WALTHAM — Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan opened up candidly this week about their struggles with mental health (depression, panic attacks) over the course of their careers.
Brad Stevens was pleased to see that conversation come to the forefront of the NBA as mental health support and outreach is something he has been trying to promote within the Celtics organization over the past years. He spoke at length passionately on the topic after today's practice in Waltham.
"I think mental health and mental wellness is one of the most important things we can do, talk about and recognize," Stevens said Saturday. "I think the first assumption as a coach can't be that we just have to run harder or do it tougher. You have to understand that everybody is a human being, and you have to understand that everybody has things that they're dealing with. And I think that for those two guys to talk about it is really important. The stigma attached to mental wellness – to me, it's the same as we tape ankles every day. Let's take care of all of ourselves.
"At the start of the season, we actually had a local expert in that area come and speak to our team. He's available a couple of times a month here, and then available at any time our players need it throughout the course of the year for anyone – for friends, loved ones, anybody. When you start looking at the numbers of people affected by depression, anxiety, whatever the case may be, it's a lot of -- it's a lot of -- people. And we want to make sure we're on top of that. That's really important to me."
Marcus Smart talked glowingly about how much he appreciated Stevens being ahead of the curve on this issue.
“It’s huge," Smart said. "And that’s what’s crazy. Brad was preaching about mental health before all this really became public. And that just shows who Brad really is. He’s thinking about others. And he’s one of those guys who we count on. He’s part of our support system as this team. And for him to be able to do that for us is huge for us.”
While there may be a bit of a stigma surrounding talking about mental illness in some circles, Stevens is pleased to see that attitude is fading with time.
"That's old," Stevens explained. "I was fortunate that my career started at Eli Lilly, and the two drugs we were most responsible for monitoring the sales of were Prozac anti-depression and Zyprexa for bipolar and schizophrenia. When you work in the pharmaceutical industry, you realize there's a lot out of people's control, and there are ways that people can be helped. And if we can do something to help show people that it's not only OK, we encourage asking for help. Because, again, we take care of everybody's physical needs all over the place – we should all be on top of our mental needs and wellness needs. It's really important to me, and I'm thrilled that the NBA and some of its best players have come out and talked about it in the last couple of weeks."
Smart knows that there is still some work to be done on that front within his own generation to make sure everyone feels comfortable in getting help for their own personal issues.
"It’s going to take some time," Smart explained. "It’s definitely going to take some time just for the fact that we’ve been building this thing of, like I said, the ‘weakness’ part of asking for help. So it’s going to take some time. It’s like a bad habit, it’s going to take time to break. But eventually, we’ll break through it.
"Especially as men, I think we grow up to feel like we’ve gotta be able to do anything on our own. If you ask for help, it shows a sign of weakness. But unfortunately, it’s not that way. You do need help. You can’t do it on your own. Nobody’s perfect. So especially in this business and this game and this life, it’s a lot of things that go on. There are a lot of components that key into your life and a lot of distractions and things like that. So it can get hectic. And it’s good to see those guys come out and say those things to kind of encourage guys not to be afraid. If you need help, speak out on it.”