Marshall puts focus on mental health
Receiver on mission to raise awareness in NFL, ease stigma
New York Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall said he originally declined an invitation to speak about mental health — his biggest off-thefield passion — to NFL owners and coaches at their annual meeting in March.
Ultimately, he obliged, and it turned into “the most powerful presentation” he’s given.
Marshall wasn’t alone in that opinion.
“You could’ve heard a pin drop in the room,” Giants owner John Mara told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview. “The way Brandon was so frank and direct about his mental health issues in his life resonated with everyone in the room. He immediately helped humanize players more, which helped articulate that this business is about more than football or making money.
“Of all the presentations at the owners (meetings), his stood out the most. In 15 minutes, he raised our consciousness to the reality of an issue.”
Marshall, one of the most prominent professional athletes to publicly advocate for mental health awareness, shared his ac- count of his mental illness and struggles before his diagnosis, which led to a laundry list of runins with the law.
That included public altercations with his wife, Michi, as well as a one-game suspension from the league in 2008 after an arrest
on domestic violence charges.
Most notably, Marshall shared his message — that the sports world and society need to accept mental illness as a disease — and the steps necessary to destigmatize the taboo topic.
“It wasn’t just lip service this time,” Marshall told USA TODAY Sports. “All the teams’ coaches and owners were there and embraced the conversation.
“I said I wasn’t going to come unless they were ready to really hear me. It had been a long time coming.”
Marshall, 33, in the twilight of his NFL career and with his fifth NFL team, considers football his platform but mental health awareness his purpose. He’s been a mental health advocate since being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2011. He and Michi founded Project 375, an organization dedicated to eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health by raising awareness and implementing training.
“Man, if you would have asked me eight years ago what does mental health mean to me, I would have said mental toughness,” Marshall said. “Another part of my answer would’ve been ‘masking pain.’ As football players, we are taught to never show weakness, to never give an opponent an edge. To open up when something hurts, in our culture, is deviant. But when you really sit down and think about it, connecting with those emotions is the real strength.”
Dating to his playing days with the Chicago Bears (2012-14), Marshall said he’s been meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on a semiregular basis — in a consultant-like role — for the last four years and that after he spoke at the meeting, Goodell looked back at him “like a proud father.”
“He’s the one who really stood on the table for me to come and present,” Marshall said. “He knows me, knows what I’m about and how passionate I am about mental health. And he believes in it, buys into it.”
Since the meetings, Marshall says he’s noticed a ripple effect, with several owners reaching out to him to lend support and gain insight or expertise. He’s hoping a trickledown can take place in the league as a result. “It’s been phenomenal,” Marshall said of the response. “What I’ve found is that when you’re real, people come out of the (woodwork). I remember back in 2011, when I first left McLean Hospital (in Belmont, Mass.), I told everyone, ‘This is what I’ve been dealing with.’ Then I had a teammate pull me aside to say, ‘Thank you, I suffer from bipolar disorder. You just gave me the courage to be braver and deal with this.’ I do think, being an NFL player, whenever you’re able to be vulnerable with what you deal with, there’s a power to that.”
Mara thinks that Marshall’s words — in just 15 minutes — can help change the narrative around the league and even further.
“When you think about it, mental illness affects so many people, so it’d be wrong to think football players are immune and should push it aside,” Mara said. “But (mental health) is also something people don’t talk about in society. So I think Brandon has already been influential, but now the entire league can take a big step in not promoting looking the other way or pushing (mental health) away.
“The NFL is such a visible entity, so simply acknowledging it exists, just like any other illness, goes a long way.”
“It wasn’t just lip service this time. All the teams’ coaches and owners were there and embraced the conversation.” Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall, on his talk to NFL owners and coaches in March