THE FUTURE ISSUE
aren’t in a lot of these communities, the
awareness. And I think now it’s just
starting to really catch up.
But I don’t want to make mental
health unique to the African-American
community. I live in the suburbs now
and I see mental health challenges
everywhere. But I do think there is a
specific connection with our players from
the inner cities and some of the things
they had to see. And then there’s a lot of
healing opportunity if they can actually
do their work.
SLAM:And they can then model healthy
mental health discussions for people who
are living in those communities who are
fans of the game.
KD: Right, right. That whole routine
around your mental and emotional health
is very important. But the first step is
knowing that you’re not crazy becauseyou’re going through something. You
might just be traumatized. You might be
grappling with grief. You might be hurting
from your past. You might be nervous
about your performance. So it’s not all in
one brush.
SLAM:You played for 13 years and now
you’re doing this work. That’s a long time
to be associated with the League. What
kind of shift have you seen over that time
span in the attitudes toward mental health
in the NBA?
KD: Night and day. Night and day. There
was a lack of empathy and sympathy for
people who were going through challeng-
es emotionally. A lot of times, I think the
lack of diversity within staff would make
it abnormal if somebody was acting out.
But I think we’ve done a great job of
diversity and inclusion in our league. And
putting people from communities whocan understand some of the experiences
of guys and help them cope and get
through.
SLAM:And the goal of the program is to
serve players. That’s the priority. If there
are players reading this, what would your
message be to them about how to
approach their mental health?
KD: I would say the biggest room in your
life, the biggest room in the world, is the
room for improvement. No matter what
you’re weak at, no matter what you’re
going through, healing is possible, getting
better is possible. And the same way we
can work on our handles and our jump
shots is the same way we can work on
our emotions and our behaviors.
SLAM:And that applies even to non-play-
ers. Even to the fans watching.
KD: That goes for everybody. It is not
unique to players. This is universal. S+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THIS STORY: COURTESY OF NBPADr. Parham (center) speaking at an NBPA
event with Dooling and Garrett Temple72 SLAMONLINE.COM