Jessica Renney & Paula McQuaid - How Coaches Can Improve Mental Health for Athletes

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

[6:45] Why Athletes Don't Seek Help
[10:30] Tools for Coaches
[14:00] Mental Health Awareness in Professional Sports
[20:15] Incorporating Mental Health into Culture
[24:00] The Look, Notice, Listen Framework
[31:00] External Mental Health Resources for Coaches
[36:00] More about Hone Athletics

Today I got to talk with Jessica Renney & Paula McQuaid who co-founded Hone Athletics.

Paula McQuaid was born and raised in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. While attending school she enjoyed playing soccer and rugby. Paula completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology form the University of PEI as well as Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. While conducting research based around mental health and distress in cancer patients in 2009 Paula went on to receive her Masters in Counselling from Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington.

Ms. McQuaid’s past work experience includes working with youth and adults in both individual and group settings. More recently, she has taken particular interest in the athletic community with a focus on the mental well-being of athletes. Paula has also had the opportunity to work with Hockey Canada as a Mental Performance Consultant with the Women’s U-18 National Team, winning a bronze medal(2018), gold medal (2019) and silver medal (2020) at IIHF World Championships.
Paula is a Professional Member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, a nation-wide accredited body that works to enhance mental health services provided to Canadians.

Jessica Renney was born in Trail, British Columbia and raised in Western Canada. Jessica attended the University of Lethbridge where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Jessica later attended the University of Victoria and was awarded a Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology. Since that time, Jessica has worked with both adults and youth dealing with substance misuse struggles and mental health concerns. More recently, she has specialized in the development of mental well-being within the athletic community.**

In addition to her education, Jessica brings a very unique personal experience to MindfulAthletics. Ms. Renney’s father coached in the NHL for 13 years. During that time she was encouraged to play many different sports and quickly learned the value of a competitive athletic environment (especially to a young person on the move!).**

Jessica is a Professional Member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, a nation-wide accredited body that works to enhance mental health services provided to Canadians.**

HONE is an initiative of Mindful Athletics, an organization dedicated to supporting athletes’ mental health. Over the past five years, Mindful Athletics has worked with individual athletes, teams, associations, universities, and national level sporting organizations to provide psychoeducational workshops and help athletes identify and honour their mental health.

HONE was created when the psychotherapists behind Mindful Athletics realized they could expand their in-person mental health services into the digital space, and help even more athletes and teams accomplish better mental health and sports performance. Their unique, anonymous survey methods provide a simple way for athletes and coaches to co-create a better sporting environment.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level an