This week, the Williams College Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted a Zoom Q&A session with Victoria Garrick, a former USC volleyball player turned mental health and body image advocate. The Zoom was moderated by one of my teammates, Lauren Barry, who has known Victoria for several years. In the past, Victoria has given a TED Talk on mental health for student athletes and has worked hard to de-stigmatize conversations surrounding body dysmorphia, eating disorders, anxiety, and other body image and mental health issues. Victoria Garrick has been a great resource for my team, both as a former college volleyball player and as a mental health and body image advocate. We have watched her TED Talk as a team and commonly refer to her page during team conversations surrounding mental health and body image. Since she has been such a great source of inspiration for my team, I would love to share some key points from her talk with you in case you didn’t get a chance to attend!
Victoria began by addressing anxiety and depression, specifically in the athletic community. She described how even the joys of being at her dream school, getting play time, and winning almost every game could not offset the anxious thoughts she felt creeping in. They built up to a point at which she felt completely overwhelmed and realized that she was experiencing depression. She opened up to a teammate, who encouraged her to seek help from a therapist, which she did. Victoria emphasized the importance of decreasing the stigma around mental health issues, saying that just like your knee sometimes needs an ice pack and rest, your mind sometimes needs to talk to an expert and take a day off. She then discussed how to approach a friend or teammate you think might be struggling with their mental health. She suggested simply saying, “I have noticed (x) behavior, and I just want you to know that (y).” An example of this would be, “I have noticed you not coming to team social events as much, and I just want you to know that I love you and always want to hang out.” She highlighted the importance of not attaching any judgement to these statements, just observations and words of support.
Victoria then pivoted to discussing another area she focuses on, body image. She began the conversation with a definition of intuitive eating, a habit she practices and recommends. Intuitive eating is simply listening to your body when it’s hungry or full and giving it food that will make you feel good about yourself. Much like listening to your body when it needs to go to the bathroom, Victoria simply recommends eating when your stomach feels hungry. She centered the conversation around what your body does, not what it looks like. Intuitive eating translates to body image as well; she recommends something called body neutrality. Body neutrality means looking at your body as an instrument, not an ornament, and once again focusing on all the amazing ways it performs for you. If you’re looking in the mirror one day and don’t love how you look, Victoria does not recommend forcing yourself to pretend to love what you see in the mirror. Instead, she suggests focusing on what your body can do for you that day, which is a lot!
The conversation then turned to body image and social media. Victoria recommends doing a social media purge of all accounts that bring negativity or toxicity to your feed, so you are only following accounts that make you feel good! Curating your page in this way will make social media more of a positive space for those struggling with body image. Lastly, Victoria discussed creating a positive culture surrounding body image on your team or in your friend group. She recommended coming up with a word or phrase to use when someone is engaging in negative self talk or unintentionally using words that could be harmful to someone struggling with body image. My team uses the phrase “No discounts!” when someone is being unkind to themselves or potentially hurting others.
Victoria’s words were extremely well received by my team and the members of the Williams community that were present on the Zoom. My teammate and moderator Lauren Barry agreed, saying, “I think it was really special to have Victoria come talk to us today. She has a powerful message that is extremely important for everyone to hear, even if you are not currently struggling with mental health and/or body image. There is a role everyone can play in combating the stigma!”
If you would like to watch Victoria, TED Talk, you can find the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdk7pLpbIls. If you would like to follow her on Instagram, her handle is: @victoriagarrick. I hope you enjoy her content as much as I do!