PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Ivy League will partner with the Patriot League to host its second Mental Health Summit on Monday, July 31, at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. 

The day-long event will build on the first joint effort by the Ivy and Patriot Leagues, hosted by Princeton University in 2019. Student-athletes, coaches and staff from the Leagues’ member institutions will gather to learn and discuss a range of mental health and well-being-related topics with experts, professionals and service providers in the space. 

“We are excited to once again partner with the Patriot League to prioritize an informative and collaborative day of programming for student-athlete leaders, coaches, administrators and staff around mental health,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. “Throughout the day, each discussion will present an opportunity for attendees to learn from and engage with a group of distinguished panelists while brainstorming how ideas or initiatives could be applied on each of their campuses and communities.” 

“We are committed to supporting our student-athletes and facilitating important conversations around mental health and well-being for our student-athletes and within our campus communities,” Patriot League Commissioner Jennifer Heppel said. “Our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has been a driving force in this space, and we hope this opportunity will help our members to share and learn how to become impactful leaders on their respective campuses and beyond.” 

Programming for the Mental Health Summit will run throughout the day, opening with Dr. Nyaka NiiLampti, the Vice President of Wellness and Clinical Services for the National Football League (NFL) and ending with Shoshana Engel Lewis, the Assistant Vice President for Athletics and Recreation/Governance and Performance at Brown University, who will be leading a campus-specific strategy session. 

Three discussion groups will also highlight the day of learning. Mental health professionals and practitioners from the League’s campuses, including Dr. Julie Amato (Lafayette, Princeton), Dr. Ian Connole (Dartmouth), Dr. Mike Gross (Princeton) and Dr. Kat Longshore (Army West Point), will share their best practices and efforts to promote mental health on their respective campuses. 

Patriot League staff member Mikajah Hayes, a recent Boston University track and field performer, will moderate a panel of Ivy and Patriot League student-athletes, including Aldrich Elvambuena (American men’s swimming and diving), Leah Carey (Brown softball), Caroline McGann (Bucknell women’s swimming and diving) and Marymegan Wright (Yale women’s lacrosse) to explore the impact of stress, anxiety and pressure on today’s student-athletes. 

Attendees will also hear a presentation on elevating student-athlete mental wellness through personalized support from The Zone, a data-driven mental wellness platform. Lehigh volleyball’s Kyleigh Brown will speak with Ivan Tchatchouwo and Erik Poldroo from The Zone. 

The Mental Health Summit, designed to teach strategies that promote a culture of understanding and empathy for the challenges that face today’s student-athletes and to destigmatize the perception of mental healthcare on campus and the broader society, will welcome a host of other speakers, including Heppel and Harris during the Mental Health Summit. 

ABOUT THE IVY LEAGUE
The Ivy League stands at the pinnacle of higher education and Division I athletics, rooted in the longstanding, defining principle that intercollegiate athletics competition should be “kept in harmony with the essential educational purposes of the institution.” Unrivaled in its legacy, the Ivy League provides the true test of academic and co-curricular rigor – fostering an enduring culture that celebrates a storied-tradition, thrives on shared values and holds paramount the academic and personal growth of students.

Consistently ranked as the top academic conference and with more national championships than any other collegiate athletic conference, the Ivy League showcased over 60 nationally-ranked programs last year and prides itself on sponsoring 34 sports, the highest number of any NCAA conference, with more than 8,000 student-athletes competing annually. The league’s world-renowned schools – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale – serve as the standard bearers for inspiring and transforming student- athletes to boldly take on the world’s challenges and lead lives of great impact.

ABOUT THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
The Patriot League is in its fourth decade of academic and athletic achievement, continually demonstrating that student-athletes can excel at both academics and athletics without sacrificing high standards. The Patriot League’s athletic success is achieved while its member institutions remain committed to its founding principle of admitting and graduating student-athletes that are academically representative of their class. Participation in athletics at Patriot League institutions is viewed as an important component of a well-rounded education.