The Dallas Mavericks have empowered young women in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex. The team recently hosted an impactful event at the Young Women’s STEAM Academy in Balch Springs, Texas, 15.5 miles from Dallas. The Mavericks’ event focused on topics surrounding mental health, such as the differences between mental health and mental illness.
Mental illness is one of the biggest health issues affecting Americans today. That being said, an American’s mental health could contribute to — or decrease — the chances of developing a mental illness. If a young woman doesn’t prioritize her mental health, she could receive a mental illness diagnosis or two down the road. The Mavericks’ event wasn’t definitive, but was a step in the right direction. Here’s how the team succeeded that day.
Dallas Mavericks’ Empowerment
The Mavericks’ empowerment extends its services out of their arena. The team’s most recent effort was hosting the event at the Young Women’s STEAM Academy in Balch Springs, TX, as part of the Girls Empowered by Mavericks (GEM) program. The event’s fun and games included downtime with the Dallas mascot, Champ, and a forward-thinking conversation with special guests from UT Southwestern and the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
Dr. Kaylee Davis-Bordovsky, an assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at UT Southwestern, told the audience about the importance of fostering mental illness-centered conversations with middle-school-aged girls, citing that nearly 50% of all mental illnesses begin around age 14. Dr. Davis also defined the differences between mental health and mental illness, highlighting the benefits of a balanced diet, exercise, and a quality night’s rest.
Priorities
The Mavericks’ priorities extend past its on-court duties among the owners, managers, coaches, players, and trainers. The team’s recent event demonstrated their commitment to the local community in the DFW Metroplex. According to Mavs.com, Dr. Davis-Bordosky stressed the importance of mental health conversations with the audience, “It’s critical that we start having this discussion now while these students are young so that we can bring awareness to the topic, and they can seek mental health treatment while they’re still young to prevent it from developing into something a lot more serious.”
“The biggest thing I hope the students walked away with is that you can’t get help unless you talk to somebody. Most people feel like they’re going through things alone and need to keep it bottled up. But what I want them to take away is that you have to talk to somebody, whether it’s a friend, a teacher, a parent, a coach or a counselor, to start that conversation because nobody knows that they can help you unless you tell them.”
Support
The Dallas Mavericks’ support came from within — and with some assistance from the WNBA’s Dallas Wings. The Wings’ Vice President of Basketball Operations and Assistant General Manager Jasmine Thomas attended the event, weighing in on the mental illness vs. mental health topics and illustrating the importance of Dr. Davis-Bordovsky’s words.
Mavs.com reported that Thomas told the audience, “I would say that the stress and the anxiety to perform, and to do well, and to keep breaking barriers and getting better has consistently been with me, and what I have learned is the balance and the support system that is necessary to deal with that … So, for me, when I was younger, around your age, the best way I did that was through the people I surrounded myself with, the friends and the family that had my goals in mind and that I could rely on.”
This year’s edition of the GEM speaker series empowered students at the Young Women’s STEAM Academy in a different way than in previous years through the atypical one-hour athletics classes. This year’s edition helped students better understand their mental health and stressed the importance of asking for help during this critical time in their young lives.
