The mission of NFL Total Wellness is to build systems, create programs, provide resources, and encourage culture change to enhance the overall wellbeing of the NFL community in the areas of physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and financial health.
Our Model
NFL Total Wellness utilizes a proactive and holistic model focused on promoting wellness within the player community and expanding to include all members of the player ecosystem. The Total Wellness model employs four primary strategies: resource provision, education, robust support systems, and strong governance.
- Resource Provision – NFL Total Wellness provides resources to all members of the NFL family with three primary goals: to proactively foster wellbeing, to direct to clinical resources, and to manage crises. These goals are achieved primarily through the Cigna EAP (work/life resources), the NFL Life Line, the integration of the Team Clinicians, the internal crisis response team (CRT), among others.
- Education – NFL Total Wellness provides education to every major stakeholder at every stage of the player life cycle. Educational sessions include the Rookie Success Program which prepares first-year players for life in the NFL, team Mental Health trainings which are CBA-mandated sessions on a variety of topics under the wellness umbrella, Legends Ambassadors trainings which empower former players to understand and support one another with regard to mental health, and many more.
- Support Systems – NFL Total Wellness reinforces and collaborates with various player support systems to enhance the provision of services to all members of the NFL community. These efforts include direct management, consultations, education, and providing resources to support systems such as Team Clinicians, Directors of Player Engagement, and the Player Care Foundation.
- Governance – NFL Total Wellness advises and interfaces with various governance structures to maximize the integration of a wellness perspective into policy development and implementation, while expanding these efforts to ensure that decisions incorporate the viewpoints of a diverse set of external experts.
