this consistent focus, Heidi warned, we’re going to see alarming trends in children’s mental health. “Between 2016 and 2021,” she said, “we saw an over 50% increase in mental health cases in the emergency department for kids ages 3-18, and we’re going to continue to see suicide as a leading cause of death for youth ages 5-18. That’s all preventable.” Through awareness, inclusion, and programs like Team IMPACT, we can begin to turn the tide on those trends.
“Team IMPACT is helping deliver immediate engagement and support for the youth that they work with, and the youth then are giving this sense of connection and meaning and really making Team IMPACT feel part of a health care team,” Heidi said. “It’s not just about getting you on the field or on the court. It’s about making a difference in how you handle your disease or illness or condition.”
Just as meaningful is the impact these relationships have on families. Parents and caregivers navigating difficult medical journeys often carry enormous emotional weight. Through Team IMPACT, families find hope, encouragement, and moments of joy in the middle of uncertainty. “What stood out to me was not just how fundamentally different the patient was as a result of the partnership with Team IMPACT, but the family as a whole,” Heidi shared. “The partnership offers hope and positivity and change, as much for the families as for the patients.”
Mental Health Awareness Month reminds us that addressing youth mental health requires community-wide commitment, compassion, and action. It requires creating environments where children feel seen, valued, and connected.
And at their cores, that’s exactly what Team IMPACT and the Children’s Hospital Association are about. “I think at the most basic core of Team IMPACT and CHA is this real sense of humanity,” Heidi said. “How are we creating human-centered connection? The value of Team IMPACT is keeping people and humanity at the forefront.”
As we continue working to expand access and awareness, we remain committed to building experiences that strengthen both mental and physical wellbeing for children and families across the country. For Heidi, the partnership between Team IMPACT and CHA has potential to change the game for so many children experiencing physical and mental health struggles. “I would say more is better in this situation,” she said. “If you’d like to be a part of an experience that brings joy to your child, then Team IMPACT is the place to be.”
To learn more about youth mental health advocacy and resources this Mental Health Awareness Month, please visit Speak Our Minds. And to be part of a community that brings joy, belonging, and hope to children facing serious illness or disability, Team IMPACT is the place to be.