Wake County event helps student athletes tackle mental health stress

Wake County student athletes spent Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club on Fox Road in Raleigh learning how to spot burnout, anxiety and pressure before those stresses turn into a crisis. Level Up brought together students, coaches, parents and mental health professionals from across the Triangle for mentoring that went beyond drills and game plans, taking on recruiting, social media, name-image-likeness deals and performance anxiety.

Founder Ryan Ray said the point was to raise awareness around mental health and connect students to practical outlets and resources. Anthony Evans and other student athletes talked about faith, patience and perspective as tools that can matter as much as speed or strength, reinforcing the message that teens do not have to carry expectations alone. The event treated speaking up about stress as a strength, not a weakness.

The need is clear across North Carolina. NC Child says that in 2020 more than one in 10 children ages 3 to 17 had a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, a 49 percent increase from 2016. The group also says that in 2023 about 4 in 10 North Carolina high school students reported persistent sadness or hopelessness that disrupted daily life for two weeks or more at a time. Organizers said more than 128,000 young people, or about 40 percent, report stress, anxiety or other mental health challenges.

The Fox Road site has grown into more than a neighborhood gym since it first opened in 2006 as the Brentwood Boys & Girls Club. In 2024, Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake & Johnston Counties acquired a 30,000-square-foot facility on Fox Road, and the club says it now includes a Best Buy Teen Tech Center with computers, laser cutters, embroidery machines and other creative technologies. That mix of recreation, mentoring and career-focused space gives families a local place where student athletes can get help that reaches beyond sports.

State agencies have moved in the same direction. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services launched its Child Behavioral Health Dashboard on Feb. 6, 2024, to identify gaps and disparities in child and adolescent services by geography, race, ethnicity, age and gender. NCDHHS and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released the School Behavioral Health Action Plan on March 28, 2023, saying schools play a critical role because they can provide convenient access to behavioral-health support. In Wake County, the Fox Road club and school-based services now sit at the center of the same push: catching stress early, before it sidelines a young person.