Wellness, like football, is a team concept. That’s why we strive to provide wellness resources and support not only to players and former players but also to the people who support the players, like family members, coaches, medical staff, clinicians, directors of player engagement, and team chaplains. We nourish this ecosystem through a four-part model.
The NFL Total Wellness model for achieving its goals utilizes four primary approaches.
Create, expand, and deliver resources to all members of the NFL family to foster well-being.
Offer targeted wellness-related education across the NFL and to the public.
Reinforce, collaborate with, and align the various player support systems and networks.
Integrate wellness perspectives into the development and implementation of league policies.
NFL Total Wellness helps with the delivery of resources that are part of our platform—NFL Life Line, Cigna Work/Life Resources, and team clinicians—and supports wellness-related resources provided by partners such as NFL Player Engagement, Player Care Foundation, the NFL Players Association, and The Trust.
The 24/7 independently operated crisis line provides confidential and anonymous support for players, Legends, coaches, staff, and immediate family members, and has been part of the Total Wellness platform since they both launched in 2012. Total Wellness works with Life Line operator Vibrant Emotional Health to review and enhance the service’s performance and align it with other mental health resources.
The Cigna work/life programs for players, coaches, game officials, and members of their households includes wellness components such as free mental health counseling and guidance in a range of other areas, including elder care, legal issues, and adoption support. Total Wellness works with Cigna to ensure alignment with other wellness resources—for example, establishing a process that in appropriate situations can connect NFL Life Line callers directly to Cigna resources for additional support.
Every club must employ a licensed behavioral health clinician on site to provide clinical support, mental health education, outreach, and resources to players, coaches, staff, and their immediate family. NFL Total Wellness is the primary resource for supporting clinicians and providing policy updates, additional training, continuing education, and guidance on effective integration within their club’s overall support system.
Partner programs support the dimensions of wellness through resources such as rookie education and onboarding, financial management and career development workshops, transition coaches, and social events. Total Wellness support includes developing the framework for wellness-focused rookie education sessions, facilitating workshops about the emotional or social aspects of wellness that can impact finances and careers, and participating in efforts to make the resources easier to access.
The NFL-NFLPA joint Behavioral Health Agreement in 2019 mandated what Total Wellness already had been pursuing as best practice: a licensed behavioral health clinician on site for every club. In addition to their responsibilities for mental health education and outreach, these clinicians lead a Mental Health and Wellness Team that includes the club’s lead physician, athletic trainer, strength and conditioning coach, director of player engagement, and team chaplain. The impact on wellness is evident.
NFL Total Wellness strives to make sure every NFL player and Legend has access to qualified, highly trained mental health support, from any source provided by Total Wellness or our partners.
Players have access to many support systems, like transition coaches, heads of player engagement, medical staff, and coaches. Total Wellness works to make sure these support systems are aligned instead of operating in silos, so they can better support and complement each other. That’s why Total Wellness:
Total Wellness involvement in governance consists of several primary roles:
