State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball coach Jamie Seward came across a book that he couldn't put down. As Seward continued reading, he realized how beneficial this book would be for fellow college coaches and parents of student-athletes alike. The book in-hand was "What Made Maddy Run," about a former college athlete, Madison Holleran, who struggled with depression during her freshman season running track and field at the University of Pennsylvania.
Seward passed the book along to SUNY New Paltz Director of Athletics, Wellness and Recreation Stuart Robinson, who agreed the book was a must-read for all student-athletes, coaches and staff.
With SUNY New Paltz in the midst of launching "Athletes Together," an organization to help give student-athletes support and resources dealing with mental health, Robinson decided to reach out and contact the author, ESPN journalist Kate Fagan, to see if she would come down and speak about her book and open the conversation with SUNY New Paltz students about mental health.
"I was actually pleasantly surprised that it was a community and athletic department where they 
were already having those conversations," Fagan said. "That ground was already fertile and they almost seemed welcoming. Like yes, I've been thinking about this. We've been talking about it. We've been thinking about this as a community and that was surprising, because I would lean toward more than 50 percent of athletic departments, kids only want to talk about things in private."
Fagan, a former student-athlete herself, playing basketball at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1999-2004, spoke with a group a student athletes who participate in Athletes Together, and then in a larger group in Lecture Center 100. It was clear her story, and Holleran's story, resonated with numerous students listening in.
"Before Athletes Together it was never really a conversation about mental health, especially within our department," said junior Taylor Lafrance, a captain on the Hawks softball team. "We're still trying to figure out how to get athletes to come out and start talking about it. Having Kate here who went through it and wrote a book about it and just how cool she is, I think more people will start feeling comfortable."
Seward agreed having Fagan come in and discus Holloran's story and her own allowed his student-athletes and everyone to see that mental health is something a lot of people deal with.
"To me there are so many things that are important about it, but I think one of the biggest is the idea that you are not the only one feeling this way," he said. "I think being able to recognize that this isn't some type of abnormal, atypical type of feeling you are experiencing… there are so many transitions in your life, but even within this four year period of college. There are so many transitions and it's not just the obvious ones in the beginning and the end, but there are is a ton of them in between. I think recognizing when you go through those things that it is challenging and it is supposed to be challenging and that is OK. And not to be concerned about why do I feel this way or why am I different?"
Fagan kept the conversation focused on the students sitting in front of her and listened to their views and experiences they've faced. Topics varied from Holloran's story, Fagan's own personal experiences as a student-athlete and the current students view on social media and the affect it plays on mental health.
"I think I always want to kind of be like a mirror and try to be present to share my own experience in what I hope is a really open way," Fagan said. "I try to come in and be really transparent, which allows them to be present to what their own experiences has been as a student-athlete and perhaps their own journey with mental health and if they've had struggles with it, just feel less alone. That is the main goal."
It was Fagan's transparent approach, reflecting on her own time as a student-athlete and the knowledge she had on the topic, as well as having the counselors from the counseling center answer student's questions that the students appreciated.
"I read the book, and hearing her experiences in [Colorado] when she was going through her time, and brining her in… made everyone feel comfortable enough to actually start talking, and not feel afraid or hide what they are really going through," Lafrance said. "Especially with athletes, people think we're hard-headed and just kind of put up this front. Like we're tough, this is how we're just grown and you can't think of it that way… But she opened it up for us. Maybe we can talk to somebody when we need to."
Several students opened up about their familiarities with mental health, if it was their own experiences or observations they've made with their peers.
"Everyone has a story. Everyone has a background and nobody's life is perfect," Lafrance said. "People struggle more than others, but everybody has something that bothers them or has bothered them in the past that they're trying to get through. Even in our small group we talked about eating disorders, or just being self-conscious, or family problems. That is never really something that is talked about, but it could really be something that is affecting somebody in their everyday life that we're not picking up on."
After Fagan stopped by, Seward made sure to talk more about the discussion with his team, who were all in attendance, the following day at practice, and the conversation on the topic continued for more than an hour after.
"There are so many different things going on to lead where we are today with mental health and not understanding the consequences of some of the things that we do have in the long term," Seward said. "I thought it was important also for me to follow up with them with what they saw and what they heard, and really what they were thinking based on that conversation that we had the night before. We had a really nice conversation the next day as a group and got in to more depth in some things that she wasn't able to cover maybe because of time."
The SUNY New Paltz athletic department hope having Fagan on campus, along with the establishment of Athletes Together will help create more awareness about mental health and build toward a more open environment for student-athletes to come out and seek help if needed.
"The simple fact that Athletes Together exists here -- there are a group of student athletes now who have raised their hands and are signaling to all the other student athletes that they are learning about this issue," Fagan said. "They're not all going to be masters of how to talk about it, but that they are thinking about it, and that they want to help, that is way ahead of the curve… knowing that there is a group and every single one of them should have a higher level of understanding of how to talk about this and where to direct people for help, that is a huge step in the right direction."
